PNF stretching, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, is considered the most effective and fastest way to increase static-passive flexibility. PNF stretching involves the combination of Passive and Isometric stretches.

The 3 most common forms of PNF stretching are the following:
Hold Relax, Hold Relax Contract, and the Hold Relax Swing

Here is an example of a PNF stretch:

Click Here

I'm in school for massage, and i've been exposed ot a bit of this, pretty good stuff.

If you're interested here is some further reading, we are learning some of this guys techniques now, so far i've been impressed by the effect they've had on me, as someone with both Chronic pain and a practicing MA'ist so far this is some of the coolest stuff i've been exposed to.

http://www.softtissuerelease.com/

Speaking as someone with poor flexibility, and chronic joint pain, I intend to read up on this, and learn.

*bows*

*well, not so much bows, as much as makes creaky noises with his knees, and places a hand on his back as he sort of lowers his body a bit, then grunts as he stands back up*

PNF is fantastic, particularly if you have a SENSITIVELY AWARE stretching partner. As a Shiatsu student a huge part of my repertoire involves soft tissue work and communicating with the receivers body via Proprioception. If you're looking at working specific muscle groups it's wise to keep the intensity of the contraction at around 20% of the available force within the muscle. Going over this can fire up synergistic muscles to help support the tension being placed. Synergistic muscles are secondary muscles that help support the effort of the muscles being employed. When they become employed, particularly when dealing with rehabilitating a specific muscle/muscle group, the synergistic muscles may compensate for lack of performance in the agonist/antagonist muscles you are targeting. This causes a more generic response, where you may want a very specific outcome. The important aspect is the relaxation and mobility/stretch actions done after the initial contraction that does the magic. With PNF we're literally tricking the brain to release the muscle.

Soft tissue awareness is of paramount importance to understand for the MA with long term training in mind. In particular the myofascial system the holds us to together. Here are two great articles:

This one was posted by Ashe in his blog:

http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1813999

And this a great one on myofascial meridians and the routes they take over the body.

Zach_Zinn if you're studying massage this is a great book that I'm reading at the moment:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0443071586

Here is the Myofascial Meridian link...sorry:

http://www.anatomytrains.com/uploads/rich_media/AnatomyTrainsOverview.pdf