Kit_L

So let it go, already! The somatic and emotional work you mentioned in the earlier post can all be addressed, directly and indirectly, by developing a relaxation practice. I have a deep background in (and still run a practice in) stress management, and the advice that I continue to give you is based on excellent scientific and empirical work over many decades. A question to ask yourself, I suggest, is what is the root of the incredible resistance you have to simply lying down for 20 minutes, listening to a step-by-step proven formula that relaxes you?

I should add that the long lunge does not have to be done while balancing, as Elise is. One finger vertically on a picnic table alongside me to keep balance is what I do, and holding for time in the deepest position is the way to progress this. All adjustments to squareness and tail tuck must be done before the deepest position is reached (you will not be able to make these adjustments once there). There is a lot of work that can be done in the position, too; I will make a video of my own on this, soon.

It's obvious to anyone who reads what you write, Alexander. Do the relaxation practise every day for three months. Let us know when you begin, and we will send you encouraging messages monthly.

Well, consider reading this: https://kitlaughlin.com/forums/index.php?/topic/1570-the-secrets-of-stretching/ And, of all the attributes needed to "achieve my middle, front splits and pancake, as well as improve my backbend", consistency is #1. Procrastination is self-sabotage, that's all. And there's no problem with that, either. This is why in my reply to you, I asked you, "What do you want?" If you understand this question at a deep level, you're on your way. No other advice will be needed, or helpful. Re. front splits: do the long lunge twice a week; I will link you to Emmet Louis's explanation (he was a student of mine for a long while, and we talk regularly) below. In the bigger picture, the hip flexors are the key to both the front splits and all backward bending. Go to our YouTube channel (kit laughlin) and search on "quads and hip flexors". All the best ones are there, free. Do only twice a week. Keep the hips square, and tuck your tail, flexing the glute on the back leg to do this.

What do you want? IOW, what do you want out of the movement practise? If you can be clear with yourself about what you want, people here might be able to help with suggestions. I also recommend not doing any one thing every day, but instead do one of a number of things each day, and have a day off once a week where you just walk for pleasure.

More useful, don't you think? It is the mind's habit to move to a binary position on everything. The reality is that reality is seamless – it's the mind that cuts it up into pieces.

Let thoughts about the practise go, let all thoughts go, and you will!

Considering food as fuel is not at odds with they way you describe it; each is a window on something larger and more complex, and the windows are constructed for different purposes. One does not contradict the other, so nothing is lost in these different ways of considering the same thing.

Everything must be tight: in a real, gymnastics, plank (all four of them; side, reverse, and the two 'forward' planks; one with maximum thoracic flexion; the other neutral) every pair of muscles is tensed against its opposite. So, calf muscles against tibialis anterior; quads against hamstrings, etc. Do not let the hips sag; tuck your tail to straighten the spine and tighten everything. Planks should be as hard as you can make them—and this has whole-body strengthening effects. They are much harder exercises than non-gymnasts think. 20" is a long plank in the beginning. The shakes will settle down.

That, and the lying practice! Keep going; that stuff, with all of its sensations, is you!

No need to be even the slightest bit defensive, either. That was then; this is now. Practise now.

Try this: get into the position you show above, then (for L thigh) keep foot pointed backward, and put glutes as far to the left as you can (so over the foot) and try to put the L glute on the floor. Watch the L thigh externally rotate; that should put medialis as the muscle closest the ceiling. Then tuck your tail slowly, and lean back onto your arms, with a straight back, and then onto your elbows, if you can. If vastus medialis is tight, you should feel it (that and rec. fem). It might not be tight, and that may be why you don't feel it.

Thanks for this, Jim. This is just another datum point in my position about eating as well as you can, cooking all your own food, getting everything in your area from organic sources that you can, not eating any ultra processed food, and doing all the other things that we are already doing. To be honest, I find it hard to trust supplement companies, as I find it hard to trust many other companies too. Big Pharma, especially.

