The Power Of Breath

I wanted to share a little bit from Alan Finger(author of Tantra of the Yoga Sutras) on the breath. I love his explanation about how the breath is the only autonomic system that we can override with conscious choice. That is perhaps what makes pranayama so powerful. 

Bhastrika

Bhastrika, sometimes known as Bellows Breath or Breath of Fire, is a challenging pranayama that strengthens and develops a masterful awareness of the transverse abdominus. It also helps to strengthen the diaphragm. Like most core strengtheners, this pranayama tends to be incredibly heating 

The Shoulders

The shoulders are an incredibly complex area of the body, given that they are made up of three joints and are only attached to the rib cage in one spot- by the strerno-clavicular joint (collarbone to the ribs). Other than that, they are purely engulfed in muscles. Because of this anatomical distinction, we have the beautiful ability to move our shoulders through a wide range of motion. The downside is that neuro-muscular patterns can easily form that do not serve the health of the shoulders. This makes it even more important to get to know and be able to intentionally move your shoulder blades. 

4 Layers of the Abdominals

 There are four layers of abdominals that are often referred to as the core. It’s important for you to know that for most anatomists, the core consists of ALL the muscles that surround the lower torso, not just the abdominals. The four layers of abdominals primarily help to flex, laterally flex, rotate the trunk, and compress the abdomen. Each layer has muscle fiber directions that help us to understand the line of pull. 

Muscles:

1. Rectus Abdominis : Most superficial (outermost) layer, responsible for flexing the spine. It is known for being the “six pack muscle”.
2. External Obliques : Most known for lateral flexion of the trunk and for being that sexy side belly muscle. It is much larger than it looks on the outside and is responsible for more than just side bending. These muscles also flex and rotate the trunk toward the opposite hip. 
3. Internal Obliques: Directly below external obliques, the internal obliques have opposing muscle fibers. The direction is opposite, which means that they have the opposite action. These muscles pull the trunk toward the hip of the same side. The “Fire Line” is a term I created to talk about coordinating engagement of the internal and external obliques from the opposite sides of the body, creating a diagonal line of pull from one side of the ribs to the other hip.
4. Transverse Abdominus: The deepest layer of the abdomen, this muscle is activated as a result of hollowing in uddiyana bhandha. It compresses the abdomen inward and upward, creating a vacuum effect. This muscle wraps around the entire mid-section, not just the front of the body. 

Internal and External Obliques

I want to share this video with you is so you can see the diagonal fibers of the external obliques traveling down through the linea alba and continuing on to the internal obliques on the other side, wrapping all the way around to the back, as this teacher is pointing out. 

 Miscellanies:

1. Linea Alba : tendon that runs down the center of the abdomen 
2. Concentric Contraction: activation of a muscle while it is shortening
3. Eccentric Contraction: activation of a muscle while it is lengthening 
4. Isometric Contraction: activating a muscle without any movement occurring 

The Air Line

In the last section, you learned about the anatomy of the back muscles, including the erector spinae and QL muscles. This workshop focuses on strengthening these muscles while drawing your sensational attention to the opening of the front body. For whatever reason, most of us feel confined when we strengthen muscles. I suppose it has something to do with the feeling of concealment.

Place your attention on what is lengthening as a result of your strength, and it typically opens the experience up to a joyful celebration of expansion. This is a secret in my technique that I don’t often share with students.

As a teacher in training, it is useful to know the techniques behind the magic. But knowing it is not enough; you still have to embody it in within yourself in order for it to work. Our minds and bodes crave the feeling of expansion so we use this technique to our advantage. The nervous system will react positively; the muscular system will follow. The expansion gained will be magical and revelatory.

This practice was filmed live in Frankfurt at Inside Yoga studio, for The Elements of Mastery Online

Lesson Format

Mostly Lecture + Some Movement, have your mat set up near by.

Anatomy of the Back Muscles

Pg 128, Chapter 10: The Erector Spinae Group

Boney Landmarks

1. Spinous Process: The boney protrusion that sticks out when you round your back; these are what you see sticking out from under your skin.
2. Transverse Process: You can’t see these, they are the part of the vertebra that sticks out on the sides
3. Costals: The bones of the ribs

The Muscles

Erector Spinae

1. Spinalis: One of the erector spinae, the spinalis runs from one spinous process to the next. It runs up the center along with the other two erectors. This muscle extends the spine.
2. Longissimus: Latteral to the spinals is another Erector Spinae muscles who’s job is to extend the spine as well.
3. iIiocostalis: The easier of the erector spinae to remember because the name defines where it is. It runs from the ilium to the costals. Like the longissimus and spinalis, it helps extend the spine and, perhaps more accurately, pulls the ribs down toward the ilium. It is more lateral than the other two.

