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 […]
Earlier this week, I threw as much evidence-based information as possible into the free-but-sold out webinar about hip pain and yoga, “Hip Stability is the New Hip Opening”. I backed up my claims with citations. I spoke about nuance and bias. (For example, does “yoga” hurt people or is it the mindset and paradigm of […]
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 […]
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 […]
From my earliest days of practicing yoga, I heard teachers instructing “Square your hips” in Warrior I (virabhadrasana I) and Warrior II poses (virabhadrasana II). [Scroll to the video at the bottom of this page to see the essence of this blog post in video format]. I repeated this phrase in my own yoga teaching […]
Here’s a comprehensive guide to getting more comfortable in Malasana Plus, if you scroll down far enough, 7 Steps to Better Ankle Mobility We at Yoga Anatomy Academy love malasana and are on a mission to make this deep squat more accessible to more humans. The motivation is this: a large chunk of what we […]