In our busy, go-go-go lifestyles, we don’t often take the time to slow down and relax. Enter deep stretch and relaxation. This class is an hour long gift to yourself. Here are some reasons why your body needs, no it demands, that you add this self-love practice to your regular routine:
1. Balance the Yin and Yang
Deep stretch & relaxation classes are based around Yin yoga. Yin yoga acts to stretch your muscles and connective tissues between the muscles and extend your flexibility; it forces you to find stillness and look within yourself. Fitness classes, or even Freedom Flow classes on the other hand, are considered a Yang practice, where movement and heat act to stimulate your muscles and build your strength and stamina. Together, the yin and and yang balance each other out.
2. Increase your flexibility
Even if getting into the splits is not your goal, it never hurts to be a little more flexible. Deep stretch classes target the hard to reach connective tissues and fascia throughout the body and help to increase circulation in the joins to give you a greater range of motion. Even if you are solely fitness focused, and only ever attend classes like Fast & Furious Fusion, Power Core, and 02HIIT, a greater range of motion helps to get you deeper into moves like squats and lunges, which in turn makes you stronger.
3. Injury Prevention
An increased range of motion doesn’t just help you get stronger, but it helps you stay stronger. Having optimal use of your joints doesn’t just help you bend deeper, but it helps you recover faster, and it lessens the soreness you typically feel the day after a Fast and Furious Fusion class!
4. De-Stress
Our lives are full of never ending to-do lists, appointments, and all kinds of anxiety and stress. By allowing yourself the time to sit in stillness, you are giving yourself to permission to turn off your brain, if only for a few moments. Let’s be honest, the first time you get into frog pose, the only thing you’re going to be able to focus on is how much you want to get out of the pose. After a few tries, and a few deep breaths, you’ll find yourself actually relaxing into this hip-opening stretch and allowing yourself the space to reconnect with the present moment and your innermost self.
5. Sleep Better
We don’t call it a deep stretch and relaxation class for nothing! After an hour of slowing down and focusing on your breath, you’ll find your mind less cluttered, your muscles relaxed, and your whole body ready for a good night’s sleep!
Have you tried a Deep Stretch and Relaxation class before? Look for it on the schedule at a studio near you and see for yourself!