When any of these three muscles activate on one side only, they can serve to laterally bend the spine and potentially assist or initiate a twist. When both sides are active they extend the spine (create a backbend). Activating these also help to maintain upright posture when seated.

Quadratus Lumborum “Q.L.”: Not considered to be one of the erector spinae muscles but does a similar action of extension of the spine. This muscle is important in keeping the pelvis upright when seated. For supine backbends, it is one of the most important muscles for lifting the body away from the ground, along with the gluteus maximus and hamstrings. 

Exercises for Strength and Awareness

Baby Cobra: I absolutely love this pose. Going super slow and harnessing a focused attention on each vertebrae can be so meditative. The goal is not to go deep but rather to build awareness of muscles that control each vertebrae. Please take your time with this one and repeat. There is so much wisdom to be gained from this. 

Reverse Plank Pose: I used to avoid this posture, but I love it now because of how much strength is required in the QL and erector spinae. I avoided strengthening my QL by constantly tucking my tailbone in backbends, thinking lumbar extension was bad. I didn’t know any better; that’s what my teachers told me. One of my teachers who was a spinal specialist noticed this pattern and put two fingers on either side of my lumbar in full wheel and said, “these muscles are asleep; activate them.” Suddenly my hips shot upward and my posture deepened without any discomfort at all. It felt magnificent. The area she touched had not been trained or paid attention to, and now I could finally feel it! That said, full wheel is an extreme pose to learn to activate the erectors and QL. Reverse plank is far more accessible, which is why I chose to share that with you here. 

Visual for Back Muscles

To give you a better visual of the erector spinae, I pulled this video from the Chromatic level 1 training. This helps to see the layers of back muscles, including the erector spinae. Don’t worry about memorizing this video. This is more to give you a better “general” understanding of the back muscles. 

THE QL & PSOAS

I like this image to see where the Q.L. is in relationship to the psoas and pelvis. Often we think of them to be on different sides of the body, but in the abdominal region there isn’t a big ribcage dividing the front and back sides; it’s just layers of muscle (and organs). 

The Hip Flexors

This workshop targets strengthening of the hip flexors, in particular, the psoas, tensor fascia latae, and pectineus, which is also an adductor. By building strength in these muscles and learning what their purpose is and how to use them, you develop greater body awareness, or proprioception. Given that you have learned about these muscles in the psoas section of anatomy, this should help solidify that knowledge intellectually and provide wisdom from the experience of activating this muscle group in your body.

Concealment and Revelation 

Understanding these two “acts” of the Universe has really helped me to make sense of what otherwise makes no sense in life. The Universe and Nature (which is what we are) is constantly concealing and revealing itself in many ways. This brings heartache and frustration to the human experience and joyous celebration as well. We can start embracing this in our life by first observing that it is always happening. It happens with the weather and the seasons. It happens when a flower drops its seeds and those seeds go from challenges of concealment to the growth and expansion of becoming a flower (revelation). It is everywhere. Honoring this process helps to release the effort to control what is not in our control, and provides us with the opportunity to place effort on what is in our control; our actions. 

Crow Pose and Half Titibasana (Firefly)

The key actions we focus on in this practice are

1. adduction of the hips
2. internal rotation of the femur
3. abduction of the hips
4. anterior tilt of the Pelvis
5. balancing action- “micro tucking” to activate the gluteus maximus and hamstrings

A Balancing Action is a Chromatic Yoga term for a muscular engagement of the opposing muscle group of whatever the joint alignment is . For example, if the pelvis is in anterior tilt but you isometrically engage the muscles of posterior tilt, then this is called a balancing action in Chromatic terminology.

Crow Pose: The primary activation of the hips that gives access to the posture is adduction of the hips. The hip joints are in abduction (the knees are wide), so an activation of the adductors is a balancing action. This engagement draws the energy into the midline, which makes it easier for your body to understand the experience. The adductors speak to the deep core muscles (the psoas, in particular, as they share the same fascial line). The deep core is incredibly important to unlocking crow pose. In contrast, superficial core muscles are less important if adductor muscles are active. That isn’t to say that the superficial core is not active; they are engaged for sure, but often times there is some confusion about the importance of the rectus abdominals.

The superficial core plays the primary role of connecting the scapula to the hips. The serratus anterior, which creates protractions, connects to the external obliques, unifying the upper body with the lower body through what we call in Chromatic Yoga, “The Fire Line”.

Half Crow/Firefly:

The only difference between Crow and half Firefly is in one of the knee joints. In Crow, both are bent. In Firefly, one is extended. As a result, the weight distribution is slightly different. Fexibility of the hamstrings and adductors is required in order to straighten the leg. For many, the flexibility is there, but half Firefly still seems inaccessible. This is because the technique of internally rotating the thigh bone to straighten the knee is not a part of the student’s practice. This combination is a part of the Water Line in Chromatic Yoga. It requires a patterned activation of adductors and abductors to rotate the femur inward while activating the quads to straighten the knee. 

