Anatomy and the Yogi

As a Certified Purna Yoga Teacher and a Yoga Therapist, I do a great deal of anatomy study.  I am continually fascinated by the human body and the ways in which yoga asanas can help (or hinder, if improperly applied/practiced) its healing.  Currently focused on the pregnant body, I am expanding my understanding of "normal" pregnancy and birth, as well as "complications in" pregnancy and birth through participation in doula training at Seattle Midwifery School.  This training has proven very valuable, and already I am finding ways to incorporate it into my prenatal and Mommy & Baby yoga classes.

My interest in anatomy was peaked in an Iyengar yoga class years ago, and it was through the detailed attention to physiology and alignment that I came to understand how very important it is for teachers to be well-trained in this subject.  We work with students who may not have any idea about the proper curvature of the spine, for example, and need some general education about it before they can independently correct their posture.  People with injuries often hear suggestions to try yoga, with no guidance in choosing a qualified teacher.  Yoga teachers should have not only a firm understanding of anatomy and physiology, but of proper technique in yoga asanas, as well.

As I tell my students, we don't receive an owner's manual for the human body.  We're left to build it as we go, page by page, often injury by injury (I've noticed that it's usually after an injury that folks start learning about a particular body part).  Purna Yoga is a great tool for developing an owner's manual without having to learn the hard way...through injury.  Each class offers an opportunity to explore the body's strength, flexibility, alignment, range of motion, and sensations.  All the while, students learn to interpret their body's language..."What does that sensation mean?"  "Is that discomfort significant, or the result of stretching muscle fibers?"  "My chest feels different...it must be because I opened it so much with all those backbending movements!"  "Wow!  My lower back was achey before class, but then we stretched our hips and it felt great the rest of the day."  As we learn this language, we become more responsive to our body's signals and better able to keep it healthy and injury-free.  This is but one of the tools for deepening the body/mind/spirit connection.

Because I am a self-described "anatomy geek", and because I believe that yoga classes are an excellent forum in which students can learn more about their own anatomy and physiology, I look for ways to bring anatomy lessons into my teaching. One of my favorite things to do is pull out the "Mr. Bones" chart, using it to help students more deeply understand - for example - what it means to lift the sitting bones in Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog). These discussions often lead to questions from students, and pretty soon they're learning all kinds of new things about their bodies.

Such a situation recently led to a "very unscientific experiment" by my student and friend, Kerrie. She polled her blog readers about any correlation they noticed about pain down the outer thigh and migraines.  Her results were not conclusive, but they did open up new questions for her.  She asked me to write a short article about this part of the body - the IT Band - and why so many people find it to be tender, or even downright painful.  Included in the article are suggestions for relieving this particular kind of pain.  If you'd like to read more, please click here.