Begin the spinal and fascial stretches on the same day. You don’t have to do both kinds at the same time, although you can if that’s convenient for you. But you should do all the stretches in your program every day. Here are several basic guidelines:
- Stretch on a relatively soft surface, such as a carpet with a fair amount of cushioning or an exercise mat that’s about ฝ-inch thick—not on a hard surface such as a wood floor. Take your shoes off.
- Your body should be moderately warm before you stretch. “Moderately warm” means that if you feel cold or even chilly, you’re not warm enough. Your body should feel loose. Don’t stretch right after you’ve come in from the cold! Do the stretches in a warm room, with a sweatshirt on. When you have the opportunity, it’s especially effective to stretch after using a sauna or hot tub, or even after taking a hot bath or shower. Drink a cup of water right after the shower or sauna, wait a few minutes so the water can pass through your digestive tract, and then stretch. Other good moments are after a massage, when your fascia is already softened up, and when you’re warm after a workout.
- The ideal time of day to do the spinal stretches—especially if you have chronic or severe pain—is right before you climb into bed at night, because being horizontal helps maintain the spaces the stretches create between vertebrae. As soon as your body is upright, the spine starts to compress, but when you’re lying down, it stays open. Let’s say I have lower-back compression that’s causing an ankle problem. I do the Low Back Stretch and go straight to bed. Because I’m horizontal all night, the nerves in my lower back remain uncompressed, sending stronger signals to the leg and foot, buying time for healing to occur in the joint. By the end of the next day, my lower back will be compressed again, but if I stretch regularly every night, little by little my ankle will heal.
- Always do spinal stretches that affect the higher parts of the body before those that affect the lower parts. Thus neck stretches come before mid-back stretches, which come before lower-back stretches.
- If you can, stretch in front of a mirror. Since you won’t have Ming Chew correcting your position, you need something to give you feedback. You can also try a mental device I use. I keep an endless tape loop running in my mind: Are my legs straight? Are my feet flexed? The instructions for each stretch include a “Tape Loop,” which gives you the cues to scan for as you do the stretch. Keep the tape loop going in your mind for the entire sixty seconds.
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