Online Mentorship and Courses in Yoga Anatomy
Do we really need to be spooked about letting our heads drop all the way back in yoga? A doctor of physical therapy explains why it might not be as dangerous as some teachers make it out to be.
Recently I read a social media post of someone who wrote that they were having pain while practicing yoga asana. Specifically, that the pain came on while he was doing downward facing dog pose. The post sparked a lively discussion in the comments. What surprised me was that the vast majority of commenters recommended that […]
Is it true that we “need” the yoga poses we avoid the most? Or is that total balony along with being bad advice?
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
There is no such thing as one-size-fits-all yoga. Nor is there one definitive list of qualities that make anatomy-informed yoga. But today we will share what we believe demonstrates respect for the principles of movement and neuroscience (what we like to call “Anatomy-Informed Yoga”) in yoga class. Warning: The list is not short. Modern Postural […]