I\u2019ve dipped in and out of yoga for the last few years, always finding the movements comforting and (whisper it) relatively easy.<\/p>\n
So, when I tried to do a seated forward fold\u2014after reading this piece<\/a>\u2014and found it incredibly difficult, I was left humbled. My hamstrings screamed and my mind couldn\u2019t settle.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I was annoyed that something that once came to me so easily now felt difficult. So, I decided to try and do something about it.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n For 30 days, I did the seated forward fold stretch three times a day\u2014holding it for 60 seconds each time. Here\u2019s what happened to my body and mind.<\/p>\n It hit my hamstrings hard<\/p>\n When I first started practicing this pose, the only place I felt it was in my hamstrings, at the back of my thighs.<\/p>\n I was surprised at just how tight these muscles were, so I asked physical therapist Dr Rockie Felder<\/a> to explain what might have caused this. She said that my desk job was the likely culprit.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you’re sitting for a long time at your desk, your knee is bent and that actually shortens your hamstring,\u201d explains Felder, who has recently launched a specialist online desk worker program<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cSo when you stand up and bend over [or perform a forward fold] your knee is straight, so you\u2019re elongating that muscle and those muscle fibers.\u201d<\/p>\n After about four days, when my hamstrings felt a little less tight, I finally started to feel the stretch in my lower back. Within two weeks, I could feel it in my calves as well.<\/p>\n I made quick progress<\/p>\n I recorded myself doing the pose every few days and was surprised at how much deeper I was able to move into the stretch after a couple of weeks.<\/p>\n I wondered if this was because I was simply getting more comfortable in the pose, but Felder said it was more likely that I was undergoing some physical adaptations.<\/p>\n She explained that while a one-off stretch won\u2019t make much difference to your muscles, repeatedly stretching will elongate muscles and restore extensibility.<\/p>\n \u201cMuscles are really tight after sitting. If you stretch them, they get a little longer, but after two hours they go back to where they were,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n \u201cBut over time, if you stretch repeatedly, it goes back to [being] a little bit longer. And then if you stretch again and again and again, over time in those 30 days, you actually will gain flexibility in your muscle fibers. It takes consistency and time.\u201d<\/p>\n