Matt's Movement Log

[Nathan]

21 hours ago, Matt Chung said:

Regarding this exercise, thanks @Nathan for recommending the compression exercises but (apparently) my core compression is very very (very very) weak (i.e. couldn't even lift my two legs off the ground even a millimeter during one of the exercises)

Don't worry; this is completely normal. Anyone who has ever tried compression work feels completely hopeless at first... "What?! I can't move my legs at all!"  But this is still an isometric contraction, and isometrics are a powerful tool. Just keep going - I promise it gets better, and the results are worth it  

[Matt Chung]

Day 374 of stretching and flexibility (reporting on day 376)

Up until now, I felt that practicing for the pancake stretch was premature, the movement too far out of reach due to my flexibility limitations. And that was probably the right choice for this past year; instead, I would work on indirect stretches that contribute towards achieving the pancake. However, had the thought a couple days ago to simply sit my butt down on the ground (well, a comfy bolster) and actually just directly try move and I was quite surprised that I could hold myself up while sitting AND even ever so slightly lean forwards.

As mentioned in a recent previous post, a year ago, I was unable to sit on the ground without a massive curve in my spine (likely tight hamstrings. But now I can somewhat comfortable sit on the ground with my legs stretched out.

In any case, some reflections:

• One of my dogs kept on shaking her tail (literally) in front of me and I ended up wrapping my arms around her body and leveraging her as a prop assistance, her sturdiness helping me push my chest upwards and forwards during pancake attempt
• I can surprisingly someone tilt my pelvis (had the thought I wouldn't be able to at all) forward (i.e. anterior pelvic tilt)
• recurring lesson: my toe touch hamstring / elephant walk stretch sensation FEELS the same (that is, rather stiff) as a year ago but looking at the footage, I was very surprised of the progress. one big difference is that I'm now able to drive by hips backwards (may be a cause or effect or both the hamstrings loosening)

Constant balance between working DIRECTLY on the movement and working INDIRECTLY on all the ancillary movements. Actually, as I type this out, it's both, not mutually exclusive.

 

Limbering a bit inspired by the following sequence

 

[Matt Chung]

> Don't worry; this is completely normal. Anyone who has ever tried compression work feels completely hopeless at first... "What?! I can't move my legs at all!"  But this is still an isometric contraction, and isometrics are a powerful tool. Just keep going - I promise it gets better, and the results are worth it

Thanks @Nathanfor the compassion there! And feeling somewhat hopeful that others have shared similar experiences of "WTF. I can't move my legs at all"

> Précisement. What a wonderful result. And now here's the thing: as soon as your body learns the experience, the feeling of being able to use your strength in that position – all to do with balance, range of movement coordination etc., etc., – you will be able to do this very soon without the kettlebell. And anyway the kettlebell is just a bit of extra resistance. All will get you stronger. Excellent.

Thanks for sharing @Kit_L. I recognize that the kettlebell is helping me with (counter) balancing and at the same time, I was like: "surely its helping with the strengthening right, since there's more load." And at the same time, I wondered "wonder how my body will adapt to performing the squat without the kettlebell." But as you mentioned, I think my body is slowly learning to (lack of better word) trust its ability to remain balanced without extending arms out while holding extra weight.

[Matt Chung]

Day 380 of stretching of flexibility

On the topics of cold starts ...

Yesterday, somehow unexpectedly performed my first ever pistol squat on right leg, with no kettle bell. Totally surprised, given next week will be week number 09 of the pistol squat journey. Lots of joy. Was chatting with a friend (who can actually perform multiple pistol squats and go from sit to squat with no hands, a move I really am excited to work on) and he had asked about how my progress was going so instead of telling him, I decided to just give it a crack and somehow miraculously completed a single repetition.

Tomorrow (Monday) will be gym day and excited to continuing building strength in my legs and really want to take a similar approach — leveraging weights/kettle bells — for some hip work as well since I feel my hip flexors are starting to (well probably always was, just sensing it more and more lately) are very weak and the muscle group preventing me from transitioning from sit to squat (without hands).

[Ned]

8 hours ago, Matt Chung said:

somehow unexpectedly performed my first ever pistol squat on right leg, with no kettle bell.

Nice!