Uttanasana: 

I share the use of the same water line technique of internally rotating the femurs while straightening the knees in uttanasana. The major difference is that in uttanasana, the feet are fixed on the ground so it is a closed chain isometric engagement rather than the open chained engagement done in titibasana.

THE ILIOPSOAS- “The Bridge”

The reason I refer to the iliopsoas as the bridge is because it is the muscle that connects the front extremities to the trunk. It attaches to the femur bone and all the way up the low back and at the start of the mid back – that is a long span!

It is wild to think that the alignment of our thighs in the hip socket can throw off the alignment of our spine. Most of us have one side of our psoas tighter than the other, which can cause a lateral bending of the spine, potentially resulting in scoliosis. I can attest to this myself – my right psoas is far stronger and shorter than the left. As a result, my low back bends toward the right side. Knowing this has been helpful. I know if I have low back discomfort I can start with a thigh and psoas stretch on the right side. While I knew my right psoas was significantly tighter, an x-ray confirmed the effects on my spine.

As you move through your practice of both studying anatomy and how it relates to you personal body, you have a choice: let it drag you down every time you notice your imperfections, or let it inspire you to take better care of yourself. This has been key for me to develop into the teacher I am today. I have taken my injuries and muscular and structural patterns and used them as a form of study. I would invite you to do the same as we all go through injuries, chronic pain and discomfort. Let your process of self-discovery empower you and your students.

The Muscles: Page 57

In this section we work with three primary muscles, but discuss several others. Be sure to look each of them up for a better visual and intellectual understanding.

1. Psoas Major: one of the muscles of the iliopsoas- attaches to the lesser trochanter, the five lumbar (low back) vertebrae and discs, as well as T12 vertebrae and discs 
2. Iliacus: the other iliopsoas muscle runs from the inner iliac crest pelvis to the lesser trochanter
3. Sartorius (pg 102): the Tree Pose muscle attaching from the A.S.I.S down to the inner tibia. Responsible for external rotation, hip flexion, abduction
4. Rectus Femoris: (pg 96) One of the quadriceps, as previously discussed
5. Pectineus: (Pg 79) a small adductor that adducts, flexes and internally rotates the hip
6. Gluteus Maximus: (pg 64) The big buttock muscle that externally rotates the hip and extends it
7. Hamstrings: (pg 103) the three muscles that extend the hip joint and flex the knee joint

ANATOMICAL TERMS

Synergist: (pg 36) muscle that helps movement of the prime mover. The following are synergists to the psoas:

1. Rectus Femoris
2. Pectinius
3. Sartorius
4. Tensor Fasciae Latae 

Antagonist: (pg 36) opposing muscle of the prime mover and synergists. These muscles create opposite action and therefore require a certain amount of relaxing these muscles for movement to occur. The following are antagonists to the prime mover of the iliopsoas:

1. Gluteus Maximus
2. Hamstrings

Prime Mover: muscle primarily creating the movement 

Open Chain: (Pg 45) when the extremity is free to move

Closed Chain: (Pg 45) when extremity is fixed by the floor or any other force

MOVEMENTS & SECTIONS OF THE SPINE

Movements (pg 116)

1. Flexion:  bending or rounding the spine – like forward folds
2. Extension:  arching the spine – backbending   
3. Lateral Flexion: side bending
4. Rotation: twisting

The Sections of the Spine (pg 19)

1. Coccyx: tail Bone
2. Sacrum: triangular Bone
3. Lumbar: low Back
4. Thoracic: middle Back
5. Cervical: neck

Bones, Discs, Boney Landmarks

Please study page 12 for these terms amongst others regarding the spine

1. Vertebral Body
2. Intervertebral Discs
3. Transverse Process

The Abdominal Dilemma

and Backbends

In this practice we focus on stretching the three outermost abdominal layers:

1. Rectus Abdominus
2. External Obliques
3. Internal Obliques

We are activating the transverse abdominus, the deepest layer of core tissue, in order to move the diaphragm outward, creating an expansion of the ribcage,  instead of moving the diaphragm downward, which would stretch belly muscles. If we stretch belly muscles by pressing them outward, there won’t much extra room for them to elongate upward.

The best way I can explain this is with a terrible analogy. Imagine you have a bungie cord connected to the base of your sternum and to your pubic bone. If you pull the bungie cord outward (away from the spine) then that tension would pull the sternum and pubic bone toward each other, shortening the front side of the spinal column as we do in forward folds and abdominal strengtheners. Now that you have increased the tension by pulling the chord forward there isn’t much more room for the chord to stretch.

Instead, if you draw the belly back, it releases the tension on the muscles, so if you pull the rib cage upward without tension, there will be greater available movement. The bungie can be pulled upward.

