Anatomy Principles of Movement and Alignment There is a way of doing poses that we call “,” without the slightest effort. Movement is the song of the body. Yes, the body has its own song from which the movement of dancing arises spontaneously. In other words, the liberation of the upper part of the body (the head, neck, arms, shoulders, and trunk) produced by the acceptance of gravity in the lower part of the body (legs, feet, knees, and hips) is the origin of lightness, and dancing is its expression. This song, if you care to listen to it, is beauty. We could say that it is part of nature. We sing when we are happy and the body goes with it like waves in the sea. , Awakening the Spine Principles of alignment depend somewhat on one’s view of the body. If the body is seen as a skeletal structure kept in line by individual muscles, then proper alignment will depend upon positioning the body’s bones correctly in each pose. If the body is seen as a tensegrity structure in which the body’s compression members (bones) push outward while its tension members (fascial system) press inward, alignment becomes a matter of fascial pressure and pull. If the body is viewed primarily as an energetic construct, each pose is formed from the energy flow it produces and alignment is honest adherence to an energetic template. As a yoga teacher, it is instructive to view the body in many ways, discovering principles of alignment.

Here are three simplest rules for beginning students, they would be: • Transfer the body weight through the bones. • Distribute weight equally through the base of support for a pose. • Transfer weight equally though both sides of a joint, such as the knee.

These three rules will protect beginning students from undue stress on joints and give them a felt reference for good alignment. Find ways to help students feel when a pose is balanced body-wide as well as teaching them the correct position for body parts or correct actions in the body specific to each pose they do. Generalize their experience as well as particularizing it. For example, yogis can know they are out of alignment in if all their weight is on the inside of the front leg, stressing the inside of the knee. Teach students how to position themselves in Trikonasana in order to balance weight between the front and back legs and to protect their knees, but they can feel for themselves they are being corrected and work toward by harmonizing weight distribution in Trikonasana. That said there are many other alignment tips to consider. Some aid teachers in assessing students’ posture and alignment and some are useful to teach to students in the first year or two of practice for their self-assessment.

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Spinal Integrity Much has been said in this course about maintaining the natural curves of the spine in a pose. A neutral spine is one in which the curves are balanced in relation to one another. The neutral position of the spine acts as a central motif for all other movement. One of the primary jobs of a yoga teacher is to introduce students to the idea of the neutral spine and to work toward enough freedom in the vertebral column, the hips, and the shoulders to sit, stand, and sleep in balance. “The large majority of postures ask us to maintain their neutral position, with the neutral spine being the precondition for the more specific actions we wish to do. While the more advanced postures may reverse the curves dramatically for a brief period of time, they are almost always followed by movements that return us to a neutral central axis.” Farhi, Yoga Mind, Body and Spirit

Base of Support The part of the body in touch with the floor builds a foundation for a pose although there may be secondary foundations higher up. The foundation is there so that something higher up in the body can happen. Base support dictates what the body can and cannot do. When support is lacking in the base of a pose, the structures higher up compensate by supporting rather than being supported, creating stress in the body. It is very important to distribute the weight of the body evenly through the base. Equal weight distribution at the base creates equal distribution of stress.

For example, when weight is nearly equal in both feet in Trikonasana, the center of gravity in the pelvis is over the feet and the vertebral column can be long and free. When weight is concentrated in the front foot, the top of the body is stabilized at the waist and in the ribcage. The shoulders, head and neck are supported by a rigid back rather than by the feet and legs.

Gravity

Gravity informs all movement and allows all movement.

The pull of gravity under our feet makes it possible to for us to extend the upper part of the spine, and this extension allows us also to release tension between the vertebrae. Gravity is like a magnet attracting us to the earth, but this attraction is not limited to pulling us down, it also allows us to stretch in the opposite direction towards the sky. Vanda Scaravelli, Awakening the Spine The center of gravity in the upright body is in the mid-abdomen. That point should be centered over the base of support for a pose. For example, in II beginners often have their center of gravity shifted toward their forward leg without much weight on the back foot. Shifting the center of gravity between the feet balances the pose. Less effort is needed when the pose is centered and balanced.

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The body’s relationship to gravity also determines how its muscles are working and how strenuously. For example, and Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana form the body into the same shape, but the whole back body is the base of the pose in Supta Padangusthasana while one foot is the base of the pose in Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana. In one pose, you are supine and in the other you are upright. One pose is a balancing pose and the other is not. Each pose presents its own lessons and challenges due to gravity’s effect on it.

