Oh BTW, I Got My Splits... But...

This entire blog owes its existence to our mutual quest to get the splits. We have met countless times with each other and even had the chance to add more ladies to our Flexine Army. Our pets are "furry Flexines" (especially Elle, Butters, and Griffy--these furries don't miss a single meeting that their human counterparts go to!). Despite my frugality, I've even managed to gather a whole host of flexy tools/gear and everyone in my house knows what's next when I start carting them around.



So naturally it should be a big deal that I finally got my splits.

Except that I finally got down in them the week before Valentine's Day, or maybe the week before that. It was a huge deal in a way, but the fact that I don't remember the exact day goes to show how big of a let down it was. The thing is, I can get the splits after a nice run and about an hour of stretching. What I really want is to be flexible more or less on demand; I want to do the splits after a light, 5 minute warm up or less, a la Sasha Cohen. Okay, maybe I won't get that flexible right away ;)

"Dandelion" By p_a_h
CC Attribution 2.0 License

I can really start to understand why people that have gotten the splits continue to be dissatisfied with their current state of flexibility. There is always room for improvement. The real goal is to be able to use the splits in a dance routine, so having to spend half an hour doing cardio then another hour stretching... just isn't practical. At all. It really makes me miss the days when all I really wanted was to reach my toes!

Refocus.

If you're right there with me, or even if you are just beginning your flexy journey, it is time to refocus. It's time to remember how excited you would have been months or maybe years ago if you could stretch out as far as you can today. One feeling I focus on is the realization that a stretch I had started sometime back suddenly isn't painful because I can stretch much further. A lot of people take pictures of these different stages for a nice visual. I like to have metal markers--I marked my ankle as my first goal when I started to stretch in pike. Now the marker for that stretch is at the either side of my ankle: I lay my head first on my knee then past my knee to each side.

Some days that is all it takes to be excited that sitting on my "yoga blocks" doesn't hurt, and sitting on them turned on their sides hardly hurts. Other days... I just have to remind myself that all my inspirations are part of my journey, an eventual destination to be reached by increments. At some point I do intend to post splits pictures to share here and it will be when I have mastered my splits :)