Doing The Splits On Accident A Lot Now

Something that I have noticed lately is that since getting into yoga and becoming so much more flexible is that I keep falling into the splits without trying to…

I first noticed it this past winter. If I walked to town and I stepped on some slippery ice rather than just slipping a bit like I always would in the past my legs would just simply spread all the way until I was sitting on the ground as if I was so flexible that I no longer had the resistence and tension in my legs to stop the fall.

I recently moved to Costa Rica and even here when I go for walks along the old fashioned gravel roads I still keep falling into the splits if I step on some loose gravel or on mud. (It?s rain season right now so the roads are very slippery.)

This isn?t so much a ?problem? (although I do sort of worry that I could end up with a torn muscle if it happens too fast or after a day or two of not stretching.) but I am just wondering if I am completely alone or if anyone else has also experienced this…

If I am alone here than I guess this is going to look like a weird topic, but after years of trying my hardest to push through the resistence from my leg muscles that were preventing me from doing the splits and other advanced leg stretches I feel like that resistence is almost non-existent now.

Baffling. As I understand it, when we’re about to fall, the body usually responds by contracting or stiffening muscles as a reflex reaction. This is the stretch reflex, or the myotatic reflex. This contraction helps you recover balance, preventing the fall, and by and large keeps us safe. I’m wondering whether you’ve injured yourself by developing more flexibility than strength - which is an imbalance.

[QUOTE=Jared Six;83509]Something that I have noticed lately is that since getting into yoga and becoming so much more flexible is that I keep falling into the splits without trying to…

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Dear Jared,

in my point of view, yoga is about being mindful and present. everything that happens “on accident” without mindfulness is not yoga… and must be addressed properly