8 hours ago, Matt Chung said:

sit to squat with no hands

Anecdotally, I find going from sitting into the bottom of a pistol squat easier than the uncrossed leg sit to squat since you have your straight leg as a counterweight already so the core doesn't need to work as hard to get the center of gravity far enough forward--for me the cue is moving the knee of the bent leg forward a bit and then just keeping the hips level.  I just managed the two leg version on the floor for the first time a couple days ago.  I found a kettlebell (lighter is harder) on the floor in front of me helpful for both isometrics and going through the transitions, and also found that sitting on something thin to create a small height difference between the bottom and feet can make a big difference if you want to make it a little easier (or harder I guess if you sat in a hollow).  

[Matt Chung]

Day 383 of stretching and flexibility journey

Summary: Single leg squat variations (week 9), core compression exercise (hooray: I can just a tad lift my legs off the ground now) and ending session stretch: hamstrings, hip extension. Then last night, restarted (for the 1000th time) my lying relaxation practice (LRP)

Single Leg Squat variations

• Continues to be one of my favorite exercises
• Feeling more and more stable on the way down
• Was able to for the first time (with Kettlebell) able to get back up on my weak leg (left leg)
• Still major discrepancy between each side but no problem here
• Starting to feel sore in areas I've never felt sore before, specifically hip adductors
• Was unable to perform single leg squat without kettle bell (last week was an outlier where I was able to do a single repetition) - non linear growth, it happens

Hip flexor and quad stretch at same time

Second time I tried performing both the hip flexor and quad stretch AT THE SAME TIME. Last week I cramped in my hamstring (though I had anticipated I would've cramped in my quads) when I perform knee flexion during the hip extension (I've read multiple times throughout the forum that combining these two stretches tends to limit range of motion)

First time experimenting with new exercise intended to (I hope) help me transition from sit to squat

Drew inspiration from @Ned suggestion above. Been wanting to work on this movement and so grabbed a kettlebell to help assist me with going from sit to squat. In my body, I feel that 1) weakness in my hip flexors prevent me from tilting my pelvis forward and 2) weakness in hamstrings prevent me from drawing the heels of my feet close to my butt

[Ned]

  

On 6/3/2025 at 4:39 AM, Matt Chung said:

I feel that 1) weakness in my hip flexors prevent me from tilting my pelvis forward and 2) weakness in hamstrings prevent me from drawing the heels of my feet close to my butt

I'm not sure whether any of what follows is helpful since bodies and their limitations (and the causes of those limitations) are different, but I've found these things useful for me.  1) I don't have much experience with since I'm still working on my forward pelvic tilts, I do think this is probably more critical than 2) since you can shuffle yourself forward towards the heels if need be to get them there.  I do have more experience with 2) though, but the way I've obtained that experience just involved giving myself hamstring cramps trying until they eventually went away, so there are probably more pleasant ways I don't know about that would get a similar result.  I'm also pretty new to the sit to squat, so my understanding of it keeps changing every time I practice it and it still isn't a comfortable movement for me which makes me think I'm still not doing it entirely correctly.  

For 2) I occasionally practice using the hamstring to slowly bring the heel towards the glutes.  All of these can be intense--especially at the beginning--so caution in terms of volume and planned intensity is advised.  As always, listen to your body.  There's a bit of a gap between the bottom and the heels (a couple inches) with this exercise because the hamstring is contracted.  That gap doesn't seem to impact the sit to squat as long as 1) is sufficient.  My hamstrings are tight to bring the heels in, then relax and soften into the calves (if yours don't yet do this, the rod of correction works miracles over time) when the knees go out before I start pulling myself up into the bottom of the squat.  If you hit the end range of motion--the point where contracting more before the cramping sets in doesn't move the heels back anymore--in the gentlest version (next paragraph), you should be able to get your heels far enough back for the sit to squat.  

The gentlest version I know (used it as part of the rehab for my knee in the winter) is just to lie on the back with knees bent and slowly slide the heel along the floor towards the glutes.  If you don't cramp up before the end range of motion you probably already have a reasonable end range for the start position of the sit to squat.  If you do, I generally stop (and relax) where the cramping starts and then work a little ways before it comes on and depending on whether the hamstring stays cramped or relaxes might go back to that point a couple more times (but DOMS and lingering cramps are both quite possible in my experience so err on the side of less, even if less is just one).  

There are two other versions I do and I try to softly point the foot/feet to keep the muscles on the back of the calves relaxed while using the hamstrings to slowly bend the knee to get the heels close to the glutes.  One is standing (one leg at a time, like a quad stretch without the hand to hold the ankle), depending on how far forward or back the knee is changes the intensity quite a bit.  The other one is lying on my stomach (can do one or two legs at once), this is my preferred version at the moment.  

