A Comfortable Stretch

Ever since I had this neck injury, I was overly cautious of certain moves, especially flips (I'm still afraid of diving forward or backward which is how I hurt neck permanently). Then I started doing yoga couple of years ago, irregularly back in Istanbul, regularly since two years in Miami. With capoeira though I couldn't afford my yoga classes so it became irregular again, or I incorporated it in my daily "light" training. I may want to start yoga again both in order to support my capoeira and my body, once I move to Boston and see if I make enough money.

I've been practicing certain capoeira moves; I broke them down into single motions, mostly based on flexibility so as to get down to the basics and acknowledge the move as clear as possible. Also to help my body learn gradually rather than with an unpleasant shock. Everytime I find something else to work on, which used to be a frustration for me but now I take them as new challenges especially ever since I started feeling the improvement clearly. It's slow but it's there. However I should also be careful with my shoulders and neck and go easy with certain moves. For instance for 2 weeks I must have been (and same in capoeira classes) putting too much pressure on my shoulders. I loved it but now I have this nasty neck pain, going all the way down to my shoulder back and now the left arm. I don't know if I should go to class today. I know this pain is also related to my excessive studying schedule. I have no choice though for this dissertation has to be finished in a month. I'm having breaks and stretching my neck especially but I know unless I'm back to a normal pace, it won't go away entirely.

So, I've been finding nice websites, blogs or forums on stretching and flexibility. Also some cool yoga websites like yogajournal.com. Americanparkour is also a very good source for alternative training practices. I'm still not advanced at all and I don't think I have a systematic work out schedule. Much like a reflection of my life now.