I realize this may be hard to visualize. Consider this simple idea: if you activate the outer abdominals and create flexion of the spine, this compresses the front body, but then you add a backbend, compressing the back side of the body.  Now both front AND back are compressing, so your spine will put pressure on the discs between the vertebrae. So by allowing the front body to release and the back body to activate, your front spine opens, pressing the discs forward toward your belly. 

BUT WHAT ABOUT A FACILITATED STRETCH OF THE ABDOMEN?

Great question! Yes, you can definitely activate your outer abdominals and still do a backbend. In fact, I recommend it. BUT, prior to doing so we need to let go of unconscious holding patterns, or what I call “gripping” of the abdominals. If the abdominals are gripping, they are over-activating, restricting movement. That would be like trying to do a thigh stretch while hyper-activating the quads; you would never be able to grab your foot. So first allow the range of motion to occur, then gently activate the abdominals to facilitate the stretch of them. All the while, the transverse abdominals can be active to support thoracic breathing. 

I can’t give you all the science behind this, but I have personally noticed a pattern. Those that struggle to breathe thoracically also struggle with compression of the low back in backbends. I imagine that has something to do with the ability to disperse movement throughout the spine and force abdominal breathing, which often pulls the spine into compression in the front body when in backbends. That is my best guess ,based on what I have seen. I may be wrong on the reasoning, as perhaps it has something to do with activation of back muscles, but it’s clear from my experience that there is an obvious connection between the ability to breathe in the thoracic and comfort in backbends.

What do you feel after this class?

Pranamayakosha &

The Flow of Breath

What makes asana different than cardio? I would say there are two distinctions: attention on breath and attention on sensation. Omitting those two diminishes asana to just another form of fitness. There is nothing wrong with fitness of course, but it serves an entirely different purpose. Once one practices focused attention on breath and sensations of their physical body long enough, they wind up taking that into everything they do in their physical body, increasing their athleticism. Why is this? Quite simple. Your body is what is creating the actions in all athletic sports or fitness exercises. If you are capable of sensing them, your mind-body coordination and communication increase. Your breathing affects the performance of your physical body, and it will either react to what you are doing, or it will be the engine that drives your body through challenges.

This class takes the pranayama techniques you have been learning and implements them into your physical yoga practice. I look forward to hearing your reflections.

Flying Pigeon Key Actions

The key actions in this variation of flying pigeon 

1. Activation of gluteus maximus of front hip
2. Activation of hip flexors of the back hip 
3. Activation of rectus abdominals
4. Activation of wrist flexors
5. Activation of fibularis muscles and tibialis anterior to evert and dorsiflex the front foot around the arm

All of these actions are incredibly important to gain access to this modified version of flying pigeon. In Chromatic Level 1, you will learn how to take one of these actions and weave it through an entire sequence so students leave with greater awareness of that action in their bodies. Can you teach all five of these? Likely not if you want students to retain anything. That will likely overwhelm them. It is possible to teach 1-3 of these in one class if you are skillful with the way you introduce them. 

Required flexibility of this posture 

1. front buttock muscles 
2. rhomboids
3. erector spinae group
4. quadratus lumborum
5. wrist flexors

Abhyasa and Vairagya in Asana

Consider the reason you practice yoga. Much of our ambitions are motivated by pain or pleasure. We want to avoid pain and experience pleasure. There is nothing wrong with that but being aware of it can mean the difference in enjoying our experience or defining ourselves by the outcomes.

Most of us practice asana to feel better in mind, body, and soul. Often we get distracted by the postures and define ourselves as beginner or advanced, based on whether or not we can achieve the shapes. Instead we can use these postures as motivation to get on our mat and inspire us to tap into our potential. Doing this, we put the effort into understanding our body but aren’t left disappointed or defined by our ability to achieve a posture. Place your efforts on getting to know your body, and let go of the outcome. Harness the vrittis and focus them entirely on development of body awareness. If postures come, they come; if they don’t, they don’t.

Theme: Dharana & Dhyana

Please open your Tantra of the Yoga Sutras book to page 54. We will skip ahead for a moment in order to see the Eight Limbs of Yoga. We are already very familiar with a number of these limbs: asana and pranayama, of course, and you can see that samadhi, the goal of yoga, is the final limb. In this practice, I go over limbs 6 and 7: dharana (concentration), and dhyana (effortless concentration).

The major difference between dharana and dhyana is that dharana requires willful effort, harnessing the vrittis (parts of the mind), whereas dhyana is more the result of that effortful concentration. Dhyana is effortless concentration. Think of it like trying to pull a ship out of the harbor. At first it would require tremendous effort and force, but once there is momentum, the ship is hard to stop. The mind is the same way; at first you must put in the effort to harness the scattered pieces of the mind, but then once you get in the zone, you experience the effortless, easeful focus of dhyana. 

