Learn a quick way to relax your nervous system to allow for greater flexibility and mobility in your forward folds.

The other day I was working with a client who was particularly tight and stiff. This is often how my clients meet me, but in this case, the tightness was accompanied by pain, which resulted in a nervous system unwilling to allow for even a small degree of flexibility.

Flexibility is a funny thing, we’re born almost hypermobile, and as time goes on, we all become more and more stiff. Genetics, trauma, and life choices all play a part in this. But you can retrain flexibility, and this is not just a question of training muscles, joints, and ligaments, but also (or maybe even more so) about training your nervous system.

Sensory Shower.

A sensory shower is a way to send a signal to your nervous system to relax. Granted it doesn’t work every time or for every person, but it is often enough for many to initiate the first relaxation response needed to allow the nervous system to relax a little.

We all want to age well and being able to bend over to tie your shoelaces, pick up your keys from the floor, or put on your pants (and underpants!) are all tasks that we would like to continue doing, long into our old age.

So, keeping your body flexible and strong is essential for optimal health.

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How to do a Sensory Shower.

Try it out right now to see if this will work for you.

1. Do a forward fold and see how low you can go and how it feels in your body.

• Stand with your feet hip distance apart, with a straight spine.
• Now bending from the hips (not the waist), allow yourself to forward fold towards the floor, doing so in a slow deliberate motion.
• Notice how far you can go and hang out in the position for a second to feel how this feels in your body.

2. Stand up straight again and perform a sensory shower.

• Take your hands and rub your hands over your face, scalp, arms, torso, legs, hands and feet.
• Do this for 2-3 minutes. Rubbing all over.

3. Now retest your flexibility, by doing the same forward fold.

How did this work for you? Did the second fold go further? Did it feel more accessible in your body? Maybe less intense?

Whether this worked for you or not. Keep this simple little exercise in mind, you might find that if you do this a couple of times or every now and then, your nervous system catches on, and it might start working for you.

It’s a quick and easy way to connect with your body, by showing it some attention, and it will in return try to assist you in any way it can – towards a deep forward fold and greater flexibility!

So, do share this with anyone who wants to improve their mobility and see if it helps them. 🙂