Throughout my years of yoga practice I have attended many classes, retreats, and workshops. Often times the instructor or their cronies would walk around the room as they taught and evaluate who looked ‘right or wrong’ in a pose. They would then proceed to try to mold you into what they felt was the right way. Many of the adjustments I have received over the years from instructors, even ‘yoga masters’, haven’t seemed helpful and sometimes seemed hindering.
In my career as a yoga instructor I have been very hesitant to physically manipulate a person in a pose. I have done a bit here and there, but remain reserved in the practice of it. I often felt my hesitation was due to inexperience on my part(which there still is), but after watching Paul Grilley’s Anatomy for Yoga DVD, I think that a good deal of it may have been due to an intuitive understanding of the versatility of the human body.
The focus of the lecture was the differences in human anatomy that we are born with, specifically the skeletal structure. The four main reasons people vary in what they manifest in a yoga practice have to do with compression, tension, proportion and orientation.
-Compression is where the connection and shape of the bones physically stop the range of motion from continuing.
-Tension is the stress of tight muscle or connective tissue.
-Proportion is the length/width of body parts in relation to one another.
-Orientation is the adjustment or alignment of oneself, their relative position.
Of these four components only 2 of them do we have the ability to change, tension and orientation. Compression and proportion we are born with and will forever affect how we will be able to manipulate the joints and the body.
So how do we know when it is compression or tension that is preventing us from going deeper into a pose? Grilley says that if the sensation stopping you is originating from the direction you are moving then it is compression. If the sensation comes from behind the direction of movement then it is tension. For example, when you are in a squat, if you feel sensation in the Achilles tendon or calf that is tension. If you feel sensation on the front of the ankle, it is compression.
Here are some good Grilley thoughts for your practice:
-Don’t let the tail wag the dog. Don’t compromise the axis joint to move the extremity deeper.
-Don’t predetermine what is good or bad. As humans we want to create closed systems based on right and wrong. Anytime you say- This is right, especially as an instructor, you are hurting someone it does not apply to.
-Hypo/hyperextension isn’t necessarily good or bad. More accurately, how does the person feel in the pose?
-Muscles close joint space. When we are in a muscularly energetic pose it can affect our range of motion.
-If there is compression, use props as a tool to get to tension release.
-Your body is a reflection of your mental and emotional life as well as your physical history.
-Take what works and create your own yoga.
We are ALL different. Every day we practice yoga we are looking to prevent gravity and time from collapsing our body inward. Movement itself opens us up, sends energy out. Grilley says how we look aesthetically doesn’t necessarily enhance or diminish the emotional, energetic, health, mental, spiritual benefits of playing with our edge.
For more information, check out Grilley’s website at http://www.paulgrilley.com/
In my career as a yoga instructor I have been very hesitant to physically manipulate a person in a pose. I have done a bit here and there, but remain reserved in the practice of it. I often felt my hesitation was due to inexperience on my part(which there still is), but after watching Paul Grilley’s Anatomy for Yoga DVD, I think that a good deal of it may have been due to an intuitive understanding of the versatility of the human body.
The focus of the lecture was the differences in human anatomy that we are born with, specifically the skeletal structure. The four main reasons people vary in what they manifest in a yoga practice have to do with compression, tension, proportion and orientation.
-Compression is where the connection and shape of the bones physically stop the range of motion from continuing.
-Tension is the stress of tight muscle or connective tissue.
-Proportion is the length/width of body parts in relation to one another.
-Orientation is the adjustment or alignment of oneself, their relative position.
Of these four components only 2 of them do we have the ability to change, tension and orientation. Compression and proportion we are born with and will forever affect how we will be able to manipulate the joints and the body.
So how do we know when it is compression or tension that is preventing us from going deeper into a pose? Grilley says that if the sensation stopping you is originating from the direction you are moving then it is compression. If the sensation comes from behind the direction of movement then it is tension. For example, when you are in a squat, if you feel sensation in the Achilles tendon or calf that is tension. If you feel sensation on the front of the ankle, it is compression.
Here are some good Grilley thoughts for your practice:
-Don’t let the tail wag the dog. Don’t compromise the axis joint to move the extremity deeper.
-Don’t predetermine what is good or bad. As humans we want to create closed systems based on right and wrong. Anytime you say- This is right, especially as an instructor, you are hurting someone it does not apply to.
-Hypo/hyperextension isn’t necessarily good or bad. More accurately, how does the person feel in the pose?
-Muscles close joint space. When we are in a muscularly energetic pose it can affect our range of motion.
-If there is compression, use props as a tool to get to tension release.
-Your body is a reflection of your mental and emotional life as well as your physical history.
-Take what works and create your own yoga.
We are ALL different. Every day we practice yoga we are looking to prevent gravity and time from collapsing our body inward. Movement itself opens us up, sends energy out. Grilley says how we look aesthetically doesn’t necessarily enhance or diminish the emotional, energetic, health, mental, spiritual benefits of playing with our edge.
For more information, check out Grilley’s website at http://www.paulgrilley.com/
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