stretching help: expoloring inner-space

[Avocado]

I'm not the most flexible person so I've been stretching my legs on a frequent basis to prepare for that inevitable moment when Avocado meets yoga.

A brief story: Through my awakening I was a regular user of cannabis. The way this interacted with me lead to it just bringing out incredible existential/spiritual fear in me. One of the most memorable feelings I would get come from my mind telling me "I fear my own existence". It was painfully clear that I was to stop smoking herb.

Some time later I had a new relationship with cannabis. I used it to intensify emotions and better hear subconscious dialogue. I went into this experience knowing full well I was going to greet my fear. After I had eaten the cannabis, I experienced a mellow state and soon after I had a chance to work with my fear when the experience intensified followed by a deep 'stoning' which was useful to push my body to its limits. I noticed that when I stretched, my thoughts were quelled and all feelings were physical sensations. The effects of the body on the mind were apparent.

It was much easier to stretch and my body was much more loose. This experience has shown me what my body can do and given me motivation to really get into physical practice. When I was doing it I held my hands under my feet as long as I could. It felt good.

When I was doing this I had the feeling that I would be able to alter my consciousness in a very grounded manner if I would continue to hold strong. Of course I didn't hold long but that's only greater encouragement for me.



In this experience cannabis has proven to be a very useful tool for me but achieving such emotional work (or spiritual, etc.) without external tools has been a goal for some time, I'm for developing that inner-spiritual 'technology' we are born with. That's not to say I don't already work with said technology to some extent but it's just time I take the next step and work more with the body. It is my intention to work with emotions through the use of yoga/stretching. The reason I tell you this all is because I don't know where to begin and would appreciate to hear your thoughts and feelings. I can't afford any yoga classes or anything like that right now but could surely benefit from information. This goal really seems to flirt with a broad range of subjects: mysticism, shamanism, yoga and the like. I just want to see how far stretching can take me/ how far I can take stretching. Hopefully that little story will show you where I'm coming from. Ok, thanks for reading.

respect

[Diana]

As far as the physical body goes, stretching with strength is the best way to stretch. If you always have loose muscles when you stretch, and don't build strength, you may end up stretching ligaments and tendons too far without the necessary structure to keep your body free from injury.

Yoga is a good way to stretch and build strength, and has the added benefit of learning to focus and be meditative. There are many yoga poses that open the heart, such as the camel pose. You can probably get a book at the library, or if you have Netflix you could stream a good video to follow.

You can just stretch your body though. We hold tension--issues--in our joints for instance, so it is good to stretch to release the tension and get blood flow there (which also helps with the issues, and "clearing" the body). A couple of words of advice: 1. Don't stretch to the point of pain. 2. Never bounce into a stretch. 3. Always breathe.