This stretching technique can help relieve stiffness and improve your mobility—a yoga instructor explains how to do it

When you wake up in the morning, what is the first thing you do? For many of us, we have a big stretch.

Whether you sit up in bed and sweep your arms in an arc like in a cartoon or just wriggle your body so your muscles tense and relax, it’s all a natural part of waking up. You’re running a system check and investigating any tension left over from staying still all night.

Many of the stretches I instinctively do, I later incorporate into my routine. I’ll have tight muscles or a sore patch and feel my way around that sensation, pushing into it until it feels better. Often, I’ll then go to my computer and search for the movement I was doing, and I'll discover it’s a yoga pose. There’s always an instructor who has demonstrated how to do it properly.

What I didn’t realise was that the beginning of my process, where I investigate the stretch and figure out what feels right for my body, has a name: intuitive stretching.

Keen to learn more, I spoke to some experts, who taught me more about what intuitive stretching is and why you might want to do it.

What is intuitive stretching?

Women’s health and longevity coach Katie Armstrong tells Fit&Well that “intuitive stretching is the art of listening to your body’s needs—on that day, in that moment—and responding with movement that addresses tightness, asymmetry or nervous system regulation.”

Janet McClure, expert yoga instructor with TeachMe.To, adds that you may have already come across intuitive stretching under a different name.

“Intuitive stretching is similar to what most yogis would call a self-practice,” says McClure. “It is when you move your body in a way that feels good to you instead of following a class or a specific type of flow.

“This type of movement helps you to determine what you need in that particular moment and deepens your connection with yourself.”

“I'm a firm believer in developing and listening to your body,” says Ashley Vasas, yoga teacher and founder of Nourish & Grow Yoga. “This can be hard for beginners. The most important thing to keep in mind is that your body is unique and its needs and limitations may change day by day. So, it’s essential to explore what works for your body, what feels good in your body, and learn to find the edge of your flexibility from a place of embodied mindfulness, not trying to execute someone else’s instructions or strike a ‘perfect’ pose.”

Where should I start?

You may take to this like a duck to water, but if, as Vasas notes, it doesn’t come naturally, Melody Morton-Buckleair, a master Pilates instructor and founder of The Pilates Cowgirl, has a helpful recommendation to start with.

“My clients often want to twist — it’s everyone’s favorite stretch. It wrings you out in the best way. I have clients take their abdominals and squeeze every atom of air out of their lungs like wringing out a wet rag,” says Morton-Buckleair.

“When you fully engage the transverse abdominis on the exhale, you’re not just emptying the lungs. That deep abdominal contraction actually massages the enteric nervous system in the gut and stimulates the vagus nerve.

“This is what shifts the body into parasympathetic mode—the rest, digest and safety mode. Add twisting, stretching and breath together, and you’re literally calming the nervous system while you’re moving.”