hyper mobility

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amber
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Sep 22, 2006 10:21 pm

hyper mobility

Post by amber »

Just wondering if many of you are coming across people with hyper mobility who are not really feeling the Yin poses? Any recomendations on how to work with this. My thinking is to suggest engaging the muscles some of the time?

Amber
Bernie
Posts: 1293
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:25 am
Location: Vancouver

Students who are cursed by being flexible

Post by Bernie »

Hi Amber ... good question. I often see super-flexies in my Yin Yoga classes. They don't feel much, but there are still benefits for them in these poses.

Firstly, they are keeping the range of motion they currently have. Over the years, even the flexies will get tighter as their joints shrink-wrap with age. Secondly, many of the poses are stimulating the meridian lines through the connective tissues even if the joints themselves don't feel much stress. To increase this stimulation, the student could engage the muscles, as you suggested. However engaging the muscles will not help the joints become more stimulated.

One suggestion Paul Grilly has made, jokingly, for these poor unfortunate students who are so cursed by being flexible that they don't feel anything (compared to us normally folks who get a wonderful sense of being pulled apart by the poses), was to dig a pit under the student so she could actually fold through the floor and get lower. :) Well that may not be practical, perhaps, depending upon the pose, there are ways to use props to allow the student to create more space, allowing them to go further.

These are my current thoughts. I would be interested to hear how others address this topic. :idea:

Cheers
Bernie
Lydia
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:33 am
Location: Stouffville, Ontario, Canada

Hypermobility - yes!

Post by Lydia »

I teach Yin style classes on Sundays and have noticed so many hypermobile students. This past Sunday I mentioned the idea of digging a bit under the flexies and the class all got it and laughed like crazy. I am not good with props so don't really know what to do with the flexies other than to encourage them to find their own edge whatever that may be through modifications, using the breath, a mantra, so that the posture may not be so much about target deep tissues but more about calming the mind and just enjoying the experience.
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