Get rid of Tight Calves and Achilles Tendon Pain with Gentle Somatic Yoga!

 Tight calves and/or achilles tendon pain???  You never realize how much you use your lower legs until they give you cause to "notice" them through tightness and pain!  Even your energy level drops because it makes it painful to walk!

Gentle Somatic Yoga is a gentle, yet extremely effective class designed to get you out of pain, reduce tight muscles, increase energy, relax the nervous system and put a smile on your face.

We don't "stretch" in this class.  When you go into a deep stretch, our body's defense mechanism called the stretch reflex kicks in.  This means the brain senses the muscles being stretched beyond where they would normally go and it pulls the muscle back in an effort to protect you.  It's like putting on the gas and the brake at the same time.

Often we find the stretch reflex can actually cause tighter muscles than if you never stretched at all.  This is why studies are showing that stretching before an athletic event creates a lower performance.

In Gentle Somatic Yoga, we pandiculate!  I know...that's a mouthful of a word!  When we pandiculate, we first contract or shorten the muscle that is tight.  We then slowly release that muscle, lengthening it out. Then we completely relax and let it go.

Pandiculation is an effective way to re-pattern our brain's response to the muscle.  You are basically showing the brain which muscle you want to release by contracting it first.  The lengthening shows the muscle that it's safe to lengthen and then the relaxation phase give the brain an understanding that it's safe to relax that muscle.

Repetition of the pandiculation is what will allow the muscles to relax and remain in the new lengthened position.  We call this the "new normal"!

This video will show you how to take a regular "stretching" move and turn it into a more effective pandiculation.

Try it!  Come back and let me know how it works for you! 

Then share the love forward!!!

I would love for you to try one of my Gentle Somatic Yoga classes. I teach it LIVE online every Tuesday and Thursday evening at 7:00pm EST and Saturday morning at 10:00am EST.   This class will help you release tension and create your best body because your body is more relaxed. Try your first class for free here  https://tinyurl.com/ydhqovft