How does ST compare to Yoga.

[Chris 9]

How does Stretch Therapy differ from Yoga?   Please have patience with this question.  I know that Kit says,  "Does what we do look like Yoga, or some other body work?"  No, Stretch Therapy doesn't look like yoga.  However, is there a more conceptual answer?  For example, let me throw out a possible difference between Yoga and Stretch Therapy: Many Yoga poses are not at all relaxing, in my opinion.  Take, for example, the Tree Pose; I don't find it relaxing.  Or, for example, the downward dog;  there isn't anything especially relaxing about the pose,  especially if you have tight hamstrings and you struggle to flatten you back.  By contrast, I believe that in Stretch Therapy you are trying to relax into most everything.   I only suggest this to get the conversation started.

Why I ask is this question is that I'd like to get some people who currently do yoga to try Stretch Therapy.   However, they want to know exactly what Stretch Therapy offers that they can't get through yoga - and the explanation needs to be condensed into a few sound bites.  Any advise?

[Nathan]

Hi Chris,

Have you seen the Stretch Therapy FAQ? The first two entries address your question to some degree. That said, why do you want to get them to try ST? If that doesn't inform your answer, then maybe your motivations aren't the best  I'd say the issue is more complex than the FAQ answers would imply, though. ST can go very deep - just as deep as yoga, in my opinion. But on the surface level, ST is a system to improve flexibility. Are these people doing yoga to improve flexibility? If so, then ST will better serve their purpose. I think you need to know your motivation, and their motivations, and then you can address the question much more thoroughly.

[Chris 9]

Apologies, I didn't see those FAQ's.  However, let me play the devils advocate.  The FAQs says "Stretch Therapy’s goals are...: to increase Range of Movement where desirable, to free the body from pain, and to optimise its functions."   I believe that someone who is advocating for yoga would say that yoga also achieves those goals.   Let me rephrase my orginal question:  Is stretch therapy more effective that Yoga at achieving the above stated goals, and if so, what is it about Stretch Therapy that makes it more effective that Yoga at those goals?  

[Nathan]

No worries. Kit will probably pop in and give you a much better answer. I don't actually practice yoga, so take my words with a grain of salt. I know there are many types, as well, and they have varying end goals, so this is really a fairly complex topic and you haven't shared with us your specific details. That said...

7 hours ago, Chris 9 said:

Let me rephrase my orginal question:  Is stretch therapy more effective that Yoga at achieving the above stated goals, and if so, what is it about Stretch Therapy that makes it more effective that Yoga at those goals?

Each of those goals gets more and more abstract, so I hesitate to give a firm yes to all three since different flavors of yoga will have different results, but as I said previously:

7 hours ago, Nathan said:

But on the surface level, ST is a system to improve flexibility. Are these people doing yoga to improve flexibility? If so, then ST will better serve their purpose.

So regarding the first of the three goals at the very least, the answer is yes. ST will be more effective. Why? Because it was designed specifically to do this very thing. Increased flexibility is a byproduct of yoga, generally only in certain areas of the body, and the latest stretching "technologies" are not included in the practice.

The second of the three ("free the body from pain") will have a similar answer, but it gets more difficult to make a broad statement since there are flavors of yoga such as restorative yoga, which "is mainly for practitioners suffering from injuries, stress, or illness, who therefore require a yoga practice that can bring them back to a better quality of life; classes are necessarily small so that each person can receive detailed attention to ensure they are safe and properly supported." (Quote from Wikipedia.) I don't know enough about restorative yoga to properly compare it to ST in regard to this goal.

[MarkusO]

Simply put: The primary goal of Yoga is not to become more flexible and the goal of ST is not enlightenment. What is the goal? Feeling good in your supple body or a spiritual practice? If you want to convert yogis to stretchees then first figure out why they are doing Yoga in the first place. There might not be a reason to switch. However, there might not be a reason to do Yoga in the first place.

[Chris 9]

Hi MarkusO, one goal of Yoga is to be more flexible and to feel good in your body.    Therefore, if we are talking about goals, then Yoga encompasses Stretch Therapy.   If we are talking about goals, then Yoga does both the physical and spiritual and you are getting twice the value of your money.   This is why I think the talk of "goals" is often not enlightening.    What I'm trying to do is get past the "Goals" to the "Hows".  Does Stretch Therapy achieve the above stated goal more effectively than Yoga, and if so, then how?  What is the strategy and mechanism that makes Stretch Therapy more effective at the above stated goal?  

I think Nathan is getting closer to answer when he says that Yoga does not include the latest stretching "technologies" in the practice, but what are those technologies?

 

[MarkusO]

2 hours ago, Chris 9 said:

What is the strategy and mechanism that makes Stretch Therapy more effective at the above stated goal?  

Mainly partial poses, partner poses, the C-R method and the utilization of several reflexes. Moreover as already stated development of strange in end ranges through C-R. ST gives you tools for very specific problems. If you know a specific muscle or muscle group is the problem, there will be a way to specifically target it. Yoga poses are much more global. All stretches can be scaled precisely to the need of the individual. I would suggest to familarize yourself a bit more with the system to deepen your understanding, the differences will become much clearer. There is plenty of material 🙂. Moreover it is worth stating that ST is a system that keeps evolving over time and nothing will be done because "it has always been this way". If an exercise shows to be more effective than another exercise it will be added to the system.

