When you think about flexibility, does painful come to mind? If so, don’t worry! I’m actually going to be going over some tips that I learned from when I was living in an ashram in India to increase your flexibility. So we’re going to be going over four tips that you can do right away, so that you can increase your flexibility and start feeling great.

I went to India because I was struggling with some chronic pain and fibromyalgia after my two consecutive accidents. Just a story about me, I’ve never been a flexible person. I was an athlete growing up, very compact sports, so my muscles were very tight and I basically couldn’t reach past my knees. Here are four tips that you can do to start increasing your flexibility and also to start opening up the joints.

#1. Breathe. I know this is really simple, and something that we completely bypass. If you want to be more flexible when you get into certain positions, I really recommend to start learning how to elongate your breath, especially the exhale. This is really going to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, and just calm your body down, and you’ll be able to go a little further as you work on it.

#2. Heat. Part of me getting over injuries and feeling better, and just constantly what I do if I’m tight, is I actually will take a warm bath or a hot shower before I stretch, or before I work out. That was my secret when I was becoming a yoga instructor and I was having to train and get up and go to yoga training at 6:00 AM. I actually would take a hot bath beforehand. A lot of times, you think about taking a hot bath at night only, and this was definitely my secret, was to get some heat and to warm up my joints, because I was really stiff and in pain. So that’s something that really works.

#3. Cut down on refined sugar, dairy, meat, and coffee and alcohol. This is straight-up from the ashram. I’m telling you that those kinds of things, they actually create a lot of acid in the body, a lot of over amount of heat and constriction in the body. It was amazing when I cut down on refined sugar, especially being a sugar-aholic my whole life and just being really addicted to refined sugar, specifically, but when I was going to more natural foods and chewing my food, and also cutting back on dairy, and coffee, because coffee is so acidic. Again, I’m not asking you to give up things, but if you want to have more flexibility in your body, I would start thinking about having a smaller amount to start experimenting, and just see if it works for you.

#4. Have fun and let go. When I was in the ashram in India, you don’t see people really serious about things. It actually is a little bit more lighthearted, and you should be laughing and having fun, and it’s really about letting go. So you got to let go that you have to do it perfect, and that there’s a specific way and you’ve got to push through. It’s actually the exact opposite energy. You’ve got to let go and allow, and accept.

Those are just four tips to get your flexibility and your body open, especially if you have tight joints or you have pain. What do you do to stay flexible? Make sure to leave a comment to share this with me!