The need to stretch

I am by no means a yoga expert but I do dabble. I find it helps me maintain a healthy posture and like many people, I offer up quite a lazy posture. My Mother hates it when I slouch. When I register my own slouching, I note how terrible I must appear and I immediately correct myself.
     I also use yoga in the deep-stretch sessions I offer my clients. If like myself you often push yourself a little too hard in the area of exercise you may find your muscles sore on occasion. A good remedy (as most health gurus will tell you) is stretching. Stretching before and afterwards.
   I've recently hiked up Mount Snowdon in Wales, with no prior experience and my legs are truly aching, however, I've manage to quell the pain somewhat through stretching and keeping my leg muscles gently moving even while I'm sat stationary.  Some yoga stretches and poses can appear quite ridiculous, but what I find useful about yoga is that it allows me to access muscles and offer them relief on my own. It is by no means as relaxing as receiving a massage but when a therapist isn't to hand, yoga comes in handy. It's  DIY muscle therapy.

The model above is performing one of my favorite stretches. It looks like she's trying to sniff her own feet but this stretch targets the posterior leg muscles & hamstrings and by sightly extending her booty she can gain a deeper stretch, while the shoulders get a good wringing out too! Here the affect of gravity on her arms essentially massages the tight muscle in the shoulders and all she does is allow gravity to do all the hard work. TRY IT.  If you can push out your palms, you can force a deeper stretch.

Go in slow, keep your feet slightly apart, keep legs straight as you can and remember to BREATHE into your stretch. Hold it for as long as you feel comfortable and don't push any stretch beyond your capabilities. My upper body yoga-massage sessions uses this position amongst others to target that niggling ache we can develop between the shoulder blades.

Seem familiar? This is one of my personal  key areas of discomfort. It's my bad posture. It can be caused by a number of things but it's definitely one of the most common complaints I get from clients. Discomfort in this area is more than likely to be a Rhomboid issue. Either identify and correct whatever it is you are doing wrong or go see a GP. A massage therapist can only offer relief, but the pain will probably persist if you don't correct your old bad habits.