Chapter 2: Anatomy

Understanding anatomy is a fundamental component when learning yoga postures. For us to safely practice and to safely teach asana, we need an understanding of how the muscles and bones connect, engage, stretch, and contract. We need to create space in the body to create movement.

We can do that by understanding how, for example, when the arm externally rotates, we can free the scapulae, to allow for a more effective extension when raising the arms. Or when we cue “slide your shoulder blades down the back”, that we need to tell them how to do that. Asking your students to lower your shoulders from their ears, gently squeeze the space between their shoulder blades, lift through their breastbone. If we have a vocabulary that includes the basic bones and muscles, we can more effectively give cues and adjustments.

If you see someone in Up Dog, sagging in their lower back, we know what that is doing to their spine and also can have a sense of what might be restricting them.

Knowing how the body can be restricted and tight, via understanding musculature, helps you to sequence your classes in safer ways. If you want to do camel pose towards the middle or end of your class, what do you need to be sure to open, or stretch to prepare them for this pose? If you want to do forearm balance, should we be working on opening the chest and shoulders and hamstrings?

Our in-class workshop sessions will walk you through alignment and engagement of muscles needed to do the poses safely. What we have included here is a self-study through a fantastic website called Muscle & Motion. This website lets you explore poses through video and interactive video. You will be able to click through exercise analysis, common mistakes and active muscles. This will give you a depth of understanding that will nicely integrate with the live asana work in the classroom.

Asana Theory, Muscular Anatomy & Kinesiology

You will see on the left side a search bar and menu. You will be using a few different sections within the index. The colors in the workbook below correspond to the area in the index. We will bounce back and forth, in the index between Asana, Muscular and Kinesiology & Skeletal. The colors indicate a different section or category.

This section is focusing on more general concepts, kinesiology, posture, breathing and sections of the body. Please explore each topic and then answer the questions.

1. Go to the Muscle and Motion website.

2. Log-in Pages

3. Yoga App Log-in

4. Choose your device

5. Create Account

6. Log-in

Menu:

Go to the Asana section -- Core Asana -- Theory Section

Go to Muscular Anatomy section

Go to Kinesiology & Skeletal

Study each topic, click through the various aspects, explore by hovering over the images and clicking the various tabs.

1. Asana – Core Asana – Theory-Ideal Postural Alignment –Median Axis

1. What is the median axis

It is like a string that is stretched when someone straightens up

2. What is string weakness?

The compression of the body when standing

3. How can you improve posture?

Use imagery

2. Asana – Core Asana – Theory - Ideal Postural Alignment –Head Triangle

1. What does the head triangle consist of?

Center point on top of the head, the two sides descending to the top of the scapula on the shoulders.

2. What causes shortening and weakening of the anterior neck?

Forward head posture

3. What is the number 5 muscle?

3. Asana – Core Asana – Theory - Ideal Postural Alignment –Chest Triangle

1. What is the chest triangle?

Center of the chest bone, the two sides of the ASIS on the front of the pelvic bowl.

2. How do you prevent the body from sinking the chest triangle?

Lengthen the sides of the triangle and push the head upward and move ears away from shoulders.

3. A ballet teacher told me that if I imagine a cord lifting my sternum, your shoulders can naturally shift back and down to avoid this collapsing. Why don’t you give it a try!

4. Asana – Core Asana – Theory - Ideal Postural Alignment –

Navel Triangle

1. What comprises the navel triangle?

Center of the navel, two sides descend to the center of the feet.

2. What can a weak Navel Triangle cause? Sway-Back posture

5. Asana – Core Asana – Theory - Ideal Postural Alignment –Important Emphasis

1. What does the little guy pull from above? Feet

2. Name 3 yoga poses do they demonstrate to help practice proper triangle alignment?

Tadasana, Twisting hand to foot, awkward chair, plank, lunge, tabletop, boat

6. Asana – Core Asana – Theory - Ventilation, Kinesiology of Ventilation

1. What are the joints that are active when we breathe?

Costovertebral joints, sternocostal joints, thoracic spine vertebrae

2. Name 3 active muscles involved in breathing

Scalene muscles, sternocleidomastoid, pectoralis major, Intercostal muscles, diaphragm, latissimus dorsi, serratus posterior superior, erector spinae, levatores costarum, quadratus lumborum

7. Asana – Core Asana – Theory - Timing of Respiration when Performing Rotation

1. What compresses when rotating?

Obliques and transversus abdominus

2. Does exhaling or inhaling enhance rotation?

Exhaling

3. When you rotate on an exhale does it feel like? (circle one) a. you are being wrung out like a wet towel b. like a balloon deflating c. someone giving you a raspberry burn