Shoulder Quick Release

While I highly recommend going through the shoulder stretches we did in Part 1 after chaturanga, I also wanted to embellish a little bit here for you to explore some other shoulder release options using strength. This can also be used as a warm up before practice as well or just a daily quick fix after being on the computer too long.

In short, this is about strengthening the back body and opening the front body. Much of our day is spent in the opposite position- arms down and in front, which stresses the upper back. Stretching the pectoral muscles primarily and strengthening rhomboids, trapezius and posterior deltoid (rear fibers of your shoulder muscles) will help to counteract those daily patterns.

Backbends

Retraction, Spinal Extension

The primary muscles activated in this workshop are the rhomboids, erector spinae (back muscles that create extension), transverse abdominus, gluteus maximus, minimus and medius. 

Rhomboids: These muscles are used to retract the scapula (move them inward toward the spine). This will help to stretch the pectoral muscles and it will help to create spinal extension (back bend) in the upper thoracic (upper back). 

Erector Spinae: This group of three muscles create spinal extension throughout the whole back including the low back and neck.

Transverse Abdominus: Activating these muscles will create a lifting effect in the rib cage by moving the abdominal organs upward. I have noticed that activating this muscle helps to create length in the other abdominals while simultaneously supporting the back. There is much debate around this muscle so know that I am sharing from my personal observation. This muscle is like a corset or a weight belt. 

Gluteus Muscles: These muscles will help to lift the hips off the ground in any supine (belly to sky) facing backbend. The Medius and Minimus are particularly active in Wild Thing because side plank leg (the same as the weight-bearing hand) is turned out – this targets the outer hip strengtheners as well as the glute max. The action at that hip is a combination of extension, abduction and external rotation. 

Warm Up Class

Throughout this course I will provide yoga classes for you to warm up your body and learn techniques to apply to your yoga practice. These classes are intended to support your understanding of your own body through experience and application of the actions.

In this way, you will be able to FEEL your anatomy and not just intellectualize it. Following the class, you will be asked to submit your reflections and biggest take-away. Reflecting will help you to process the information and learn at a more rapid pace. Some classes may move you more on an emotional level and you may decide to reflect upon that as well as the physical.

Note: Those of you completing this course as a part of the full 300 Hour Online course can expect that your mentor will read your reflections. On occasion your mentor will provide you with feedback or reflect back something that they feel will support you. 

PHYSICAL REVIEW

By focusing on the big toe and pinky toe in this practice, you are developing side to side proprioception of the foot and ankle. Essentially, what this does is help your nervous system understand if your body weight shifts to the right or left and if it does, a muscular engagement pattern will develop.

Muscles of Inversion and Eversion

If you fall towards the outer foot, your pinky toe side of the foot will press down, activating the muscles of inversion, which will push your body back to center.

If your body falls toward the inner foot and you develop the pattern of pressing the big toe and toe mound down, you will fire up your fibulas muscles, the muscles of eversion, which will push you back to center.

Muscles of Plantar and Dorsiflexion

Pressing the heel down comes from the buttock muscles and is exaggerated by lifting the three middle toes up which helps to activate the tibialis anterior. Three toes up and the activation of TA stabilizes the front of the ankle.

In contrast, pressing the ball mounds of the big toe and pinky toe simultaneously down will help to keep the gastrocnemius and soleus activated, stabilizing the back of the ankle.

LOST? HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Most people would be at this point. All you really need to know is that the actions presented “big toe (& big toe mound), pinky toe (& pinky toe mound) and heel” will strengthen and stabilize all 4 sides of the ankle, as a result your balance will improve.

ANATOMY: THE WHY

Some of you are here to better support your students in understanding their body, and ALL of you are here to better understand your own body. Either way, anatomy is the language of the body that allows me to communicate more clearly and accurately with you, and if you are a yoga teacher it will allow you to communicate more accurately with your students.

Anatomy also presents us with opportunities to explore our bodies in ways we otherwise would not have thought of. We all have sensational blind spots, and anatomy awareness allows us to explore areas of our body that we might otherwise miss out on if we rely only on what we can already feel.

Throughout this experience, you will become awake to muscle or joint actions that challenge you. You will have to intellectualize these areas first because there will not be that strong sensation-based connection to it. With time and specific strength and awareness exercises, you will gain a neurological connection to these areas of the body, which will increase your proprioceptive ability. That just means you will be able to think of the action, and the body will perform it. More on that to come. 

ANATOMY

To support our students in the development of their own body awareness, we use anatomy as both the language to communicate and the inspiration to awaken minds to new possibilities. The word itself either excites or repulses yoga teachers. Some see anatomy as a boring academic subject that really has nothing to do with yoga, while others see it as a world of opportunity sparking curiosity to go deeper into the magnificence of our true nature.

