Stop stretching!

I hear it all the time, "i just need a good stretch". Please yoga friends, STOP STRETCHING! Within the last year I have had a major life transforming cultivation on the mat. I have realized what is being craved is ENGAGEMENT, not stretching.  We're over-streched in our lives in a multitude of ways.  We are dis-engaged and we need to develop healthy ways to Flow Together. When we get on our mats, we get injured because we continue the pattern of "stretching". We over-stretch and hyper extend and not gain any real flexibility. We end up stretching ourselves right out of our sockets! This creates MORE instability and damage to our joints. Think "engagement and elongation" instead of "stretch" when you're on your mat.  This means rooting more, drawing muscle INTO the bone and sucking your hips and arms into their sockets.  It will be a huge shift for many of us who have been practicing in that organic free-flow sort of way for so long.  But in time, you'll feel MORE.  You'll be stronger and more stable.  Your endurance will increase and you will generally feel better.