During a stretch, I ask you to push towards me while I resist, then get you to let go before we move deeper into the stretch.  This is the technique called PNF (Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation) and is considered to be one of the most effective ways to improve flexibility.

PNF has been used since the 1930s to help improve tissue mobility. It works by sending signals to our nervous system and engages the body's proprioceptors—sensory receptors in our joints, muscles, and tendons that track position and movement.  It is incredibly efficient at bypassing the body's protective reflexes to achieve a deeper range of motion.

​PNF involves alternating cycles of muscle stretching and isometric contraction. Contracting the stretched muscle promotes a reflex (autogenic inhibition) that allows the muscle to relax and stretch further. 
PNF also improves our body awareness and teaches our brain to coordinate our limbs and trunk more efficiently.  It uses diagonal and spiral movement patterns that mimic natural, daily activities, reinforcing our understanding of how our body moves in space.  All great news for our bodies and how we feel day to day!

Your Superficial Back Lines (SBL, right and left) connect and protect the entire posterior (rear) of your body from the tip of your toes to your forehead.
The SBL does this in two pieces, toes to knees and knees to brow, but when the knees are extended it functions as one continuous line of integrated myofascia.
Its function is to support the body in full upright extension.
The constant demand on the fascia requires it to have extra-heavy sheets of fascia in the Achilles tendon, Hamstrings, thoracic and erector spinae and neck.
When there is an imbalance between the two SBLs, there are common compensations in posture that occur including, as many of us know, hamstring shortness, knee hyperextension and anterior pelvic tilt.
As a simple test, when you bend over to touch your toes, does one hand hang lower than the other?  If so, return to standing and roll a tennis or golf ball on the side with more limited movement, using slow and thorough moves over the whole foot from the toes to the edge of the heel.
Try bending again and see if the hand reaches the floor more easily now.

I’m often asked what playlist I’m playing while we’re stretching.  It’s my Spotify A Good Stretch Mix if you’d like to have a listen.
But please note: I apologise in advance if a song you like disappears, I’m constantly adding and deleting songs to keep it interesting!
Did you know music can have a powerful impact on our mental health? It can trigger positive emotions because it activates the limbic system, the brain's emotional centre.
Infact music engages multiple areas of our brain involved in attention, memory and learning. 
Music can stimulate brainwaves. Slow beats encourage slow brain waves associated with hypnotic or meditative states while faster beats may encourage more alert and concentrated thinking.
Music can be a powerful tool for stress reduction. When you listen to music you enjoy, your body responds by releasing dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and relaxation which can help counteract stress.
Music occupies the mind with something familiar and soothing. It alters patterns of pain, depression and disability.
Music acts as a distractor, focusing our attention away from negative stimuli to something pleasant and encouraging.
Music has the ability to alter breathing and heart rate and it has the power to improve your state of mind which helps keep depression and anxiety at bay.
Music can also help reduce the perception of pain and improve our sleep quality. It can induce changes in heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, peripheral temperature causing changes in the electrical conductivity of the skin.
It has a remarkable capacity to make transformative changes in our brain, reshaping neural networks, impacting cognitive, emotional, physical and social well-being.
So perhaps it's not going too far to say that listening to music while we stretch enhances the great outcomes we are achieving together!
Source: APM Health and Beyond Psych Hub

A healthy cardiovascular system is affected by many things, but an often overlooked factor is our fascia—the connective tissue that runs through our entire body, surrounding muscles, bones, organs and giving our body shape and structure.
Fascia transmits force and even sends signals to our brain! All our body movements are determined by sensors in our fascia.
When it's restricted, dehydrated, or dysfunctional our blood flow is reduced and we can no longer control our move effectively, we feel stiff and in pain.
Fascia’s Role in Circulation
Fascia contains blood vessels that support circulation but when restricted, can lead to tissue adhesions, limiting blood flow and reducing oxygen and nutrients being delivered to muscles and organs, including the heart. Research shows that fascia is an organ of communication, playing a role in circulatory function and metabolic exchange.
Movement, Fascia and Heart Health
Regular physical activity is one of the most effective ways we can improve our cardiovascular health but that can be difficult when our fascia is restricted fascia, which makes us exercise less often and less effectively.
The Nervous System, Stress, and Fascia
Chronic stress can negatively impact heart health, increase inflammation and elevate blood pressure. Fascia is deeply connected to the autonomic nervous system, which regulates stress responses in the body.
How to Keep Your Fascia (and Heart) Healthy?
Fascial Stretch Therapy helps keep our fascia flexible, reduces restrictions and improves our blood flow.  It hydrates the tissue, facilitating circulation and movement and reduces stress making our heart healthier!

No smoking is an obvious necessity to ensure sufficient supply of nutrients and blood supply to your connective tissue. Research shows that smokers are much more susceptible to back pain, cartilage injury, arthritis and slipped discs.
Stay hydrated. Connective tissue is 70% water so it needs plenty of water (1-1.5 litres a day) to stay healthy. Drinking massive amounts of water is not recommended (unless you're a performance athlete). (Fascia stretching squeezes the tissue like a sponge, so new fresh water is absorbed which helps the tissue to replenish itself.)
Plenty of protein, the most important basic material in fascia cell fibres. This includes animal proteins, soybeans (edamame, tofu, tempeh), oats, nuts, seeds, and legumes all high in amino acids.
Vitamin C for collagen - acts as a glue holding fibres together. Vegetables in the cabbage family such as broccoli, cauliflower, kale and white and savoy cabbage contain more vitamin C than citrus fruits! Spinach, fennel, parsley, peppers and chillies are also packed with vitamin C as well as berries, tropical fruits and even potatoes.
Zinc, copper, magnesium & potassium. Zinc is an essential trace element involved in protein, fat and cell metabolism strengthening the immune system and affecting insulin production, essential for hormone functions such as thyroid and testosterone. Zinc plays a role in wound healing, is contained in connective tissue cells and helps synthesis of collagen. Copper is an essential building block to create enzymatic crosslinks connecting collagen and elastin fibres. Magnesium and potassium also affect cell metabolism and growth, collagen synthesis and water levels.
Other supplements - silica, silicon, minerals, trace elements and vitamin B complex are all recommended for connective tissue.
Getting enough sleep - (7-9 hours) when we sleep the connective tissues and intervertebral discs undergo a process of regeneration which allows the discs to absorb liquid and fresh nutrients. In deep sleep, the growth hormone HGH is secreted stimulating the synthesis of collagen in the connective tissue cells. Try to take breaks during the day too.