Good or Bad Stretch?

Article By: Lissa Rankin

A Crossroads

Not long ago, I was at a crossroads in my life, and as often happens at crossroads, I felt a bit of pain. Down one of four potential roads lay strange but exciting newness. Down another, loss, but with possibility. A third would have required potentially painful growth. A fourth, complete uncertainty. None would be easy. All would require a stretch, and with stretching, we tend to hurt.

Avoiding Pain

When something starts to hurt, we have a tendency to pull back. After all, hurt is something to avoid, right? But what about taking a yoga class? Don’t you find yourself in poses that are, at once, completely liberating but hurt like the dickens? I know I do. It’s tempting to stretch too far- to let your ego get caught up in “success,” while you push yourself beyond safe limits and wind up with a torn hamstring. So how do you know where that limit lies? What’s the difference between good stretch and bad stretch?

Wisdom of the Body

I’ve found that my body tends to know. There’s a stretch that feels invigorating. It’s a challenge, and stepping up to the plate feels fantastic when you achieve it. By stretching gently, you slowly surrender more deeply into the pose, freeing your mind and unleashing your spirit. But there’s another type of stretch that just feels wrong. You tweak something, feel pain biting into you, and get a sense of dread about what’s happening. One is to be celebrated. The other is best avoided.

How can you tell the difference? You have to listen to your body, mind, and spirit. When you’re stretching, you know the difference between a good stretch and a bad one. It’s when we ignore the messages that suffering happens.

Resting in Child’s Pose

In my life, three of the possible roads felt like good stretches. One felt  like a bad one. But I kept standing at the crossroads for a while, resting, rejuvenating, growing, and getting clarity about what lies ahead. I came out of that stretching yoga pose and rested into child’s pose until I felt strong enough, limber enough, to keep stretching. And that’s okay.

Stretching Out Of Our Comfort Zones

Maybe you’re finding that being vulnerable on the forum is stretching you. Maybe another person says something to you that stings and stretches you. Maybe you don’t feel met in just the way you might wish. Maybe you feel overstretched, like you’ve put too much of yourself out there. You might wonder if this is a bad stretch. And it could be- for you. Or it could be that liberating stretch that comes just before you are set free. Only you can know the difference, and you must honor where you are in your process.

It all comes back to being true to where you are. There is no right and wrong. Just like there is no right or wrong road at my intersection. My body just needs to feel which stretch feels like growth and which one feels like a pulled muscle.

What about you? What stretches you?

More articles by Lissa Rankin here

What does your favourite yoga pose say about you?

Here's what Cyndi Lee, Natural Solutions magazine has to say.


Whether you prefer twists, backbends, or inversions, here’s how your favorite yoga poses can give you valuable insight into your personality.


If you like:


Forward Bends: You prefer to keep your own counsel like a smart ostrich. At those times when life gets overstimulating–too many choices and too much responsibility–forward bends seduce you with the sweet serenity of folding inward and retreating from the world.


Twists: You like to know who and what’s going on around and behind you. You don’t see things in black or white but are stimulated by multi-dimensional situations and are not afraid of tension. Twists are a natural draw for those who find nourishment and joy from connecting to people and places while staying firmly grounded.


Back Bends: You find it refreshing to reverse the typical schlump of desk, car or depression. It feels good to rest your soft, open front on your confident, flexible spine and take in a big breath. Turning yourself inside out is quite extra-ordinary! For shy types this is scary and a true victory. For extroverts, it’s a natural as a sensuous morning stretch.


Balancing on One Leg: You are more curious about precision than perfection. For you, nothing is more fun than figuring out how to sway like a tree and still stay upright. You don’t even mind falling over because you always get back up and try again, understanding that is truly the heart of practice anyway.


Inversions: You’ve learned to include fears in the mix of a total experience. Perhaps you’ve started to blur the distinction between upside down and right side up, allowing for a vibrant sense of nowness wherever or however you are. Creative types who see things from all sides are drawn to inversions and so are those of us who just like to shake things up!


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