Online Mentorship and Courses in Yoga Anatomy
We aren’t ever really “squaring the hips”. Your two hips are on either side of your pelvis, where the pelvis and upper leg bone (the femur) meet. On the mat, what we mean if we are using the words “square the hips”, is to “square the pelvis“. This more accurate phrase typically means bringing the […]
My most recent blog post, How Our Obsession with Yoga Alignment Misses the Point, is the product of a massive paradigm shift that was at least a decade and a half in the making. Despite the indisputable fact that yoga helps many people, asana can cause harm, and is not universally “good”. Yet the idea […]
For many yoga practitioners “alignment” is synonymous with “the best way to practice a pose for injury prevention”. But this perspective is strange for a practice that is considered fundamentally healthy. Why are so many of us so motivated to turn our toes to a certain angle by the fear of injury from yoga? People […]
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Yoga Anatomy Academy (@yogaanatomyacademy) As an avid student of yoga since the mid-90s, I have heard many yoga teachers say that boat pose, also known as navasana or paripurna (full) navasana, was a core pose. This always confused me because, in my own body during navasana, […]
After recently hearing a yoga teacher insist that foot strengthening exercises were “core exercises”, it got us thinking: what exactly is the core? And how can we help the yoga community apply this term more precisely? “Core” is not a medical term, and does not have a universal, clear definition. It can (and will) be […]
Let’s talk about “tucking the tailbone”. “Tuck your tailbone” is a cue that has circulated in yoga asana classes since forever. (I can confirm it was used in the 1990s.) The cue is intended to reduce the position of anterior pelvic tilt and / or lumbar lordosis. To put it another way, “tuck the tailbone” means […]
Is there such a thing as too much yoga? Thirty day (or other length) yoga challenges have become a thing in the last 15 years…and therefore a staple of the yoga world every January. Typically these challenges involve attending a yoga class (virtually or in person) each and every day for 30 days in a […]
Gratitude meditation IS yoga, and this is not a platitude. It is proven. The research can visualize and quantify effects parallel to those described in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Today there are 1000+ published studies and papers on gratitude listed on pubmed.gov. Most of these studies were published in the last 5 years. Interestingly, […]
It’s the season of gratitude, and this week we are dropping tidbits about the science of gratitude. It turns out that the neurophysiological effects of gratitude are profound. Inducing a state of gratitude is one of the most powerful, speedy ways to change your heart rate and markers of positive neurotransmitters in your body. Gratitude […]
Thoughts on Universal Alignment cues, Ableism, fitness and exclusion on the yoga mat. Something I cherish about being a physical therapist* is the opportunity I’ve had to work with patients of all ages (pediatrics to 99 year olds), and in all sorts of conditions (literally from a cardiac transplant ICU to sports medicine settings). Although […]