In the Moment With Your Hamstrings!
Issue #005 - February 19, 2011

If you have tight hamstring muscles, this exercise is for you. The hamstrings are the muscles at the back of your thigh. To review the function of the hamstrings and the metaphysical causes for injury, see my foam roller exercises for the hamstring muscles article. For this exercise, you will need a firm, small ball, like a tennis ball or a body rolling ball.

Start this meditation in a standing position. Place your feet shoulder width apart. Have the ball handy nearby. Now, with legs straight, do a forward bend from the waist as you try to reach for your toes. Stretch as far as you comfortably can. Do not bounce. Make a mental note of how far down you can reach. This note is very important for the conclusion of the exercise. If you need to make a mark on your leg with tape to remember, please do so.

Feel the pull on the back of your legs at the hamstrings as you stretch. This stretch will tell you how tight or loose your hamstrings are. Now, stand up.

The next step is to roll the bottom of your feet with your ball. While you are still standing, and holding on to the wall for balance if needed, put direct pressure from your body weight onto the ball as you roll up and down your foot. Make the pressure hard enough to elicit a 'good hurt' but not so hard as to cause great pain. Hit the toes, the ball of your foot, the heel and inside and outside arches.

Roll both feet, spending about 2 minutes on each foot. I find that this feels really, really good. At first it hurts a bit more until you get used to it and stretch out the fascia in your foot.

The third step in this exercise is to stand up once again with feet shoulder width apart. Now go into the forward bend once again and stretch down as far as you can go. Can you go farther this time, after rolling your feet? Isn't this an interesting phenomenon? Why is it so?

In actuality, your fascia (fibrous lining of muscles in which nerves and blood vessels run) in your feet are interconnected with the fascia in your ankles, calves, knees and thighs. By rolling your feet you are loosening the fascia of your legs as well. The body is such a marvelous, interconnected system, both physically, mentally and on the quantum level!

So, if you started out this exercise with tight hamstrings, know that rolling your feet and foam rolling the back of your legs you can loosen them significantly. If you combine this physical exercise with a meditation, you can heal on the quantum level through your positive thoughts.

When you roll, repeat the following affirmations: Whisper out loud or silently,
"I open my heart and soul to the messages from my legs."
"I move forward with Love."
"I move forward with Calm and Peace."
"I bend and flex with ease, for all that life has to offer me!"
"I am flexible in all thing in my life and trust in Guidance to move forward."

Repeat the affirmations as many times as you wish. Create your own if you wish. Thank your legs and hamstrings for the message that they have to tell you about yourself. The message is neither good nor bad, just information about your inner condition, through your Body Window.

Meditate on whether you are too flexible, or inflexible. Ask yourself if you are trying to sprint too fast and if this pushing is manifested in your hamstrings. As you meditate and roll, feel the stiffness and soreness. Move into the tightness and breathe and really feel the pain in your soul. Acknowledge it and thank it.

Say the affirmations after you have cleansed your mind, heart and soul of all pain and judgment.

It is by tuning into your body, into it's inner most depths that you become open to receive its messages. It is by relinquishing control of your own life, to a Greater Power that understands your needs better than you do, that you can be truly open to the messages that are there for you.

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