Flexibility vs. Mobility as we Age

When it comes to practicing yoga, the difference between Flexibility and Mobility may seem like semantics, but in practice, the difference matters.

According to Google, Flexibility is defined as "the quality of bending easily without breaking." This can mean many things when we practice yoga, but is often associated with poses that involve extreme stretching and require certain anatomical allowances, like being in a full split while touching the back foot to your head. When practicing yoga, Flexibility involves stretching the muscles to be able to get deeper and deeper into a pose. This is fine if you do so mindfully and by listening to your body. Some people are naturally flexible, often because they have joint and ligament laxity, where their joints naturally have significant movement just on their own. Other people work toward their flexibility by stretching frequently. Flexibility can be useful, but if you don't have the strength to support the flexibility, you can end up overstretching the ligaments, instead of the muscles, and causing injury to the joints.

According to Google, Mobility is defined as "the ability to move or be moved freely and easily." When practicing yoga, Mobility is being able to move your body comfortably and without struggle or strain. This is how one should always practice, as forcing any pose can often lead to injury. 

Yoga is a practice that can be practiced throughout our lives and can benefit us physically, mentally, and emotionally. As we age, I feel it is more useful to focus more on physical Mobility and mental Flexibility, more than physical Flexibility for these reasons:

1. Unless you are a contortionist, no one needs to put their foot behind their head in any daily activity, so it may not be important to do that in your yoga practice. Practicing yoga should help you feel better in your body, less achy and stiff in the morning, and more comfortable going through your daily activities. If you sit for long periods of time, at a desk at work, for example, your yoga practice can help you undo all of the strain and discomfort that comes with sitting. Whether you can do a full split or touch your feet to your head in a backbend are extreme examples of flexibility that require extreme stretching not only to achieve, but to maintain. A 20 year old spine moves very differently than a 50 year old spine. This kind of extreme  flexibility becomes less useful and more harmful as we age. Doing straight-forward poses like Low Lunge, Pigeon, Yoga Mudra, and Half Hanuman are going to help you feel better at work, and are more practical for day to day living.

2. Extreme stretching can lead to injury. While it may be fun to practice extreme poses, as we age we don't recover as quickly or as completely from physical stress or injury as we did when we were 20. We have less Human Growth Hormone (HGH) circulating through our bodies so we are less capable of repair when we injure ourselves; if you are pushing yourself deeper into a stretch, the chance of injury goes up. The more you can relax into a stretch, just enough so that it feels good, the less likely you are to injure yourself. Sometimes a simple standing forward bend with knees slightly bent is plenty; there is no need to pull your torso against your legs.

3. Practicing yoga is about finding the balance between strength and ease. No matter what pose you are practicing, you want to find your "steady, comfortable seat," where you have enough support to maintain the pose, but without struggle. When you are stretching, the same rules apply. Try to lengthen out your exhale (through your nose) and relax your body while holding a stretch. There is a physiological relaxation response when we exhale, so by inhaling deeply, we have more time to exhale and relax the body into whatever pose we are doing. By relaxing into the stretch and "listening" to the sensations in our body, we can practice effectively and have a lower risk of injury. I often speak of the body being like a rebellious teenager: when you push and force your body into a pose, the body fights back. When you can breathe and create a little space by relaxing your body, it will eventually do what you want it to do; your body might not get there on your timeline, and it may not be exactly what you pictured in your mind, but yoga is as much an internal practice as it is an external one. The physical practice helps create mental mobility and flexibility in this way. When you are not attached to the outcome and can meet yourself where you are, you will find more ease in both the body and mind.

4. Our anatomy is our anatomy. Most bodies aren't built for extreme stretching. Some bodies have tighter ligaments and less range of motion in the joints. You can create more mobility and range of motion to a point by stretching the muscles that move a joint, but you may never get into an extreme range that someone with looser ligaments might. No matter how loose or tight your ligaments are, you can still create mobility in your body and the "ability to move or be moved freely and easily." Tighter bodies might have less overall range of motion, but stretching the muscles can improve mobility over time, and help you feel more comfortable in the body that you have. 

5. Mental flexibility is a great goal with yoga and is found through acceptance. Meeting yourself where you are when you step on your mat allows you to meet yourself where you are when you step off your mat. The ability to "bend easily without breaking" can apply to the mind as well as the body. Life is stressful, and sometimes we create added stress with the stories we tell ourselves about what happened or what will happen. Yoga teaches us to focus on what is actually happening and shows us how our mind thinks. This is a skill that, when taken off the mat, can make our experience of life a little less stressful.

When it comes to the body, my suggestion is to focus on mobility, more than flexibility. It is more important to be able to put your shoes and socks on than it is to bring your foot to your ear. Your neck and shoulders feel better when you stand up straight than when you spend hours hunched over. Being able to reach behind your back to fasten your bra, or be able to pull your shirt over your head are all actions of daily living that may become harder as we age unless we keep up mobility work. A yoga daily yoga practice can help to keep you strong and mobile throughout your life. And the more you cultivate a physical practice, you will experience an improvement in mental mobility and flexibility as well.

To learn more about me and my online classes, follow me on Instagram or go to app.arketa.co/purpleroomyoga.