Yoga Anatomy

For nearly a decade, Clayton Yoga Teacher Training has been offering its students simple, clear and helpful anatomical alignment points to safely practice yoga at any level.  This webpage includes more detailed information to help you better understand and absorb all the information you need to teach all levels yoga class, in any yoga environment, safely and therapeutically.

Anatomy Handout

Anatomy Eleven Point List

We are not seeking to perfect our posture, but rather allow ourselves to making a connection with the intuition, heart, excitement, joy, and grace found only when we let go of our resistance.
When we accept our achey, stiff, tight places, we expand the flow of universal life-force or Prana.
The sole purpose of Anatomy in Yoga is to establish a safe practice and to align with something bigger!
Have fun and practice.

Teach Anywhere/All Levels: making connection with student, playing the edge, (not to compare nor judge but to feel more alive) sequence include both fast (evolve) and slow (mindful) depending on needs, align with spirit (breath), know your audience, use language friendly practical, and relevant descriptions, how to work with silence and setting an intention.

One. Every BODY is different. Encourage. Educate. Expand Potential. Connect with the Heart. Set the right intention.
Two. Find the tailbone first, ground through the legs, open the toes, and activate all muscles, keep the knee micro bent always.
Three. Honor your first place of resistance, and play the edge at about a 6 or 7 count. 1-10 being the mark.
Four. Know your anatomy basics, learn the muscles and bones as you go, main points again, long supported and flexible spine, stack joints, external rotation for shoulders, internal rotation for legs, engage and tuck tailbone slightly, rib cage in, open palms, energize the 72,000 nerve endings throughout the body, remember the tendencies for collapse in every pose and help to support students to get stronger on the inside, think of inversions, handstand has perfect anatomical alignment.
Five. Know your Modifications for every pose
Six. Use of props and understanding of body proportion
Seven. Acknowledge something greater, higher power every close.
Eight. What is too soft will harden, what is too hard will soften. Practice often and have fun.
Nine. Breathe deep from the beginning, in the middle and at the end.
Ten. There are many edges in each posture. Each day, a new different posture. Practice being with the changes. Honor the process.
Eleven. Ego seeks a finite absolute place, Spirit is in flow and choice making, moment to moment, awakening to your infinite Self.

There are so many different styles of yoga, so many different schools of yoga!  This article addresses the multiple ways in which just one posture can be looked at from so many different angles.  Also, you will get a better understanding of what makes each school different and how we can take the best from all approaches and offer a more eclectic, tolerant and in depth understanding of where our students really need the most support: Vira I Versions

Yoga anatomy quiz (Griley): yogaquizanatomyofyogagriley

Art of transformation quiz: artoftransformation

Biomechanics of Inversions: Biomechanics of Inversions

Shoulders

These two articles written by Doug Keller, Senior Yoga teacher, are excellent resources to help you better understand the anatomy movement for shoulders.
Specific postures are also suggested and regular practice and understanding of these poses will not only help prevent injuries but likely to also therapeutically heal all previous shoulder injuries. Enjoy!

http://www.doyoga.com/articles_all/9_nov_07_shoulders.pdf

http://www.doyoga.com/articles_all/11_march_08_rotators.pdf

Excellent Anatomy Books

Ray Long is a board certified orthopedic surgeon and the author of best selling "Scientific Keys" book.  Ray Long and his approach Bandha Yoga brings modern western science and the ancient art of hatha yoga together.  "The imagery and key concepts provided here, combine with well thought out clear explanations and directions, creates or enhances your own in-brain imagery of your own muscles and joints in action as you innervate them". Carl Vagg

Click the links below to open up the Google Docs PDFs. Then you can save the books to your computer if you wish. If you want to read the books online, use the Google Docs PDF, it is much easier to read than the normal PDFs.

 Yoga Mat Companion 4 - Anatomy for Arm Balances...

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 Yoga Mat Companion 3 - Anatomy for Backbends an...

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 Yoga Mat Companion 2 - Anatomy for Hip Openers ...

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 Yoga Mat Companion 1 - Anatomy for Vinyasa Flow...

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 The_Key_Poses_of_Hatha_Yoga_Ray_Long.pdf

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 The Key Muscles of Yoga - Ray Long.pdf