Anatomy

Anatomy Body Painting

April 27, 2017

As most of us working in the field of yoga anatomy are aware, memorising muscle attachments is not a particularly useful exercise in and of itself. For one thing, muscles as single entities kind of don’t exist anymore. Owing enormous thanks to the ground-breaking work of manual therapists in the last few decades, we are now starting to fully embrace the holistic model of fascial continuities as the great attenuators of force in the body and to feel the impact…

From Specialists to Humans

November 26, 2015

Christoph Seiland

Yoga is a state of being in which we experience ourselves as whole and present. To train ourselves in the state of yoga, we include the practice of physical movements for we are physical beings. We experience and express ourselves through a physical body, therefore, every so called spiritual practice must include the body in one way or another to be truly wholesome.

What is That Popping Sound? New research!

November 22, 2015

Melanie Cooper

One of the common questions asked by yoga students is ‘what’s that popping sound from my joints?’ quickly followed by ‘is it safe?’ and ‘does it mean I’m going to get arthritis or injure myself?’

Being Flexible about Flexibility

October 18, 2015

Norman Blair

These are my modest and provisional notes on the subject of hypermobility, the issues of flexibility in yoga, being able to sustain a yoga practice and specifically practicing Yin yoga.
When I first taught yoga in 2001, I did not know what hypermobility or being too flexible meant. I remember Richard Freeman saying in June 2005, “the curse of flexibility and the blessing of stiffness”. I didn’t get it at the time.

The Role of the Adductors in Backbends

September 15, 2015

monica gauci

Many yoga practitioners instinctually know to engage their inner thigh muscles (adductors) in backbends to prevent their knees from falling out to the sides. Let’s examine how we can utilise this action to ignite our core, expand our backward arch and experience simultaneously more stability and spaciousness in backbends. The adductor muscles of the inner thigh are part of our axial core.

This Body

August 27, 2015

Norman Blair

It began on the first Saturday of August. A busy day with many commitments. In the afternoon I was feeling a bit unwell – nothing too serious. I mused to myself that perhaps it was too much cake and too many cappuccinos. The Sunday was also full. In a morning training session, I remember saying “I am feeling pretty ropey”. In the afternoon, there was a workshop that I was leading.

A Pointer for Better Posture(s)

November 16, 2014

Peg Mulqueen

I spend anywhere between 4 to 5 hours sitting in front of a computer … an hour or two, behind the wheel of a car .. and admittedly, an hour or so watching a movie or TV. That adds up to about 8 hours of a seated posture, head forward and tilted up.

Attached to your mat? Why the yoga mat is undermining your practice

May 5, 2014

Brian Cooper

Much could be written about the psychological significance of rolling out your mat, with its implications of marking out your territory, creating your own space and perhaps saying something about your personality by the size and thickness of your mat. We will leave this for another article and focus on the anatomical error of mat-dependence.

Sacral Nutation: The Key to Straight Feet in Backbends

December 12, 2013

monica gauci

There are countless miracles happening in our physical bodies every moment of our existence. One that continues to intrigue me is the symphony of cranial motion that happens with our every breath! This motion is synchronised with another gentle movement at our sacrum as it rocks between the two pelvic halves or ilia.

Muscles – the limited means to asana success

September 21, 2013

Tim Feldmann

When we decide to move our body, in asana practice or in daily life, we most often instantly begin with activating our muscles. We identify movement with activating various muscles. The muscles are the physical system that we mostly rely on to carry out any physical task at hand. So is it in asana practice too. Unfortunately our muscular system is of relative efficiency in complex movement tasks such as asana practice.

Fascia Karen Kirkness Muscles Yoga anatomy Balance Dr Christoph Seiland Injuries Movement Openers Shoulder openers Joints Melanie Cooper Flexibility Hypermobility Noman Bair Yin Yoga Backbend Biomechanics Monica Gauci QL muscle Quadratus Lumborum Health Norman Blair Yoga Philosophy Asana Neck Pain Peg Mulqueen Posture Brian Cooper Christopher Norris Pelvis Sacrum Ashtanga yoga Breath Tim Feldmann Alignment Core Glutes Movement patterns David Keil Hamstring injury Sit bone pain Yoga butt injury Yoga injury Headstand Shoulder Supta kurmasana Scoliosis Spine Bandha Primary Series David Garrigues Pranayama Chakras Chest opening Heart opening Reciprocal Inhibition Upward facing dog Downward facing dog Hip Injuries Psoas Lotus Padmasana Back pain Energy Helen Noakes Spirals Ray Long Tensor fascia lata (TFL) Hips Niki Vetten Pain Steve Bracken Pelvic Tilt Sukhasana Paul Grilley ROM Cracking joints Stretching Spinal Movements Compression Tension Wrist Sushumna Nadi