Private Universe

tips from Yoga Anatomy

What I learned from the book Yoga Anatomy, even though I don't know the names of the muscles.

"Diaphragmatic" breathing is a misnomer. You pretty much can't breathe at all without using the diaphragm. The choice you have between breathing into the ribcage/chest (using abs to stabilize the belly) or breathing into the belly (stabilizing the ribcage).

The lumbar curve in your lower back is a unique trait of humans. You pretty much only need a lumbar curve if you want to walk bipedally most of the time. Babies are not born with it; their spines have one long curve from neck to tailbone. The S-shaped, secondary lumbar curve develops gradually between the ages of 1 and 10 years. Will have to remember this if I ever teach yoga to kids younger than 10!

In balancing postures, it is best to breath quietly. Deep "yoga breathing" just disrupts your balance. If it is hard to breath quietly, you may have muscles working (and using up oxygen) that don't need to be working. Relax muscles that are not part of the posture.

When sitting for meditation, hips should be above knees, in order to create a neutral spine (that gentle S-curve). That is part of the point of things like lotus posture. But note that you can get the same effect by sitting cross-legged, with your butt on a cushion. Killing your knees to get into lotus seems unnecessary.

Stretches should be felt in the "belly" of the muscle, the widest part, not at the joints or the places where muscles attach. If you are (say) seated, with straight legs, and reaching for your toes, and you feel the stretch (as I do) in the backs of the knees, one option is to bend the knees slightly, place something to support them, and see if that moves the feeling of stretch into the belly of the muscle.

Janu sirsasana: one leg stretched out in front, the other leg bent with the sole of the foot against the thigh of the straight leg, fold forward. The safest position for the bent knee is fully bent. If it is only partially bent, be aware that your forward fold is putting extra stress on the cushioning inside the knee. For the same reason, cow face posture is risky on the knees; be gentle when knees are only partially bent.

A feeling of tightness in one part of the body may actually be caused by tightness elsewhere. The place you are feeling it may not be the place you need to stretch! Guess we better stretch everything, not get too focused.

Looking at a human skull from the side, the center of gravity is under the TMJ joint, right in front of your ear. But the actual support of the skull is where it sits on top of your spine, an inch or two farther back. No wonder it is so easy to let your head fall forward and hunch over your keyboard.

Sometimes you can really tell that humans only recently evolved to walk bipedally, and we are not quite perfectly adapted for it yet.

Labels: yoga

posted by Jaime_sama @ 5:52 PM