[ColossalContrarian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'L')unges are murder on the knees (at least on my knees). I'll never do them again.

[Heineken]

Just to clarify: There is a yoga position called the kneeling lunge that isn't hard on the knees (it's good for the knees, in fact). By "lunges" I meant the "moving" kind you see people doing in health clubs. Ouch.

[threadbear]

I can do a full lotus and then walk around in that position on my knees. My potential problem with yoga is hypermobility, not the other way around. It was a real athletic bonus when I was younger, and great for ballet, and swimming, but now I'm concerned about dislocations. I should talk to a physiotherapist and then get back into it, even in a limited way.

Gampy, you could take an illustrated book of poses to a physio and have her check off which ones would be safe for you to do.

I used to meditate and do a lot of yoga, but quit when I started becoming so ethereal and detached, I was afraid I'd float clear away--the sensations stayed with me, always. Now I WANT to float clear away and be a bliss ninny. It's time to get with the program!

By the way, HEINEKEN, you say you're 51! Why, you are an old fart, huh? Me too...51. How on earth did that happen? Appalling isn't it?

[Heineken]

I read your comment about your full-lotus trick and was modestly flabbergasted, Thread. Walk around on your knees, no less!

Women are so inherently flexible---puts them one up in the yoga department, I think, at least for the positions that depend more on flexibility than strength.

Yes, I'm a fairly old fart, at 51. Neat coincidence that we're the same age. And yes, it's frightening to think that one's life is more than half over and that it's mostly downhill from here. I've tried to compensate for that somewhat by retiring early, and grabbing a lot of free time for myself. I can't imagine retiring at 62 or 65---that seems like a death sentence.

Speaking of old farts, an aging population will be contributing more methane to the GW mix. Has anyone factored that in to the calculations?

[pedalling_faster]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'S')peaking of old farts, an aging population will be contributing more methane to the GW mix. Has anyone factored that in to the calculations?

[BlisteredWhippet]

Lately I've been exploring some new theories to augment my routine.

Bob Cooley's book about stretching is based upon a simple principle of contrapositive movement, and has expanded my awareness of how to use specific muscle groups to enhance a stretch. The other basic aspect of his philosophy is strength-training through stretching. HE shows the concept of pushing the muscles to exhaustion through "reps", like weightlifting, except through resistive stretching. His theory is that the exertion of stretching can actually build muscle, as long as it is applied with sufficient force, according to him, around 6-8 times in a row for a given stretch, because a stretch pulls one muscle group against another.

For example, if you are aiming to stretch the glutes, you need to strengthen the opposite muscles which you are contracting. In my experience, Yoga implies almost the opposite, that everything be "let go", whereas Cooley is saying to intenionally contract the opposite muscles, creating a more active stretch. And it does work beautifully. If you do yoga, you understand that some muscles must be contracted to stretch another, but for a long time I was focused on simply relaxing one side, without really actively pushing the other. I think this approach in some poses worked against me and possibly put my joints in danger of hyperextension or flexion simply because the principle of relaxation seperated my movement from the physical.

In the practice of actively contracting one muscle group against the other, it becomes much less likely that hyperextension or flexion could occur, since the effort stabilizes the force between the muscles. This approach is more intensive, and I have yet to find it meditative becuase it feels intense and exhaustive. Because you have to repeat and exhaust a muscle group to build strength, the poses take a lot longer and are very difficult, and you have to allow recovery time just like resistance training.

Some of his poses make no sense, some are Yogic in nature, and some of them are absolutely innovative. Overall, his is a great practice and will build strength evenly throughout the body, and build an internal awareness of an active aspect of streching that does not exist in traditional yogic forms. I think that this principle, missing from yoga in many practices, makes Yoga less useful as a purely rehabilitative form. Combined with Yoga, it creates a practice that is deeper and connects more of the muscles to go deeper into a stretch and build a foundation of strength.

His book has a lot of junk about meridians, and every pose includes a litany of supposed anatomical benefit, which I consider to be the window dressing of his central resistance technique.

Book- amazon