Not so much. The floor quad stretches are much better for that. And you can emphasise lateral versus medial by where you rotate the thigh joint to – flipping off the heel and settling onto the floor inside the lower leg, or as close as you can as you can get to it, and tucking the tail, will emphasise lateralis. If, on the other hand, you put your bottom on the outside of the leg that will tend to emphasise medialis. Let the thigh rotate in both directions as much as you can.

Noice. Very noice.

Please disengage from posting, and do the practice instead. Post your experiences in a week or, better, two. These things take time to develop. Over and out from me.

So please edit the post so I know what you were referring to. I'll be here for the next little while.

LRP! And what wonderful progress you have made. Keep going. It will be so good for you to look back on this in year's time – you'll be a different person and that process has already started

Please edit your post above, so I know which of my assertions you are commenting on. And on re-reading this thread, the fact that sensing your own body is difficult for you, and your further assertion that "sensation is not my superior function" is all the stronger evidence for my recommendation, below: Please engage with this, and do this for at least a week before posting again.

You could try making that last one a once-a-week experiment—while I am a fan of what I call "conscious suffering" (momentary choice to experience strong sensation in pursuit of a beneficial change) you do not have to do this every day!

In my extensive experience in this arena, I believe that you are learning to move in such a way as to unweight as much of the bottom of your feet as possible, rather than your feet acclimating or having facial adaptations. My feet are still soft, and I've been walking barefoot for 20 years. If you pay attention, you'll probably see that your knees are always slightly bent when you're walking on sharp things – and if you watch even more carefully you'll see that when the bottom of your foot feels something sharp, your adductors or external rotators will move the knee in or out to unload that area. This is a broadbrush perspective – all of the mini adaptations happen instantly and most of the time we don't notice what we're actually doing. Excellent work, keep going!

This happens—and this is why I say, "try this, and see what happens"—because this cannot be known before it happens. Lovely insight! Likely. To test this, stretch quads first (use the floor exercise) then as you pull your feet closer to the body, watch the knees come further back (hence more stretch on the adductors; knees will be higher). Then, one day, you'll see that your lower legs, instead of forming a straight line from above, when the quads are loose enough, will form a small angle when the feet are right next to the body, and you will not be stretching the adductors quite so much! This is just an example of the interaction between different ranges of movement – few people suspect that by stretching their quads they could improve their tailor pose, but you can. Your other insight, in the following paragraph, is simply to be aware that your body is different today – if you really pay attention, you will see that your body is different every day, and we need to approach today's body today. When you really pay attention, as an Abbot said to me once, "you are changing with every breath—or perhaps you didn't notice?" 😒 You just have to laugh! This is a deep insight when you know it to be true. There's more, but you get the trend! Keep going and excellent work.

Consider everything you experience—if you are thinking about it, you are in the conceptual realm: words, ideas, arguments, discussions... Direct physical sensations, on the other hand, are in the experiential realm, and as you note the sensation in the body only happens in the continuously unfolding present – and that can be a very, very narrow window indeed, depending on your capacity to focus. In my experience, and in the experience of many other people, insights which lead to genuine understanding/knowledge and sometimes a changing of one's world of view only happen when you're not thinking – like when you're under the shower or lying back on a couch, as many scientists and other thinkers have reported. This is why it is necessary, in my view, to cultivate stillness internally and to develop the capacity to do nothing. I know this sounds paradoxical, but as others have said, from nothing something can happen.

Do the lying relaxation practise every day for three months; do not miss a day. Rather than "figuring out what your temperament is", learn to feel what's happening in your body, and how to create the state of deep relaxation at will, and you will not be at the behest of either introversion or extraversion. Both are reactions to what is happening around you. When you have a handle on your inner world, everything changes. As for living a better life, the Dalai Lama was once asked, "what is your religion?". He looked at the reporter, and said, "my religion is kindness. Be kind wherever possible." He looked away from the reporter for a moment, and looked back and said, "It is always possible". That was life-changing for me; it might be for you, too. This is the essence of a better life.

@Gareth O Connor: What is the intent of your question, or in other words, if I attempt to answer this question, how could this benefit you?