Equal and Opposite Stretch Understand from what point a pose is held and what parts of the body are moving away from each other. Involve the whole body in stretching in opposite directions. This involves understanding what is stabilized and what is reaching in a pose. For example, when standing and reaching the arms over the head, the feet must be firmly rooted to the floor for the torso to extend upward. In most poses there are multiple directions of stretch. For example, in , the back leg counterbalances the torso and head, and the two arms stretch away from one another. The down leg is stabilizing and moving down while the up leg and head are reaching in opposite directions. Often beginners stretch just one part of the body and letting the rest either grip or collapse. In Trikonasana, they may feel a strong stretch in the hamstrings of the forward leg, concentrate all their effort in the pose in that leg, and never move the back leg out and down through the foot and the trunk up and away from the back leg. They often stretch the top arm but not the down arm. Stretching in one direction only pulls a pose out of alignment.

Extend Throughout the Body Building a base of support and stretching equally in opposite directions lets one extend throughout the body rather than restricting the work in a pose to a few muscle groups. Extension in this sense means to lengthen or to expand. Beginners will not be able to control all body parts at one time or feel the whole body as a unit. Teach opposite body actions one at a time in different repetitions of a pose in class or in different classes, moving toward a body-wide sense of extension. For example, in Trikonasana teach students to keep weight in the back foot and extend the torso away from the back foot and leg in one class. In another, teach them to stretch the up and down arms away from each other. In a third, teach students to extend both sides of the torso equally away from the pelvis. Slowly, under your guidance, these physical actions will coalesce into a full awareness of body placement and extension.

Align the Bones Alignment is not, as is commonly thought, a static position that we hold. …The first step in aligning ourselves is to find a cooperative relationship between the parts of the body. This can be as simple as rotating the foot in the same direction as the knee. When we find this cooperative relationship, the parts

Chapter 8. Anatomy 3 Yoga on High © 200-hour Teacher Training Manual of the body are in agreement with one another about the action to be performed. The foot agrees with the knee and therefore they can now move in unified action. The arrangement of the structure determines where force can and cannot flow….

We engage our alignment in two ways. We can yield and push against a supporting surface with a peripheral limb and direct the rebounding force through our center and out through the opposite periphery. Or we can initiate a movement by reaching through one of our limbs into space and following through with the rest of the body.” , Yoga Mind, Body and Breath.

In every pose, follow the lines of the bones. Check to see that the bones are in the body. This means that nothing is poking out of the central core. The ribs aren’t flared forward, the inner shoulder blades aren’t picked up off the back, some part of the spine isn’t protruding, and the hip points aren’t far forward of the heels, leading the pelvis.

Radiate Out from the Navel Radiating out from the navel sets up an energetic template for inner alignment between the core body and the limbs. One often sees people who have lost body awareness move their arms and legs without any connection to their core body, and their core body appears highly inflexible. The connection between their center of gravity, their spine, and their limbs and head has been lost.

Mentally drawing internal lines of force and connection from the navel out through the extremities while practicing asanas is instructive. Any fault or break in a line indicates a disconnection in the body— a misalignment, stored tension, stored emotion, or unresolved injury. Again, this is not a practice accessible to beginning students, but as a teacher ne must learn many details of alignment that are useful to teach beginners by practicing navel radiation yourself. Practicing in this way lets one feel the integrity of the whole body and involves all its parts. It also focuses the awareness on the strength and position of the deep postural muscles near the vertebral column and their relationship to the muscles of the extremities.

Rhythm

Rhythm in yoga is an organized way of doing poses—a way of moving the energy rhythmically that mitigates energy and tension blocks. Each single awareness creates a reaction that invites the next opening, and the next. Allowing room for these pulses of opening creates an easy rhythm in a pose or in a practice session.

One of the simplest rhythms in a practice is based on watching the breath and moving with it. While there are many ways to work with the breath, a common practice is to move the body or deepen into a pose on the exhalation and to open the body and stay steady in a pose on the inhalation. For example,

Chapter 8. Anatomy 4 Yoga on High © 200-hour Teacher Training Manual in , one would deepen the forward bend on an exhalation and, leaving the body in position on an inhalation, create a sense of openness in the hips and vertebral column.

Ashtanga has formalized its approach to rhythm by prescribing a set series of poses for each practice session and by holding each pose for a certain breath count. The body stays heated during practice if the practice rhythm is correct. In Hatha, practice rhythm is more elective. One can choose a slow practice to set up a certain energy flow in the body or a vigorous practice to set up another. One can shift the rhythm of a practice depending upon what ones finds in one’s body during the practice itself, moving from one opening to another as the body dictates. In any case, there is a distinct rhythm to every practice that should be conscious.