If you have ever learned a new language, then you know communication in that language can only be surface level at first, but as you become masterful in the language, you can express the deeper parts of yourself and have more life-enriching conversations with other people. The same is true for the body. If you get to know its language, you can establish a more profound relationship with it, and have the ability to help others do the same.

Let’s start with the word “asana”,  which translates to “seat” or “posture”. The purpose of practicing asana is to become more awake to the physical body. Do we need to know the Latin terms for muscles and bones in order to become awake to our own body? No. All you need is the willingness to explore the sensations of it. We don’t need an instruction manual to put together a new piece of furniture, but it is certainly helpful and likely a heck of a lot faster if you follow the directions. 

On the flip side, you can’t learn the human body only from a textbook. Those willing to learn from all those that came before them, while simultaneously staying awake to their own personal experience, set themselves up for mastery in any subject. To master asana, or the study of the physical body, we learn from centuries of studies, AND from the sensations of our body and the experiences we have in it.

Anatomy is first a language that helps us to communicate. Taking a little time now to memorize terms for parts of the body that you are already familiar with will have a massive impact on the future of your yoga teaching career.

It will serve you to realize that you already know anatomy really well but in a different language. For example, you certainly know you have a shin, but you likely don’t know that it’s also called the tibia. Now you have one new term, but no information has been transmitted, just the name of the big bone on your lower leg. Another example is that you know that you have a “front” of your body, however you may not know the term “anterior” means front.

To begin your journey of anatomy, you will be assigned reading in your anatomy book: The Key Muscles of Yoga, by Dr. Ray Long. You will also be assigned videos to watch to learn how the body moves.

Welcome

Welcome to the Physical module! Grab a notebook just for this module because you’ll want to take notes and have those organized in one place.

In this course, you will learn all things regarding the physical body as it pertains to the asana practice. This includes anatomy, bio-mechanics and techniques, self-adjustments, and everything in between. This course is meant to help you see the human body in a new way, and help you feel -sense-  your own anatomy. Parts of it are academic in nature but the majority of it is taught in an applicable way so you can learn with the mind and body at the same time. The purpose of anatomy is to be able to communicate more intricate concepts with you so you can communicate them with your students. 

Some of you are here as part of your 300 hour training and others are taking this as a stand-alone course to develop your knowledge and skillset on all things physical. Certain parts of this course are mandatory for 300 Hour Trainees, but completely optional for everyone else. If you are in the 300 hour training, you will need to submit videos along the way to your mentor for review. If you are taking this as a stand-alone course, I recommend you do the videos for yourself anyway and submit them for your own organizational process. Recording video of yourself will allow you to be the teacher of you and help you develop your eye. Watch your body perform an action on video and often you may notice that the way you thought you were doing a pose is not the way you are doing a pose. This is because we have sensational blindspots – our inability to sense or feel certain muscles and movements. Over time, and with observation, your proprioception skills will develop. 

Thank you for being here. I am excited to share this journey with you. Let’s begin!

ANATOMY REVIEW 

Below I have included a list of everything you have learned so far in anatomy. Part of the promise of this training was an integration of your knowledge. We are three quarters of the way through anatomy so it’s the perfect time to check back in with everything you have learned so far! Please spend 30 minutes reviewing this information below, both academically and in your body. The above video is a playful way of reviewing. Enjoy!

Anatomy of the Back Muscles

Pg 128, Chapter 10: The Erector Spinae Group

Boney Landmarks

1. Spinous Process: The back boney protrusion that sticks out when you round your back. These are what you see sticking out under your skin.
2. Transverse Process: You can’t see these; they are the part of the vertebra that sticks out on the sides.
3. Costals: The bones of the ribs

The Muscles

Erector Spinae

1. Spinalis: One of the erector spinae, the spinalis runs from one spinous process to the next. It runs up the center with the other two erectors. This muscle extends the length of the spine.
2. Longissimus: Lateral to the spinals is another erector spinae muscle that extends the spine as well.
3. Iliocostalis: The easier of the erector spinae to remember because the name defines where it is. It runs from the ilium to the costals. Like the longissimus and spinalis, it helps extend the spine and perhaps more accurately, it pulls the ribs down toward the ilium. It is more lateral than the other two.

When any of these three muscles activate on one side only, they can serve to laterally bend the spine and potentially assist or initiate a twist. When both sides are active, they extend the spine (create a backbend). Activating these also help to maintain upright posture when seated.

Quadratus Lumborum “Q.L.”: Not considered to be one of the erector spinae muscles, but does a similar action of extension of the spine. This muscle is important in keeping the pelvis upright when seated. For supine backbends, it is one of the most important to getting the body to rise away from the ground, along with the gluteus maximus and hamstrings. 

Exercises for Strength and Awareness

Baby Cobra: I absolutely love this pose. Going super slow and harnessing a focused attention on each vertebrae can be so meditative. The goal is not to go deep but rather to build awareness of muscles that control each vertebrae. Please take your time with this one and repeat. There is so much wisdom to be gained from this. 

