April 15, 2024 • 11 mins
"Welcome to Episode 1 of 'Flexibility Over 40,' titled 'Starting Your Flexibility Journey.' In this episode, we dive into a few basic tips for beginning your flexibility journey.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
What's up? What's good everybody?How are you? We're talking about flexibility
for over forty and how you canstill go get it even if you're brand
new. So even if this isnew for you, what's up everybody?
How you doing? How is yourMonday going? I hope it's going well.
(00:24):
I hope you had a productive dayso far I have Mine is not
remotely over yet. Hello, Hello, how are you? For those of
you that are new to me,I am Ashley, the founder and CEO
of Black crowny Yoga magazine and Blackcrowne Yoga, and Paul happen to be
in the studio right now. Weare going to talk about this flexibility business
(00:49):
for forty and up. It's fourbeginners. We're going to focus on beginners
today because a lot of us arenew to this or we found out that
yoga was a good thing for us, so like we're just picking it up
now. So I wanted to talkabout it because I have been working for
(01:11):
a good little bit now for myselfon middle splits and been sharing that journey
with y'all and giving kind of easythings that you could do to approach it
and get started. So y'all letme know in the comments, so if
you can hear me and if myaudio is good. So as you get
started on your flexibility journey, oneof the big things that I can tell
(01:34):
you in the beginning is don't overdoit. Slow is fast. The slower
you can go and give your bodya chance to acclimate to this new thing
that you're doing, to this newthing that you decided to take on,
to this new thing that you're like, Yeah, girl, I'm gonna get
my fitness all together in my forties. Great. Love it, Love that
for you, love that for us. But you don't have to do it
(01:57):
at ninety miles an hour. Ifyou are trying to do all the ones,
it increases the likelihood that you'll getburnt out or you'll get injured because
your body is just not ready todo what you're asking it to do.
So in the beginning, start slowin the beginning, give yourself the place
and space to kind of grow intowhat you're asking your body to do.
Use the series that I started formintle splits. It's five seconds easily accessible
(02:24):
exercises that anybody can do from theirhome, and you can always start.
You always should start. I shouldsay where you are now where somebody else
is, not where my flexibility is. Remember, I teach you for a
living, and I've done it forabout a decade now. So my hope
is that my flexibility would look alittle different than your flexibility. And even
(02:45):
if your flexibility looks a little differentthan my flexibility, as it should,
that does not mean that you haveto do what I'm doing in the video
in order to see success. Youjust want to do a version thereof and
do what's available for your body tokickstart this journey. That's basically what you're
going for. Getting started is betterthan continue to not do anything at all.
(03:07):
So the way that we maintain ourhealth as we age is by continuing
to move. The less we move, the less we're able to maintain our
health, and more joints and hipsand knees and elbows and back and all
that begins to hurt and deteriorate becausewe're not using it like anything else.
If you don't use it, youwill lose it. So y'all tap the
(03:30):
screen and put up some heart soI know that you can hear me that
my audio is working, because it'sbeen super sketchy, so I can't necessarily
tell if it is or not.I appreciate you joining me because I'm here
for you and I want you tofeel like you are seen in this video,
Tessa, because if I'm not sharing, then clearly I'm not caring.
(03:52):
Okay, now that we got thatout of the way. But your flexibility
journeying does not have to be inall or nothing. The other thing is
it doesn't have to be super hardstuff. Okay, the videos that I
have put up, the videos thatI have made available to y'all, it's
easy, easy, basic stuff,easily accessible, basic stuff. Right.
It's not meant to be overly hard. It's not meant to be excessively challenging.
(04:15):
It's not meant to have you winded. What it's meant to do is
to get you started. That's whatwe're trying to do. We just want
to get you started. We wantto give you the opportunity to get your
body moving in the right direction tobuild your flexibility. That's what we're trying
to do out here in the streets. And I also want you to have
your knees prepared because Meg and Guerrillaare going on tour this summer and I
(04:41):
need you to be ready. Okay, Okay, you can't be a part
of the want to be challenged ifyour knees are not emotionally prepared for what's
about to happen. Okay, I'mjust trying to help you, like a
friend. So use the videos.Allow them to guide you through your flexibility
journey. At minimum, allow youto get started right, because because if
(05:08):
you get started now, then bythe time we get into summer, like
deep, deep, deep into summer, you'll be ready. Your knees will
be ready, your back will beready, your hips will be ready.
You can do all the things inlight of having these good knees right and
then and then you can have goodneees into your nineties if we work on
(05:30):
our flexibility now. Because I don'tknow about you, but talking to my
nineties is on my list of shitto do. It just is it just
is. I feel like it's aquality life goal that we all should aspire
to. I mean, I thinkit's a really good idea. You should
too. So flexibility, how dowe How do we start this journey?