[Chris 9]

8 hours ago, MarkusO said:

Mainly partial poses, partner poses, the C-R method and the utilization of several reflexes. Moreover as already stated development of strange in end ranges through C-R. ST gives you tools for very specific problems. If you know a specific muscle or muscle group is the problem, there will be a way to specifically target it. 

Thanks MarkusO, that makes sense.  

Let me offer  my own opinion on the difference between Yoga and Stretch Therapy.  You suggest that Yoga emphasizes spirituality.  This is the common understanding.  However, I've taken a few dozen yoga classes on the West Coast of the US, and there is no spirituality going on in these classes as far as I can see.  Maybe they put their hands together at the end of class and say "Namaste", but that doesn't rise to the level of authentic spirituality in my book.   I simply do not accept the contention that contemporary yoga taught in most public settings has anything to do with spirituality, regardless of how many times this claim is repeated.   I'd say that the difference between these two is that Yoga is an external focused practice; In Yoga you create poses, such as the Warrior Pose, that are aesthetically appealing from an external perspective.    People who do yoga would reject my interpretation, but I think they are in a state of denial about their true motivations.    By contrast, in Stretch therapy, you do not create a pose with your body for an aesthetic reason, but rather for the purpose of creating flexibility.

[Kit_L]

16 hours ago, Chris 9 said:

However, I've taken a few dozen yoga classes on the West Coast of the US, and there is no spirituality going on in these classes as far as I can see.

Welcome to the forums, Chris.

There are hundreds of different schools of Yoga, and many do no physical poses at all. Some are devotional, and only chant; others only meditate, and so on. And the fact that so many of the Yoga schools that do do the physical poses have such different approaches to them, I do not believe that it's possible to talk about "Yoga". If you want to contrast say, Iyengar Yoga with Ashtanga Yoga, you will be on safer ground (though both Iyengar and Pattabhi Jois had the same teacher, Krishnamacharya).

The tag line on our site (that attempts to describe a broad, deep system simply, which cannot be done) is: "how to achieve grace and ease in the body and the mind". Iyengar, in his excellent Light on Yoga wrote (in the introduction) that often, gymnasts and dancers could do many, perhaps all, the poses but lacked the essential quality that the practise of yoga is supposed to confer, that is, 'equanimity". This is an English word that comes closest to a Sanskrit term, written here in English letters, "vairagya". The best translation I think is non-attachment, and not detachment, as you often see. 

And contemporary Yoga teachers that are pursuing the spiritual path can be found; I have met many of them on our workshops. 

16 hours ago, Chris 9 said:

By contrast, in Stretch therapy, you do not create a pose with your body for an aesthetic reason, but rather for the purpose of creating flexibility.

Not really; that is a beginner's practise, and certainly consistent with all of ST, though. We all start wanting to increase our flexibility, for many and different reasons. But the real goal is to remove restrictions from the body; this has a commensurate effect in the mind, in time. Removing restrictions allows one's innate posture to emerge, and facilitates movement practises of all kinds and always leads to enhanced flexibility, and at the same time, makes one stronger at the ends of ranges of movement. While it is true that most schools of Hatha Yoga (one of Patanjali's Eight Limbs) use long held end positions to achieve the flexibility that one often sees in yoga students, most do not include this strengthening element explicitly. Ashtanga, on the other hand, does explicitly focus on strength development, along with vinyasa, or flow.

[Nathan]

Kit just posted while I was replying and basically said what I wanted to say (again) - we can't really talk about "yoga" and its goals any more than we can talk about something like "martial arts."

12 hours ago, Chris 9 said:

Therefore, if we are talking about goals, then Yoga encompasses Stretch Therapy.   If we are talking about goals, then Yoga does both the physical and spiritual and you are getting twice the value of your money.

More accurate would be to say that yoga (likely) encompasses some increase in flexibility, which does not equate to ST. I think anyone who has practiced ST seriously will agree that it moves into spiritual territory. As Kit said above, "But the real goal is to remove restrictions from the body; this has a commensurate effect in the mind, in time." So you could say the reverse with regard to ST encompassing goals of yoga too. But dance will increase your flexibility, and can even be made into a spiritual practice. Does that mean that it is a replacement for ST or yoga? Of course not.

12 hours ago, Chris 9 said:

Does Stretch Therapy achieve the above stated goal more effectively than Yoga, and if so, then how?  What is the strategy and mechanism that makes Stretch Therapy more effective at the above stated goal?  

It seems like you're asking about ST techniques. Markus has touched on some of these, as well as partial and partner poses. ST attacks flexibility directly, and intelligently. It will be more thorough and more efficient than practices where increased flexibility is a byproduct or secondary goal.

[Kit_L]

@Chris 9: I think you will benefit from spending some time, considerable time possibly, on the forums here learning about this system. Putting Yoga (whatever that means) up against Stretch Therapy with no clear/deep understanding of either will never be useful.

When you have specific questions, by all means respond here.