The Attention You Forgot To Bring To Your Body
Yoga knew this all along. We are just too impatient.
Why stretching hasn’t fixed you
You’ve stretched for years. You’re still stiff.
Maybe you’ve done yoga, foam rolling, the static holds at the end of every gym session. Your hamstrings still feel like cables. Your hips still close up by the end of the day. Your shoulders are always somewhere they shouldn’t be.
This was my story. And I am slowly changing it.
It’s not your fault. But it’s not the stretching’s fault either.
It’s that most stretching happens with the joint in the wrong position, with no breath, with no attention to where the load is actually going.
Let me give you an example: a standing quad stretch.
Stand up. Bend your knee and grab your ankle. To get a stretch in that bent leg’s front thigh (aka quadriceps). To get more of a stretch, you pull more. But what happens when you get into this position is your lower back arches more. Your pelvis is no longer neutral. And this altered position feels like more stretching is happening but we want the right stretch. Let’s try again - keep your pelvis fixed and do not allow your lower back to arch further. See how much you can stretch while you are there. This might feel milder but this is better.
This is why stretching does not work. We do it wrong.
How mobility actually works
Stretching with posture and breath is mobility. Yoga at its best is mobility. Getting our joints to express their range of motion is mobility. Stretching affects our mobility because our muscles determine where our skeleton is at. And getting our muscles to the right place is essential.
The thing being criticised isn’t stretching — it’s stretching without attention.
Real un-denting needs three things. Soft tissue work — releasing what’s bound up. Activation drills — waking up what’s gone silent. And patience — because the nervous system rewrites slower than the muscle responds.
I learned this from two key people: Kelly Starrett and Tim Anderson. It took me many years to figure out what they actually meant. I am still figuring it out. But as I learned to integrate my lessons from yoga and from K-Star and Original Strength, I realised how my body is reorganising itself. And returning to neutral.
What changed wasn’t just the tissue. It was the motor control. Coordination my body had lost without me ever noticing it was gone.
What you do with this
Un-denting comes before strengthening.
If you load a deformed structure with squats, deadlifts, and presses, you don’t build strength on top of it. You deepen the dent. Stronger hips with a bad pelvis is a faster trip to back pain, not freedom.
So start here. Soft tissue. Activation. Posture. Breath.
Find mobility and stretching routines that you can start your day with and end your day with.
Stretching is sensation. Mobility is structure. Sensation makes you feel better for an hour. Structure changes the body you live in.
Un-dent before you strengthen.
This is part of my Plastic and Elastic series.
I am suffering from stiff lower back pain. will do stretches and feel better for the next day, lift weights the following day and back to square one. Is it possible to find a solution to still lower back while lifting weights?
You have been so consistent with the weekly Sunday posts. Really appreciate it 👌