Your Body, Your Yoga : Learn Alignment Cues That Are Skillful, Safe, and Best Suited to You

__Your Body, Your Yoga__ goes beyond any prior yoga anatomy book available. It looks not only at the body’s unique anatomical structures and what this means to everyone’s individual range of motion, but also examines the physiological sources of restrictions to movement. Two volumes are provided in this book: Volume 1 raises a new mantra to be used in every yoga posture: What Stops Me? The answers presented run through a spectrum, beginning with a variety of tensile resistance to three kinds of compressive resistance. Examined is the nature of muscles, fascia, tendons, ligaments, joint capsules, bones and our extracellular matrix and their contribution to mobility. The shape of these structures also defines our individual, ultimate range of movement, which means that not every body can do every yoga posture. The reader will discover where his or her limits lie, which dictates which alignment cues will work best, and which ones should be abandoned. Volume 2 will take these principles and apply them to the lower body, examining the hip joint, the knee, ankle and foot, and will present how your unique variations in these joints will show up in your yoga practice. Yoga is big business today, and teacher training programs are booming. Yoga teachers have a thirst for anatomy training, but all books on yoga anatomy focus solely on the muscles. Your Body, Your Yoga goes beyond any prior yoga anatomy book available. It looks not only at the body's unique anatomical structures and what this means to everyone's individual range of motion, but also examines the physiological sources of restrictions to movement. Two volumes are provided in this book: Volume 1 raises a new mantra to be used in every yoga posture: What Stops Me? The answers presented run through a spectrum, beginning with a variety of tensile resistance to three kinds of compressive resistance. Examined is the nature of muscles, fascia, tendons, ligaments, joint capsules, bones and our extracellular matrix and their contribution to mobility. The shape of these structures also defines our individual, ultimate range of movement, which means that not every body can do every yoga... Cover 1 Title Page 5 Dedication 7 Copyright 8 Acknowledgements 9 How to Read this Book 11 Contents 14 Sidebars 18 Foreword: The History of Teaching Alignment in America 20 Volume 1: What Stops Me? Sources of Tension and Compression 23 Intentions 24 Chapter 1: You Are Unique—So Is Your Yoga 27 The Range of Human Variations 30 Examples of Human Variations 36 Chapter 2: What Stops Me? 44 Tension 55 Compression 57 Sensing Tension and Compression 59 Functional Yoga versus Aesthetic Yoga 64 Chapter 3: The Value of Stress 69 Chapter 4: The Physiology of Our Tissues 90 Sources of Tension 92 Muscles 93 Myofascia 98 Tendons 100 Fascia 104 Ligaments 111 The Nervous System 115 The Immune System 122 The Wonder of Water 125 Sources of Compression 127 Bones 128 Joints and Cartilage 140 Volume 1: Summary 153 Appendix A: The Forms of Stress 155 Appendix B: Muscle Shapes and Functions 160 Appendix C: The Myofascial Meridians 165 Appendix D: Facts About Osteoporosis 170 Appendix E: The Types of Joints 172 Appendix F: The Biomechanics of Joint Motion 176 Volume 1: Endnotes 180 Volume 2: The Lower Body: The Consequences of Human Variation and the Sources of Tension and Compression 190 Intentions 191 Chapter 1: The Bare Bones of Yoga 194 The Planes of Movement 195 Chapter 2: The Joint Segments of the Lower Body: The Hip Joint 212 Form 212 The Architecture of the Hip Joint 213 The Bones of the Hip Joint 214 The Hip-Joint Capsule and Ligaments 220 The Muscles of the Hip 223 The Types and Ranges of Variations 225 Function: Application in Yoga Postures 253 Normal Ranges of Motion 253 Sources of Tension 255 Sources of Compression 260 Variations in Range of Motion 266 Hip-Joint Summary 327 Chapter 3: The Joint Segments of the Lower Body: The Knee Joint 334 Form 335 The Architecture of the Knee Joint 335 The Bones of the Knee 337 The Knee-Joint Capsule and Ligaments 340 The Muscles of the Knee 346 The Types and Ranges of Variations 348 Function: Application in Yoga Postures 356 Movements of the Knee Joint 356 Normal Ranges of Motion 357 Sources of Tension 359 Sources of Compression 369 Variations in Ranges of Motion 370 Knee-Joint Summary 417 Chapter 4: The Joint Segments of the Lower Body: The Ankle–Foot Segment 419 Form 420 The Architecture of the Ankle–Foot Segment 421 The Bones of the Ankle and Foot 429 The Ligaments 434 The Muscles and Tendons 443 The Types and Ranges of Variations 452 Function: Application in Yoga Postures 468 Normal Ranges of Motion 468 Sources of Tension 477 Sources of Compression 483 Variations in Ranges of Motion 487 Ankle–Foot Segment Summary 511 Volume 2: Summary 515 Appendix A: List of Anatomical Directions and Movements 518 Appendix B: Variations in the Female Pelvis 522 Appendix C: Mechanical Advantage—Pulleys and Levers 525 Appendix D: Flexion-Caused Impingement at the Hip Joint 530 Appendix E: The Dangers and Benefits of Valgum or Varum Knee Orientation 532 Appendix F: The Movements of the Foot and Ankle 534 Volume 2: Endnotes 546 Credits and Permissions 569 Index 574 About the Author 606 Yoga is big business today, and teacher training programs are booming. Yoga teachers have a thirst for anatomy training, but all books on yoga anatomy focus solely on the muscles. Your Body, Your Yoga goes beyond any prior yoga anatomy book available. It looks not only at the body's unique anatomical structures and what this means to everyone's individual range of motion, but also examines the physiological sources of restrictions to movement. Two volumes are provided in this book: Volume 1 raises a new mantra to be used in every yoga posture: What Stops Me? The answers presented run through a spectrum, beginning with a variety of tensile resistance to three kinds of compressive resistance. Examined is the nature of muscles, fascia, tendons, ligaments, joint capsules, bones and our extracellular matrix and their contribution to mobility. The shape of these structures also defines our individual, ultimate range of movement, which means that not every body can do every yoga posture. The reader will discover where his or her limits lie, which dictates which alignment cues will work best, and which ones should be abandoned. Volume 2 will take these principles and apply them to the lower body, examining the hip joint, the knee, ankle and foot, and will present how your unique variations in these joints will show up in your yoga practice. Your Body, Your Yoga has over 500 illustrations and photographs. For the technically astute, extensive endnotes are provided, along with a exhaustive index. Technical sidebars (labeled “It's Complicated) allow a non-technical reader to skip the heavier, more detailed discussions and stick to high-level explanations of the concepts. For yoga teachers, sidebars (labeled “To the Teacher") are offered to help them bring the concepts into their classes. Other interesting discussions that could disrupt the normal narrative flow are also put into sidebars (labeled “It's Important), which everyone is invited to read.