Stress Mastery: The Art of Coping Gracefully

The Importance of Stretching Your Muscles

As noted earlier, an intrinsic part of the fight-or-flight response is muscle tension. When muscles tighten, they also shorten. One way to reverse the fight-or-flight response is to lengthen your muscles. This is accomplished quite simply by stretching the muscles. Our goal here is not to provide a comprehensive manual on stretching exercises, but we would like to teach you several critical stretches that can help reduce or prevent tension headaches and mention some guidelines for stretching intuitively.

Intuitive Stretching

As you cultivate body awareness and relaxation, you will notice an urge to stretch your body in various ways. Many people notice that yawning is accompanied by an almost instinctual ...