We start slow and build from theground up right, start where we are,
(05:54):
because you can't start anywhere else.You can't start in the middle.
I know that some of the videosthat you see regarding flexibility typically typically are
of younger people and younger bodies,And if your body is affording an over
body, your approach is not goingto be the twenty something version of flexibility.
I just don't think that that's agreat place to start. The other
(06:15):
thing that you want to make surethat you're mindful of when you're kicking off
this journey. One really really easything that you could do is drink some
water. Drink some water. Iknow it's wild. I know it's wild.
It's the craziest advice I ever.Like what you mean. Want drinks
some damn water. Water goes along way. It helped hydrate your body.
It helps hydrate your muscles because they'rea part of said body. It
(06:38):
helps your organs function properly. Thereare so many things that you can accomplish
if you are not dry and actuallyon the inside. Drink some water.
Okay. What makes your flexibility journeythat much harder is if you are dehydrated.
So being hydrated will go a longway, right, Drink water.
(06:59):
I know, I test, it'shard. Living water is not what everybody
wants, but it'll help Okay,don't come to class with Ashley Dusty muscles.
It doesn't help anybody, and italso just decreases your body's ability to
recover after taking on something new.How much water, Let's just start with
(07:20):
some, right, because a lotof times we come into this and we're
like, I'm gonna start drinking agallon of water a day, but I
can't even get eight ounces in you. So how about we just start with
some water versus not at all?Right? Easy? Only this one says
(07:40):
only my men's are actually you areabsolutely ridiculous. Anyho. Other things that
can help when you are getting startedon your flexibility journey is doing it in
a space that makes you feel comfortable. Doing in a space that you feel
easy. If your space is hecticand there's a lot of stuff going on
and a lot of chaos, itis very hard to start something new in
(08:01):
that space. So granted I usethe studio for mine, because that's what
the studio is for. It obviouslyhelps that. However, try and find
a quiet space where you can rollout your mat and give some time to
yourself, because when you're first starting, you want to make sure that you
limit your distraction so you can payattention to what your body is doing and
how you feel within your body,and if you are distracted, you can't
(08:24):
pay attention to what's going on insideyour body, all right. The other
thing when you're just kicking off thisflexibility journey is if you are listening to
your body, it gives you anopportunity to learn the difference between what is
actual pain and what is just edges, what is just being on the edge.
Is this discomfort where my body's tellingme I need to stop, or
(08:45):
is this just a little bit ofwarmth where Okay, I'm just working on
something or working out something that Ihave not used in a long time.
If you're working on a body partthat you have not worked on since Cash
Money Records was taken over from thenine nines and two thousands, it's gonna
feel some type of way. Soyou want to make sure that you are
(09:05):
actively paying attention to what is goingon internally in order to be able to
listen to that feedback that your bodyis giving you. Okay, if you
are doing this with music on,that's fine, that's fine, But just
do your level best to pay attentionto what you have going on so you
can get that feedback and you canuse it as you grow and go forward.
The other thing that I will sayas you kick off this flexibility journey
(09:30):
is you don't have to do itevery day. Value rest days. I
cannot tell you as I get olderhow important it is how much I value
a rest day versus going super hardseven days a week. When it comes
to where because your body needs timeto recover. Your body also needs time
for your mind and your body tointegrate the new intelligence that you are adding
(09:54):
in to your flexibility journey. Rightso, you're picking up new muscle coordination.
Your brain is tax because you're doingthis new activity. Bodies is taxed
because you're doing this new activity.So if we do not give that space
for rest for the body to recoveronce again, we are pushing ourselves that
much faster towards towards burnout. Soin the beginning, give yourself the opportunity
(10:18):
to rest, give yourself the opportunityto to grow into your flexibility based off
of where you are right now asfar as schedule is concerned, that's really
contingent upon what you have going onin your life. So I, because
this is my job, I havea studio. It's part of my regular
(10:39):
dating life. I can do thisevery single day if I want to write.
But if you got a regular nineto five and you got life,
fifty eleven kids and ten thousand otherresponsibilities, start with one day a week.
Allow that one day a week tobe the driver of your practice until
you can create space to do ittwo days a week. I much rather
(11:01):
you have an opportunity at being successfuland not quitting, because we didn't create
overwhelmed in the beginning. Okay,be a couch potato, but stretch on
your couch. If the couch isyour jam, if the couch is your
coffee spot, start where you are, Start where you are. See you
(11:24):
didn't think I was gonna have ananswer for that, but there it is,
all right. So I hope thatthis is helpful. I hope that
this gets your body moving. Ilook forward to continuing the series as we
work through middle splits and easily accessibleexercises that beginners can do for our forty
and up friends that can help youget started on your flexibility journey. If
you have any questions, feel freeto send me Adam. I'm happy to
(11:48):
answer. You are very welcome,all right, y'all have a wonderful rest
of your Monday. I will catchy'all later face
What's up? What's good everybody?How are you? We're talking about flexibility
for over forty and how you canstill go get it even if you're brand
new. So even if this isnew for you, what's up everybody?
