yoga source los gatos

what’s the first thing you do when you wakeup in the morning? alright, well, maybe the second thing youdo, after you say some nasty stuff to your alarm clock. have a cup of coffee? watch the news? readtwitter in your bed? or … do you - ah yeah - give it a good stretch?that’s feels good.

yoga source los gatos, you are not the only one. along with humans,some animals—like your pet cat or dog—also instinctively stretch after they wake up froma long sleep. except what those animals are doing isn’tcalled stretching. it’s called pandiculating. pandiculation is the act of stretching whileyawning. it’s from the latin word pandere,

meaning "to stretch." you’ve likely seen plenty of cats and dogspandiculate before. you’ve seen this move … they arch theirback, drop their belly, and lengthen their legs in a sort of full body yawn. humans pandiculate too -- often first thingin the morning. this instinctive movement is the one whereyou extend your legs, raise your arms, and tilt your head up, and yawn. so why do we pandiculate in the morning? andwhy do we stretch in general? think of it like this: your alarm clock wakesyou up,

but stretching wakes up your sleepy muscles. plus, it makes you feel good. stretching is good for your body in all kindsof ways. your muscles typically feel stiff and tightin the morning from lack of movement. that’s because many people lie in the same positionfor much of the night. stretching loosens and realigns your muscles,letting your brain know, “hey! it’s time to wake up! time to get things moving again!” stretching also gets your blood pumping. while you sleep, your muscles relax and yourblood flow decreases, slowing your heart rate

way down. in fact, your heart rate is usuallyat its lowest just before you wake up. a big stretch increases your blood flow toyour extremities, improving your circulation. this combination of loose muscles and increasedcirculation also helps with flexibility, making the morning a good time for you to get youryoga on. so the reason you instinctively pandiculatein the morning is basically to reboot your body. it realigns your muscles, it improvesyour circulation, and it makes you more flexible. stretching has also been shown to relievestress and tension, and so has yawning—meaning pandiculation might pack a double whammy. so, what are you waiting for? make like acat and pandiculate.

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