Reverse Plank Pose: I used to avoid this posture, but I love it now because of how much strength is required int he QL and erector spinae. For some time I avoided strengthening my QL by constantly tucking my tailbone in backbends, thinking lumbar extension was bad. I didn’t know any better; that’s what my teachers told me. One of my teachers who was a spinal specialist noticed this pattern and put two fingers on either side of my lumbar in full wheel and said, “these muscles are asleep; activate them”. Suddenly my hips shot upward and my posture deepened without any discomfort at all. In fact, it felt magnificent. The area she touched had not been trained or paid attention to, and now I could finally feel it! That said, Full Wheel is an extreme pose to learn to activate the erectors and QL. Reverse Plank is far more accessible.

Visual for Back Muscles

To give you a better visual of the erector spinae, I would like to share this video with you. This helps to see the layers of back muscles, including erector spinae. Don’t worry about memorizing this video. This is more to give you a better “general” understanding of the back muscles. 

THE QL & PSOAS

I like this image to see where the Q.L. is in relationship to the psoas and pelvis. Often we think of them to be on different sides of the body, but in the abdominal region there isn’t a big ribcage dividing the front and back side; it’s just layers of muscle (and organs). 

4 Layers of the Abdominals

 There are four layers of abdominals that are often referred to as the core. It’s important for you to know that for most anatomists, the core consists of ALL the muscles that surround the lower torso, not just the abdominals. The four layers of abdominals primarily help to flex, laterally flex, rotate the trunk, and compress the abdomen. Each layer has muscle fiber directions that help us to understand the line of pull. 

Muscles:

1. Rectus Abdominis : Most superficial (outermost) layer, responsible for flexing the spine. It is known for being the “six pack muscle”
2. External Obliques : Most known for lateral flexion of the trunk and for being that sexy side belly muscle. These muscles are much larger than they look on the outside and are responsible for more than just side bending. They also flex and rotate the trunk toward the opposite hip.
3. Internal Obliques: Directly below the external obliques, the internal obliques have opposing muscle fibers. The direction is opposite, which means that it has the opposing action. These muscles pull the trunk toward the hip of the same side. The “Fire Line” is a term I created to talk about coordinating engagement of the internal and external obliques from the opposite sides of the body, creating a diagonal line of pull from one side of the ribs to the other hip.
4. Transverse Adominus: The deepest layer of the abdomen, this muscle is activated as a result of the hollowing in Uddiyana Bhandha. It compresses the abdomen inward and upward, creating a vacuum effect. This muscle wraps around the entire mid-section, not just the front of the body. 

Internal and External Obliques

The primary reason I want to share this video with you is so you can see the diagonal fibers of the external obliques going down through the linea alba, and continuing to the internal obliques on the other side, wrapping all the way around to the back, as this teacher is pointing out. 

 Miscellanies:

1. Linea Alba :tendon that runs down the center of the abdomen 
2. Concentric Contraction: activation of a muscle while shortening it
3. Eccentric Contraction: activating a muscles while it is lengthening 
4. Isometric Contraction: activating a muscle without any movement occurring. 

THE ILIO-PSOAS “The Bridge”

The reason I refer to the ilio-psoas as the bridge is because it is the muscle that connects front extremities to the trunk. It attaches to the femur bone, runs all the way up the low back to the start of the mid back. That is a long span! But it is also wild to think that the alignment of our thighs in the hip socket can throw off the alignment of our spine. Most of us have one side of our psoas tighter than the other, which can cause a lateral bending, potentially resulting in scoliosis. I can attest to this myself. My right psoas is far stronger and shorter than the left. As a result, my low back bends toward the right side. Knowing this has been helpful. I know if I have low back discomfort, I can start with a thigh and psoas stretch on the right side. While I knew my right psoas was significantly tighter, an x-ray confirmed the effects on my spine.

As you move through your practice of both studying anatomy and how it relates to your personal body, you have a choice: let it drag you down every time you notice your imperfections, or let it inspire you to take better care of yourself. This has been the key for me to develop into the teacher I am today. I have taken my injuries, muscular and structural patterns. and used them as a form of study. I would invite you to do the same as we all go through injuries, chronic pain and discomfort. Let it empower you and your students.

The Muscles: Page 57

In this section we work with three primary muscles, but discuss several others. Be sure to look each of them up for a better visual and intellectual understanding.

