Taking it Deeper

Now that we have an established core set of poses, we are working on adding new poses to get to those deeper areas that are more difficult to stretch.  My philosophy is one of encouraging the stretch rather than pushing into the stretch.  In my opinion, as you try to go deeper it is even more important that you search for gentle release so that the muscles gradually grow accustomed to the deeper longer stretches and don't become tender and inflamed.  Yoga doesn't have a time table.  Letting go of feeling like we have to achieve a certain stretch and listening to our own body for today's best stretch allows us to continue to carry out the day to day tasks required without soreness, inflammation, and pain that can occur if we push too hard.