What is *Gravity yoga* and why it might be *exactly* the type of yoga that you need.
Gravity yoga is a highly effective form of mobility and flexibility training, accessible to all ages and ability levels, that you don’t need any prior yoga experience to do. Its unique properties make it a great supplement to any strength and mobility training program. Gravity yoga is slow, deliberate, targeted mobility work that offers a challenge as much mental as it is physical.
During a typical class we hold passive, relaxed stretches for a long period of time, so that gravity does most of the work. Muscles stretch and elongate best when relaxed. The more we stretch this way, the quicker we lengthen our muscles. The tighter and less pliable our muscles become, the more likely they are to tear and decrease our range of motion. Our daily activities are making us even tighter. We spend a lot of time hunched over and in static positions. This shortens our muscles and makes them tighter, which can cause joint and muscle pain. Strengthening our muscles also tightens and contracts them. We want to balance this out by lengthening them.
Gravity yoga was founded by Lucas Rockwood, a very stiff yoga practitioner who could barely touch his toes. When he’d sit on the floor, his knees would remain high off the ground and his back rounded. He started attending yoga classes to help his range of motion, but felt sick anytime he was in a forward fold. He began a journey to figure out the fastest way to increase his mobility so he could enjoy a yoga class and have more range of motion throughout the day. He spent a lot of time researching; talking with dancers, gymnasts, martial artists, and found that the best way to increase mobility is through 3 principles:
1. 4:8 breathing — Breathing in through the nose to the count of 4 and exhaling out the mouth to the count of 8. This breath stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system and relaxes the stretch reflex — the body’s tendency to lock up and resist a stretch. 50% of mobility is our nervous system’s response.
2. Wet noodle — Relax your muscles as much as possible, because muscles stretch best when relaxed.
3. Meet or beat your hold time — In Gravity yoga we hold stretches for a prescribed period of time (2–5 minutes). If you need to tap out early, just meet or beat that time, the next time you practice.
These principles, applied together, can drastically improve the mobility of even the stiffest practitioners.
We can’t foam roll, hyper volt gun, or massage our way to more mobility. These are great tools for getting rid of electrical activity or knots in the soft tissues, but it will not increase your range of motion. Most of the stretches we are taught warm the body, and take it through its full range of motion. However, these stretches are not designed to increase your flexibility. The more we deep stretch with Gravity yoga, the more we actually increase our muscle length and hydrate our soft connective tissues, reducing inflammation and increasing our athletic resiliency, which only gets more important as we age.
Have you ever felt an adhesive-like sliding in your muscles when you move? Sometimes it’s even audible. It’s like tape or glue coming off the soft tissue. The more we hydrate our soft tissues, the less this happens.
A lot of common pain complaints actually come from muscular dysfunction in the hamstrings, hips, and back. Gravity yoga focuses on these three areas the most as they are a source of trouble for many.
Gravity yoga can help you in the gym by increasing your squat range with less pain, get you deeper into your overhead mobility, run with less muscle tightness and help you recover faster. It’s almost impossible not to make substantial changes in your range of motion and athletic resiliency when practicing Gravity regularly.
You can find my complete Gravity yoga series on the provided Youtube link.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwiG5ifLoGNB5nrB0zE_pkKezeDpJqdK5