1. Psoas Major: one of the muscles of the ilio-psoas: Attaches to the lesser trochanter, the five lumbar (low back) vertebrae and discs, as well as T12 vertebrae and discs. 
2. Iliacus: the other ilio-psoas muscle runs from the inner iliac crest pelvis to the lesser trochanter.
3. Sartorius (pg 102): the Tree Pose muscle attaching from the A.S.I.S down to the inner tibia. Responsible for external rotation, hip flexion, abduction.
4. Rectus Femoris: (pg 96) one of the quadriceps, as previously discussed.
5. Pectineus: (Pg 79) a small adductor that adducts, flexes and internally rotates the hip.
6. Gluteus Maximus: (pg 64) the big buttock muscle that externally rotates the hip and extends it.
7. Hamstrings: (pg 103) the three muscles that extend the hip joint and flex the knee joint.

ANATOMICAL TERMS

Synergist: (pg 36) Muscle that helps the movement of the prime mover. In the case of the psoas being the prime mover the following are synergists

1. Rectus Femoris
2. Pectineus
3. Sartorius
4. Tensor Fascia Lattae 

Antagonist: (pg 36) The opposing muscle of the prime mover and synergists. These muscles create the opposite action and therefore require a certain amount of relaxing for movement to occur. The following are antagonists to the prime mover of the ilio-psoas:

1. Gluteus Maximus
2. Hamstrings

Prime Mover: The muscle that is primarily creating the movement, also known as the Antagonist. 

Open Chain: (Pg 45) When the extremity is free to move

Closed Chain: (Pg 45) When the extremity is fixed by the floor, or any outside force

MOVEMENTS & SECTIONS OF THE SPINE

Movements (pg 116)

1. Flexion: rounding the spine – like forward folds
2. Extension: arching the spine – Back bending   
3. Latteral Flexion: side bending
4. Rotation: twisting

The Sections of the Spine (pg 19)

1. Coccyx: tail Bone
2. Sacrum: triangular Bone
3. Lumbar: low Back
4. Thoracic: middle Back
5. Cervical: neck

Bones, Discs, Boney Landmarks

Please study page 12 for these terms ,amongst others, regarding the spine.

1. Vertebral Body
2. Intervertebral Discs
3. Transverse Process

Anatomy of the Upper Thighs

THE BONES 

1. Femur Bone: thigh bone
2. Patella: knee cap
3. Ilium: two upper sides of the Pelvis
4. Ischial Tuberosities: sit bones
5. Pubis: pubic bone
   
6. Sacrum: triangular bone that sits between the two sides of the the Ilium; it consists of 5-6 fused vertebra
7. A.S.I.S. (NEW): anterior superior iliac spine; anterior – front, superior – upper, iliac – pelvic bone, spine – boney landmark

TENDONS 

1. Pateller Tendon: connects patella to tibia
2. I.T. Band: ilio-tibial tract; connects ilium to the tibia. T.F.L and gluteus maximus both attach to the I.T. band

MUSCLES 

1. Quadriceps: 4 muscles that extend the knee joint (straighten it)
2. Hamstrings: 3 muscles that flex the knee joint
3. Gluteus Maximus: large buttock muscle that externally rotates, extends and abducts the hip (abduction will be taught in the next video)
4. Tensor Fascia Latte (T.F.L): muscle at the side/front of hip that flexes, internally rotates and abducts the hip.
5. Adductors: adductor longus, adductor brevis, adductor magnus, pectineus, gracillis
6. Abductors: gluteus minimus, gluteus medius, tensor fascia lattae
7. Rectus Femoris: quadricep that is also a hip flexor
8. Adductor Magnus: like a fourth hamstring

ACTIONS 

1. Flexion of Knee: bend the knee
2. Extension of the knee: straighten the knee
3. Flexion of the hip: bring thigh closer to chest, as in marching
4. Extension of the hip: bring thigh back of pelvis, as in back thigh of lunge or when walking
5. Internal Rotation of hip: turning the thigh bone inward toward midline of the body
6. External Rotation of hip: turning the thigh bone outward away from the midline of the body
7. Adduction of Hip: thigh bones move toward the midline
8. Abduction of Hip: thigh bones move away from the midline

4 ARTICULATIONS OF THE ANKLES

1. Dorsiflexion
2. Plantar Flexion
3. Inversion
4. Eversion

BONES

1. Tibia: shin bone
2. Fibula: other lower leg bone or calf bone
3. Calcaneus: heel bone

MUSCLES

1. Tibialis Anterior: dorsiflexion of ankle (muscle in front of the tibia)
2. Tibialis Posterior: inversion and plantar flexion (muscle behind the tibia)
3. Fibularis Group: eversion of the ankle (three muscles outside the fibula)
4. Gastrocnemius & Soleus: calf muscles that create plantar flexion; gastrocnemius is closer to the skin (superficial) while the soleus lies underneath the gastrocnemius (deeper)

Anatomical Terms

1. Anterior: front of the body, or in front of.
2. Posterior: back of the body, or behind
3. Deep: closer to the bone or core of the body; the bones are deep in relation to the skin
4. Superficial: closer to the skin