The rhythm in an individual pose is elective in the Hatha, Vinyasa and Ashtanga forms. Different people may approach a pose differently or the same person may approach it differently at different times. In any case, rhythm can be taught. For example, practice Trikonasana, and root the feet, extend the vertebral column, and extend the arms parallel to the floor. Then move the center of gravity backward as the vertebral column extends out and down until it is parallel to the floor. Now extend the arms away from one another and rotate the head, lengthening both sides of the neck equally away from the pelvis. Finally integrate the whole pose, grounding, elongating, and radiating from the navel. Within each large body action are many smaller ones that pulse through the individual parts of the body—some muscles groups relaxing, others firming. Two yoga teachers may perform the body actions and muscular actions in Trikonasana in a different order or at a different pace, but both can teach their students their rhythm. When students develop a private practice, they will develop their own sense of timing and sequence of actions.

As a teacher, help students to find rhythm in their movements in class with the pace and dynamics of your voice. The clearest instructions, when given in a monotone, do not have the same impact as instructions given rhythmically with conscious pauses.

Conscious Breathing

Conscious breathing is the way to promote alignment and to check alignment. Watching the breath in a pose will reveal where one is holding tension or blocking energy flowing through the body. It will put the students in touch with the small wavelike movements up and down the spine that are the dynamic heart of a pose. Conscious breathing combats rigidity and promotes that sense of life and expectant curiosity that leads the body to take its open, expanded form.

Beginning students often hold their breath in poses that are new or difficult for them. As a teacher, your job is to promote breath awareness throughout the entire class time. If students are not breathing or have labored breathing, they are not balanced and aligned. They may be stabilizing a pose with the breathing muscles. Teaching them to root through the part of the body in contact with the floor will free the breath.

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The relaxed body has a subtle, natural undulation that comes with breathing freely. On an inhalation, it subtly opens and expands moving ever so slightly into extension. On an exhalation, it softens and moves slightly toward flexion. In a beginner’s body, these movements are usually blocked by tension so they must be taught. They will become natural over time. A good pose to use when teaching how to move with the breath is the hugging-the-knee warm up.

Median Line Viewing a pose by finding its median line is a good way of evaluating students’ alignment, especially in large groups. In some poses, the median line is the same as the line of gravity. Use the line to see how the left and right sides of the body are positioned in relation to on another and to view the extension of each side of the body outward from the median line. In symmetrical poses where both sides of the body are doing the same thing, relatively new students can benefit from finding the median line in themselves by feel and balancing the two sides of their bodies.

Relaxation of Effort Once in a pose, certain softening in the body—just enough effort and no more—allow for efficient energy flow through the body. Use the breath to relax from the inside out. Soften the eyes and relax the tongue, throat, and diaphragm. Let the body unwind into a pose without fighting with itself. The relaxed body will take the ideal form of a pose for the practitioner, adapting it to fit the strength and flexibility found in the body on any particular day.

The Energetics of Alignment

While most people deal with alignment in respect to the physical positioning of the bones of the body or the relationship of the physical body to gravity, one can work with and align the body based on its energy map as well. At or near the physical center of gravity for the body is an energetic point on the hara line, the lower hara point. It is about two inches below the navel and in the middle of the abdomen. The hara line is a line that bisects the body running upward and downward. Its downward branch divides into three lines—one down each leg and the third straight down through the center of the body into the earth. It also runs upward through an energetic point in the neck, through an energetic point above the crown, and onward infinitely. Using the hara line in alignment creates grounding and a connection between the downward and upward movements and flow of energy in each pose.

The hara line represents that part of us that is constant even in the midst of many outer changes. In a pose, as the outer shape of the body changes and subtle adjustments occur in the breath and energy flow in the body, the hara line is a constant energetic connection to the energy of earth and cosmos. To feel its presence in practice can be illuminating. Practicing with it is also a metaphor for our daily lives— noticing our calm center within the swirl of strong emotions or disturbing confrontations.

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One can learn to observe the relationship between the outer form of a pose and its internal energy in yourself and your students. Both should be in harmony. For example, when learning shoulderstand, many students strap the arms so that the elbows align with the shoulders. Eventually, they need to internalize the action in the body that creates the alignment induced by the strap. Their inner strength and energetic flow must match the form of the outer body. They must find the internal action that makes the strap slack. If they do not, they will continue to collapse in the pose.

The inner and outer bodies are often at odds when a student goes into a pose too deeply for their ability. The outer body looks as if it was doing an advanced version of the pose, but the inner body is retreating and struggling. For this reason, emphasize again and again that everyone should work within or at the edge of his/her comfort level in a pose. When the actions of the inner and outer bodies are not matched, the final, open pose will never be accessible and the likelihood of injury increases. When they are matched, even someone with a very tight body can receive the full benefits of a pose and progress quickly toward a deeper version of it with little effort.

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