For 1) I have a similar problem (not sure on the cause at this point, just how various things feel), today it seems less problematic.  The stretch session I did with programs 17 and 18 from the starter course made a world of difference in how easy the movement feels since then.  I'm still not going to be doing very many of them, but it no longer feels like I'm using maximum effort to get my center of gravity to come forward enough to make it work once I've warmed up.  I think the hip flexor from program 17 and the wide leg elephant walk + floor legs apart intro from program 18 were probably the big difference makers for me, but if you have time they're lovely sequences to run through in their entirety.  I've also been warming up before doing the sit to squat using the floor legs apart intro in the same kind of manner I'd do "baby flops" (L4) from the squat mastery and I think that helps me get used to forward pelvic tilt in a similar enough position that it's somewhat easier to do.  It's worth mentioning the standing knee lifts (E4) from the squat mastery course as well since those work the hip flexors nicely and higher than waist height, but your kettlebell hanging from the foot lifts from a few posts back are similar.  

[Kit_L]

@Matt Chung: your dance video now adorns our Home page on YouTube for people who are not subscribed – so all new visitors to the site. It is just such a marvellous introduction to our work, I feel, and deserves to be widely publicised!

[Matt Chung]

> 2) though, but the way I've obtained that experience just involved giving myself hamstring cramps trying until they eventually went away, so there are probably more pleasant ways I don't know about that would get a similar resullts

@Ned still 1/4 way reading through your message but had to share that I burst out laughing when I read "probably more pleasant ways" [other than giving oneself hamstring cramps] because I immediately visualized myself in what some may call "the pain cave." Okay ... reading the rest of your message now.

> One is standing (one leg at a time, like a quad stretch without the hand to hold the ankle), depending on how far forward or back the knee is changes the intensity quite a bit. 

This!!! I haven't tried it in a while but I used to be able to (sometime within the last year) be to almost immediately (while standing) trigger a cramp in the hamstring simply by (like you said) standing on one leg and performing the quad stretch (without the hand holding the ankle). I've also been able to bring on this same sensation/cramp by getting into the lunge position — which I normally position myself to stretch hip extension – and while in that position performing this same movement.

>  It's worth mentioning the standing knee lifts (E4) from the squat mastery course as well since those work the hip flexors nicely and higher than waist height, but your kettlebell hanging from the foot lifts from a few posts back are similar.  

Thanks for reminded me that there are other existing variations (from the squat mastery course) of the exercise(s) I am currently exploring.

Heading to gym in a few and will test some of your suggestions out: thank you!

[Matt Chung]

> @Matt Chung: your dance video now adorns our Home page on YouTube for people who are not subscribed – so all new visitors to the site. It is just such a marvellous introduction to our work, I feel, and deserves to be widely publicised!

That's amazing Kit. Thanks so much for sharing the video - much appreciated it. And if it can inspire even just one person to sign up for ST, then that's music to my ears. Somewhat relatedly, I was at a dance studio in London this past weekend, taking a dance + yoga class, and a random person I had never met before said "Hey...do you make videos? I saw your '2 year dance journey video' pop up on my feed. So inspiring." (I) never truly know what will or will not resonate with people and glad that this particular video did and again, much love and appreciation to this little corner of the internet, the ST group.

Heading to gym now for week 10 of single leg squat variations! Oh, by the way @Kit_L, after posting weekly (on my instagram) from day 1 of trying pistol squats, I've had a number of people ask me how the hell I progressed in 10 weeks and have been circulating your YouTube videos. So, thanks again for that (and many others) free resources!

[Matt Chung]

Day 403 of stretching and flexibility journey

Summary: While still falling back onto my bottom while reaching the end range of motion during the pistol squat / single leg squat, still making pretty promising forward progress. I'm adding minor modifications to the progressions program that I'm following with an emphasis of doing more eccentric holds at the bottom.