How you doing? How is yourMonday going? I hope it's going well.
(00:24):
I hope you had a productive dayso far I have Mine is not
remotely over yet. Hello, Hello, how are you? For those of
you that are new to me,I am Ashley, the founder and CEO
of Black crowny Yoga magazine and Blackcrowne Yoga, and Paul happen to be
in the studio right now. Weare going to talk about this flexibility business
(00:49):
for forty and up. It's fourbeginners. We're going to focus on beginners
today because a lot of us arenew to this or we found out that
yoga was a good thing for us, so like we're just picking it up
now. So I wanted to talkabout it because I have been working for
(01:11):
a good little bit now for myselfon middle splits and been sharing that journey
with y'all and giving kind of easythings that you could do to approach it
and get started. So y'all letme know in the comments, so if
you can hear me and if myaudio is good. So as you get
started on your flexibility journey, oneof the big things that I can tell
(01:34):
you in the beginning is don't overdoit. Slow is fast. The slower
you can go and give your bodya chance to acclimate to this new thing
that you're doing, to this newthing that you decided to take on,
to this new thing that you're like, Yeah, girl, I'm gonna get
my fitness all together in my forties. Great. Love it, Love that
for you, love that for us. But you don't have to do it
(01:57):
at ninety miles an hour. Ifyou are trying to do all the ones,
it increases the likelihood that you'll getburnt out or you'll get injured because
your body is just not ready todo what you're asking it to do.
So in the beginning, start slowin the beginning, give yourself the place
and space to kind of grow intowhat you're asking your body to do.
Use the series that I started formintle splits. It's five seconds easily accessible
(02:24):
exercises that anybody can do from theirhome, and you can always start.
You always should start. I shouldsay where you are now where somebody else
is, not where my flexibility is. Remember, I teach you for a
living, and I've done it forabout a decade now. So my hope
is that my flexibility would look alittle different than your flexibility. And even
(02:45):
if your flexibility looks a little differentthan my flexibility, as it should,
that does not mean that you haveto do what I'm doing in the video
in order to see success. Youjust want to do a version thereof and
do what's available for your body tokickstart this journey. That's basically what you're
going for. Getting started is betterthan continue to not do anything at all.
(03:07):
So the way that we maintain ourhealth as we age is by continuing
to move. The less we move, the less we're able to maintain our
health, and more joints and hipsand knees and elbows and back and all
that begins to hurt and deteriorate becausewe're not using it like anything else.
If you don't use it, youwill lose it. So y'all tap the
(03:30):
screen and put up some heart soI know that you can hear me that
my audio is working, because it'sbeen super sketchy, so I can't necessarily
tell if it is or not.I appreciate you joining me because I'm here
for you and I want you tofeel like you are seen in this video,
Tessa, because if I'm not sharing, then clearly I'm not caring.
(03:52):
Okay, now that we got thatout of the way. But your flexibility
journeying does not have to be inall or nothing. The other thing is
it doesn't have to be super hardstuff. Okay, the videos that I
have put up, the videos thatI have made available to y'all, it's
easy, easy, basic stuff,easily accessible, basic stuff. Right.
It's not meant to be overly hard. It's not meant to be excessively challenging.
(04:15):
It's not meant to have you winded. What it's meant to do is
to get you started. That's whatwe're trying to do. We just want
to get you started. We wantto give you the opportunity to get your
body moving in the right direction tobuild your flexibility. That's what we're trying
to do out here in the streets. And I also want you to have
your knees prepared because Meg and Guerrillaare going on tour this summer and I
(04:41):
need you to be ready. Okay, Okay, you can't be a part
of the want to be challenged ifyour knees are not emotionally prepared for what's
about to happen. Okay, I'mjust trying to help you, like a
friend. So use the videos.Allow them to guide you through your flexibility
journey. At minimum, allow youto get started right, because because if
(05:08):
you get started now, then bythe time we get into summer, like
deep, deep, deep into summer, you'll be ready. Your knees will
be ready, your back will beready, your hips will be ready.
You can do all the things inlight of having these good knees right and
then and then you can have goodneees into your nineties if we work on
(05:30):
our flexibility now. Because I don'tknow about you, but talking to my
nineties is on my list of shitto do. It just is it just
is. I feel like it's aquality life goal that we all should aspire
to. I mean, I thinkit's a really good idea. You should
too. So flexibility, how dowe How do we start this journey?
We start slow and build from theground up right, start where we are,
(05:54):
because you can't start anywhere else.You can't start in the middle.
