To stretch or stress?

[Mieke]

Hi, I understand the difference between stretching and 'stressing' in theory. But in practice it's not so clear to me. In certain asanas I feel that my muscles are being stretched, for example in the sadle pose. Is that wrong? Does this stretch lessen the effect on the ligaments and the joints? Do I need to relax as much as possible the tension in the muscle? Or do I only have to avoid asanas which activate the muscles?
Thanks for your answer!
Mieke

[Bernie]

Every stretch is the result of a stress, but not all stresses result in a stretch. Indeed your muscles are being stretched and stressed sometimes, and this is not wrong. Muscles are designed to stretch: they can lengthen in some cases 50% before being torn. Ligaments on the other hand don’t like to stretch, not very much anyway. Depending upon which ligament and where, most ligaments if stretched beyond 4~10% will stay stretched. Unlike muscles, ligaments are more plastic and don’t snap back to their original lengths like the elastic muscles do. However, ligaments, fascia and joint capsules still need to be stressed to be healthy. So, here we see that stress is not the same as stretched. We want to stress our tissues: sometimes this results in a stretch (good for muscles) but not always (bad for ligaments.)

Regarding whether the muscles can “steal” the stress away from ligaments if they are not relaxed or cold, read my article on Hot Yin.

I hope this helps.
Cheers
Bernie