• I'm suddenly starting to feel my glute engage while performing the weighted "march" (i.e. raise knee towards chest) - normally, I almost always feel the stretch exclusively in the hip flexor but last week, I felt the OPPOSITE glute engage (i.e. if I am raising my left knee, I feel my right glute firing off). Even more interesting is that the awareness (or ability to engage the glute) happens on one side; that is, I can only engage my left glute, but not my right glute
• More and more recently, I am enjoying engaging my hamstrings while doing every day normal / mundane activities like picking a pen off the floor, or tie my shoe. What used to feel stiff and painful has become a source of joy. Tiny victory

• My left shoulder that I'm rehabbing has experienced a sudden leap in repair. As mentioned over the past months, whenever I perform the puppy pose, the pain in my left shoulder was excruciating. I've noticed that while in the puppy pose, instead of laying palms flat against the floor, if spread my fingers, I can directly target the pain and increase the pain substantially. So over last 2 weeks, I will very slow and incrementally increase the pain in the shoulder and just breath breath breath and I'd now say I'm about 90% recovered in the shoulder. Of course, the repair of my left shoulder has taken about 4x times as long as the right shoulder and ... it's not a race, just me being a bit impatient.

[Kit_L]

10 hours ago, Matt Chung said:

I can only engage my left glute, but not my right glute

Much more common than you might think, and one of the reasons why we strongly recommend unilateral leg training, which you're doing. Don't worry about activating that glue: the pistol work that you're doing will do that in time. In fact to get out of the bottom position, you have to have your glue activated – this apparent paradox is resolved by suggesting that it might just be that you can't feel it being activated. Carry on!

[Matt Chung]

Day 429 of stretching and flexibility journey

Cannot believe it's been a few weeks since I posted an update. While I won't pour into details, I'm currently going through one of the most emotionally challenging periods of my life and though I've been more or less limbering every day, I haven't been as diligent and consistent with C+R stretching. However, last week, I spent 7 days in Lithuania, traveling internationally for a 7 day dance camp (about 12-15 hours of dance per day) that also included morning yoga.

Lots of profound insights and experiences over the past few weeks but one comes to mind. While performing a dance exercise that consisted of bending the knee, driving the knee towards the chest, the instructor of the class told me to "While you perform that movement, relax your upper body." As soon as he said that, I suddenly realized that I was tensing my chest and biceps and ever since he pointed out that I was holding tension, my ability to sense (even more) tension in my body increased. In fact, my dance has made some recent leaps — baby growth spurts — not because I've increased my technical skill (although this is true) but because more than ever, I am releasing tension in my neck (will post separately).

Anyways, just a minor update. 

Today I stretched for about 20-30 minutes followed by 10 minutes of lying relaxation practice and was so relaxed that I ended up taking a 20 minute nap. Upon reviewing the video footage, I had noticed that I was originally laying on the ground and my left shoulder was ever so slightly lifted above the ground and as I transitioned deeper and deeper into relaxation, the tension melted away (according to the footage).

[Kit_L]

8 hours ago, Matt Chung said:

as I transitioned deeper and deeper into relaxation, the tension melted away (according to the footage).

The footage is objective! Most of us have no idea how we hold our bodies in particular shapes – and in fact the way we hold tension in our body is our personality. As you stretch and remodel the structure, so too does everything else that is associated with it change, once the changes have proceeded far enough.

[Matt Chung]

Day 438 of stretching and flexibility journey

Summary

Single leg squat training followed by stretching of hip flexors, hamstrings, quads.

Just a quick interesting observation. With recent uptick in stress (much of which is outside of my control), I've been finding it more and more difficult to sit still and perform a lying relaxation practice (LRP) as well as general daily limbering. I think the two — uptick in life stressors and difficulty with daily stretching — are somehow inextricably linked. With that in mind, I was able to get myself to the gym this past Monday and resume single legged squat journey (after taking about 3 week pause).

• Quads - Quads feel like this need some love so will be directing some of my attention towards them.
• Neck - Also, I've become recently aware that when I stretch my neck — tilt my chin towards the sky — the back of my neck is super super stiff. So over last couple weeks, I've been both limbering and stretching the back of my neck.
• Left shoulder rehab - been non obsessively rehabbing my left shoulder and happy to report that we're about 90% of the way of eliminating the pain triggered by the puppy pose position

 

 

[Kit_L]

I felt my quad and glute on the working leg tense up while watching your video… You absolutely have that activation down on the right leg. Is the left leg trailing behind a bit? If so, it's exactly the same for me. In fact my right leg (the shorter of the two) is always a bit stronger and also I'm a bit better connected to it neurally than the left leg but both are so much stronger than they have been in the past.  This is how it goes. Great work.

