I’ve been doing some Physio stretches almost every day since I was given them to do in June. I have an Enya song I listen to twice, once for each leg, doing the same stretches. Then one more to do some lower back stretches and a couple rather painful roller stretches on my quads.
I’ve made some small but positive gains in my flexibility, and it occurred to me that I would never have noticed them if that was the goal. If that was the goal, I would have given up long before I saw the gains… they are too small and took too long to be realized.
I think that the mental shift from ‘I want to see benefits from this’ to ‘this is a good habit to have, and I want to be someone who commits to stretching as part of my health routine,” was a big part in getting me here.
I now stretch for 3 songs, 10 minutes, almost every single day. I probably won’t notice any new gains for a couple months, but if I continue this for a couple months I will indeed see gains. If I was doing it just for the gains, I probably wouldn’t make the commitment because the results are too slow and too small to give me the reward I would be seeking.
No, I’m just someone who values stretching daily. And hopefully I’ll have less back pain and back issues in the future… and some small positive gains along the way.
I am hooked on stretching now (some physio for guidance). I may never really know how much it helps or has prevented pain, but I am quite sure my back, feet, and neck are better for it. My “mat time” has become a welcomed interlude to my day now — all kinds of benefits, right? 🙂
Agreed Sheila, it’s one of those, “if only I could tell my younger self” kind of things… but for the here and now, it’s about being ‘Younger Next Year’!
Well said! As long as we keep moving… 🙂