I know that some of the videosthat you see regarding flexibility typically typically are
of younger people and younger bodies,And if your body is affording an over
body, your approach is not goingto be the twenty something version of flexibility.
I just don't think that that's agreat place to start. The other
(06:15):
thing that you want to make surethat you're mindful of when you're kicking off
this journey. One really really easything that you could do is drink some
water. Drink some water. Iknow it's wild. I know it's wild.
It's the craziest advice I ever.Like what you mean. Want drinks
some damn water. Water goes along way. It helped hydrate your body.
It helps hydrate your muscles because they'rea part of said body. It
(06:38):
helps your organs function properly. Thereare so many things that you can accomplish
if you are not dry and actuallyon the inside. Drink some water.
Okay. What makes your flexibility journeythat much harder is if you are dehydrated.
So being hydrated will go a longway, right, Drink water.
(06:59):
I know, I test, it'shard. Living water is not what everybody
wants, but it'll help Okay,don't come to class with Ashley Dusty muscles.
It doesn't help anybody, and italso just decreases your body's ability to
recover after taking on something new.How much water, Let's just start with
(07:20):
some, right, because a lotof times we come into this and we're
like, I'm gonna start drinking agallon of water a day, but I
can't even get eight ounces in you. So how about we just start with
some water versus not at all?Right? Easy? Only this one says
(07:40):
only my men's are actually you areabsolutely ridiculous. Anyho. Other things that
can help when you are getting startedon your flexibility journey is doing it in
a space that makes you feel comfortable. Doing in a space that you feel
easy. If your space is hecticand there's a lot of stuff going on
and a lot of chaos, itis very hard to start something new in
(08:01):
that space. So granted I usethe studio for mine, because that's what
the studio is for. It obviouslyhelps that. However, try and find
a quiet space where you can rollout your mat and give some time to
yourself, because when you're first starting, you want to make sure that you
limit your distraction so you can payattention to what your body is doing and
how you feel within your body,and if you are distracted, you can't
(08:24):
pay attention to what's going on insideyour body, all right. The other
thing when you're just kicking off thisflexibility journey is if you are listening to
your body, it gives you anopportunity to learn the difference between what is
actual pain and what is just edges, what is just being on the edge.
Is this discomfort where my body's tellingme I need to stop, or
(08:45):
is this just a little bit ofwarmth where Okay, I'm just working on
something or working out something that Ihave not used in a long time.
If you're working on a body partthat you have not worked on since Cash
Money Records was taken over from thenine nines and two thousands, it's gonna
feel some type of way. Soyou want to make sure that you are
(09:05):
actively paying attention to what is goingon internally in order to be able to
listen to that feedback that your bodyis giving you. Okay, if you
are doing this with music on,that's fine, that's fine, But just
do your level best to pay attentionto what you have going on so you
can get that feedback and you canuse it as you grow and go forward.
The other thing that I will sayas you kick off this flexibility journey
(09:30):
is you don't have to do itevery day. Value rest days. I
cannot tell you as I get olderhow important it is how much I value
a rest day versus going super hardseven days a week. When it comes
to where because your body needs timeto recover. Your body also needs time
for your mind and your body tointegrate the new intelligence that you are adding
(09:54):
in to your flexibility journey. Rightso, you're picking up new muscle coordination.
Your brain is tax because you're doingthis new activity. Bodies is taxed
because you're doing this new activity.So if we do not give that space
for rest for the body to recoveronce again, we are pushing ourselves that
much faster towards towards burnout. Soin the beginning, give yourself the opportunity
(10:18):
to rest, give yourself the opportunityto to grow into your flexibility based off
of where you are right now asfar as schedule is concerned, that's really
contingent upon what you have going onin your life. So I, because
this is my job, I havea studio. It's part of my regular
(10:39):
dating life. I can do thisevery single day if I want to write.
But if you got a regular nineto five and you got life,
fifty eleven kids and ten thousand otherresponsibilities, start with one day a week.
Allow that one day a week tobe the driver of your practice until
you can create space to do ittwo days a week. I much rather
(11:01):
you have an opportunity at being successfuland not quitting, because we didn't create
overwhelmed in the beginning. Okay,be a couch potato, but stretch on
your couch. If the couch isyour jam, if the couch is your
coffee spot, start where you are, Start where you are. See you
(11:24):
didn't think I was gonna have ananswer for that, but there it is,
all right. So I hope thatthis is helpful. I hope that
this gets your body moving. Ilook forward to continuing the series as we
work through middle splits and easily accessibleexercises that beginners can do for our forty
and up friends that can help youget started on your flexibility journey. If
you have any questions, feel freeto send me Adam. I'm happy to
(11:48):
answer. You are very welcome,all right, y'all have a wonderful rest
of your Monday. I will catchy'all later face
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