[Matt Chung]

> I felt my quad and glute on the working leg tense up while watching your video… You absolutely have that activation down on the right leg. Is the left leg trailing behind a bit? If so, it's exactly the same for me

Yes!! Precisely. There is definitely a discrepenacy between the left and right leg that's revealed during the single leg squat. Glad to hear I am in good company

[Matt Chung]

Day 448 of stretching and flexibility journey

Not sure if causation or correlation but it appears that after sharing (on this very forum) the fact that life stressors have increased level of resistance to stretching and lying relaxation practice, I've been performing the two consistently over the last week. Something how acknowledging and accepting the situation has given me grace — or something else — to perform these activities despite life's current (and temporary) circumstances.

A (not so little) victory worth sharing

I no longer wake up with aching left hip flexor pain, something I was complaining about for 1+ year since starting this forum. I think the pain disappeared anywhere between a few weeks to a month ago — I cannot recall the exact date — but I've only become more aware these last couple days.

Morning Limbering (in the park)

• I'm feeling more and more free (less and less stiff) in the neck and upper trap - this is becoming more apparent and obvious in my dance. Whereas before when I move, my head felt (and looked) rigid, I'm able to more consciously release tension while dancing. Seems like it took a significant amount of time for my stretching practice (for the neck at least) to make its way into my dance, and only when I was able to actively and deliberately and consciously tell myself to relax
• Lower back is becoming another limit in my range of motion (for my dance) and it is slowly increasing as I daily limber the lower back

Evening single leg squat and stretch (at home)

Single leg squat, hamstring stretch, hip flexor stretch, quad stretch

• Big observation is that the MORE I shift my weight forward, the more I get my knees over my toes (which appears to lack mobility), the easier the single leg squat is. That is, I think my quads and glutes are now strong enough, it is the dorsiflexion (I think) I need strengthen
• The more I engage my calve / ankle, the easier the pistol squat feels. Trying to strike a balance between ankle + calve, and quads + hamstrings.
• Improvised single leg squat since I had no kettle bell at home and used a jug of water with an ankle weight wrapped around the body of the bottle - surprised that this was effective and just heavy enough to ever so slightly support me during the single leg squat
• The quad stretch has been very much neglected throughout my dance journey and over the past couple weeks, been directing my attention towards stretching them. I feel there will be lots to gain here (combined with the hip flexor and hamstring stretches)
• During the quad stretch, I notice a huge discrepancy between my right and left quad. In my right, reduced range of motion and there's somewhat "sharp' pain around the knee. Instead of pulling away from the uncomfortable sensation, I hold the stretch (similar to what I've done to rehab both my shoulders) and continue to relax and take a few deep breathes. I'm certain that over time (out of my control), the pain will float away.

[Kit_L]

21 hours ago, Matt Chung said:

accepting the situation has given me grace

Precisely this.

21 hours ago, Matt Chung said:

I've only become more aware these last couple days.

As mentioned several times, this is often the way we realise that big change has happened.

21 hours ago, Matt Chung said:

I'm certain that over time (out of my control), the pain will float away.

Me, too!

[Matt Chung]

Day 465 of stretching and flexibility journey

Summary

Going to also start spending some more time daily squatting since over the last couple days since over the last few days, I've noticed an audible (to me and others) clicking (feels like a ligament) while bouncing up and down in the squatted position., the sound coming from lower hamstring area. Will experiment over next few days to see if I can better understand what this new sensation / sound is.

• Single leg squat progression - still not quite there without using a (now light) weight, but body feeling stronger and stronger. Admittedly, have not been as diligent but still managing to work the progression once a week. Also, during each repetition, reminding myself to engage my ankle mobility (i.e. dorsiflexsion) on the working leg, since driving some energy towards my ankle adds significant stability and increases the range of motion that I can descend before toppling backwards.
• Ending with stretching session - piriformis, hamstring, hip flexor and quadriceps

 

[Matt Chung]

On 1/4/2025 at 4:34 PM, Matt Chung said:

Although I'm sure folks have experienced this themselves and certain that experienced members of this forum understand the reasoning or WHY behind what I'm about to share, but as I put my leg in the (below) cross legged position, and while resting in that position, I feel like a pressure, painful tension build up in (what I think) is the Biceps Femoris and Vastus lateralis / Vastus medialis obliquus. Similar sensation as to what I try to squat.

Day 477 of stretching and flexibility journey

I almost always avoid sitting in a certain position — right legged crossed, while left knee drawn to chest — while on working at the computer since this specific position tends to cause a twinge of pain around my right knee. However, last night, while sitting at the computer for a couple hours, re-arranged myself and unconsciously transitioned to this nagging position, only to find out that the pain has almost disappeared (not fully, but pretty damn close). I was caught off guard, super surprised, because I was fully expecting for a jolt of pain in the right knee area.

Honestly, though I wish I was, I'm not entirely confident what I've done to reduce the pain.

• Is it the daily limbering?
• Is it the intermittent lying relaxation practices?
• Is it the single leg squat training I've been doing?
• Is it the calve stretches?
• is it the increased willingness and tolerance of uncomfortable positions that I historically (prior to stretch therapy) would avoid but now lean into?
• A combination of some or all?

Not sure.

[Kit_L]

It's everything, I feel—there's little point in trying to analyse which of those many things you point to above are responsible (or, better yet, the attempt to analyse is actually a different set of questions). The main thing, from my perspective, and perhaps from yours as well, is that this pain phenomenon has changed.

The fact is that if you change your body sufficiently, on any number of axes, then all sorts of pain phenomena which supervene on the original organisations of your structures, also changes. Your dance journey is perfect evidence of this.

This (supervenience theory) was a significant part of my PhD research many years ago. The supervenient relationship can be described simply: if a global property of a complex system changes, then something of the properties of, or the relations between, the subvening parts must also have changed. My insight was that it's actually not necessary to know those (many) causal relationships to know that the larger relationship obtains, and always will. What you've just described is a perfect example of this.

What we have done with full awareness in Stretch Therapy is to look at the optimal global properties of a human being's body and mind, and ask ourselves, 'how do we get from our own personal current state to that optimal state?' That is really what the system is about. And what we find is that as the system, in this case your body and mind, move to a more optimal state, many other things also change without you concentrating specifically on that particular outcome, or understanding how that outcome was achieved.

Noice.

[Matt Chung]

Quote

It's everything, I feel—there's little point in trying to analyse which of those many things you point to above are responsible (or, better yet, the attempt to analyse is actually a different set of questions). The main thing, from my perspective, and perhaps from yours as well, is that this pain phenomenon has changed.

What we have done with full awareness in Stretch Therapy is to look at the optimal global properties of a human being's body and mind, and ask ourselves, 'how do we get from our own personal current state to that optimal state?' That is really what the system is about. And what we find is that as the system, in this case your body and mind, move to a more optimal state, many other things also change without you concentrating specifically on that particular outcome, or understanding how that outcome was achieved.

That all makes sense, especially paying attention to the fact that the pain itself has changed. And to clarify, part of the curiosity of better understanding the series of actions (e.g. lying relaxation practice, limbering, leaning into the painful stretches while taking deep deep breathes) that had lead to the improved my condition(s) with the hope that I can pass on knowledge to other individuals in the future. Presently, I'm more or less able to heal my own (n=1) body and sometimes question if I'd be able to assist others in healing their own ailments / increase ROM etc. 

The fact is that if you change your body sufficiently, on any number of axes, then all sorts of pain phenomena which supervene on the original organisations of your structures, also changes. Your dance journey is perfect evidence of this

Thanks for sharing more perspective on supervenience theory, something I plan on digging more into. You're right, within my own dance practice, there are a wide array of changes applied across many different axis that it would difficult (or impossible) for me to say with any confidence that some x change contributes to y outcome, and only can safely say that as a a whole, z, has changed.

[Matt Chung]

Day 484 of stretching and flexibility journey

Just experienced another POP, which freed up what felt like an additional 10-15 degrees in range of motion.

It's 10:29pm and I'm ready to hit the sack however I was just limbering before bed, stretching (the back of) my neck in the below position, a stretch I've been doing more or less every day for the past several weeks. Over the course of the past few weeks, I've felt (and still do) so much tension in the back of the neck, a blockage and tonight, unexpectedly, while holding the position and maintaining deep rhythmic breathes, I heard a big POP — similar sound and sensation what happened in my hip/piriformis back in November 25, 2024 (below), so I didn't panic — and then suddenly, I was able to tilt my chin up what felt like another 10-15 degrees (although I'm not sure since I wasn't recorded this limbering session).

Relearning the same lesson over and over: lean into the discomfort, breathe and relax. Over. And over again.

 

[Kit_L]

4 hours ago, Matt Chung said:

Relearning the same lesson over and over: lean into the discomfort, breathe and relax. Over. And over again.

Hahahahahahahaha! I love hearing this (and I am laughing with you!). No doubt a little fascial adhesion.