We had a teacher at Past Tense who once said something to the effect of if you're a level 1 student do this, if you're level 2 do this, if you're level 3 you'll listen to your body in this moment and take the shape that works for you today. I don't thinks she used the word level, but I can't remember exactly what it was she said. But the point was so clear and gave students such wonderful guidance: If you're an advanced practitioner than you'll set ego and peer pressure and all of that aside and listen to your body.
I also think as teachers we need to trust our students a lot more than we used to or were probably taught to. Part of this practice is learning to be embodied, not disassociated. And some of what we're talking about -- thank you for the conversation -- didn't just cause physical injury, but a distrust and disassociation of our body's own cues. How does that trickle up to the mind and spirit? Or show up off the mat?
You point out something so important...this idea of being an authority figure who knows more than you do about your body-- even when you're feeling pain -- feels like a recipe for disaster and an exercise in control. Tara Stiles did a recent podcast about suffering from sexual abuse as a child and how she teaches her daughter to always listen to her body. Even when she simply senses that a person near her doesn't "feel right," she encourages her to move her body away. I thought that was such a valuable nugget.
And isn’t a big part of what we’re teaching actually different ways to listen to and learn from our bodies? “Listen” to them when they are engaged in extension, “listen” to them when they are at rest, etc. That this is what it feels like to be alive in this body in this moment.
My injuries were anterior shoulder problems from poorly executed chaturanga. Not understanding where effort and strength needed to come from and just quickly pushing through.
Never got injured in yoga class, TG. I’m not longer teaching but as a teacher I found that the more I knew the less certain I was about adjustments, for two reasons. One, I didn’t feel I knew everyone’s body well enough to always do the right thing. I only did stuff I thought had to be harmless at worst, but I made mistakes, and one doesn’t know the other person’s body if they’re a stranger. Second, people have very rightfully become more aware of issues with touching, and I never fully worked out how to deal with that. I had one bad experience, not with adjustments but a talk I gave on yoga history, from a young woman who was hostile, I believe basically because I am an older white man, which really made me more gun shy. So I was experimenting with various methods, consent cards etc, until my retirement, but nothing seemed easy. I’d really enjoyed giving adjustments, and I think it can be so healing, people thrive with the right sort of touch. I was sad I was more or less giving it up. Ignorance was blissful while it lasted. Nonetheless it is a good thing that people are giving more thought to this practice.
I have not gotten a yoga injury, but I suspect it was because I started yoga very young (age 16) and was naturally flexible so the chance of getting hurt was slim for me. I bet, though, my chance of injury are higher now at the age of 43 and after having two kids. I've barely gone to any yoga classes in the past few years though, mostly because I prefer my own practice! But I will say that at this point in life, I feel more free in just doing what feels right to me rather than what the teacher says to do! Thanks for sharing this post. It's so important.
Yes - i have been injured quite a few times and know a lot of people who have been injured in yoga classes. My sister and some yoga teacher friends quit yoga after many years due to chronic back or hamstring or other injuries. I have had low back injuries, a bad shoulder injury from chatterangas when i didn’t have the strength or shoulder structure to do them. I used to love ashtanga as well as power yoga years ago. Both are styles of yoga that can lead to injuries because they move too fast and often students aren’t yet strong enough or given options for modifications. Going to through teacher training helped me know my own body more. Teaching trauma sensitive yoga and chair yoga really helped me to cue students on a spectrum of options and to listen to their own body. I even would cue to change the pose if needed. I feel like the power that a teacher has can lead to students not trusting themselves and their bodies. I used to always hate the phrase “you will get there some day” when talking about a pose like forward fold. NO - my body will never get there because I am tall, tight, and will always need to bend my knees and not go very far! And that’s ok. I haven’t been back to a studio in a few years, but it seems like the trend is for more slower flows, better cueing, more mindful hands on adjusting or no hands on. I do classes on Glo and Jason’s teachings never injure me! I tend to do more hatha and gentle yoga (after 20 years…I’m older too) or slow vinyasa. Thanks for bringing up this very important topic. My sister refuses to yoga after she did it for 20 years - had chronic low back pain.
First, I'm so sorry that your sister has suffered some long-term injuries. That's really a bummer to hear. Your comment about "you will get there someday" really resonated with me. It took me years to accept that there are certain poses my body will never do -- and that's not my "fault." While I knew that some "final" idealized version of a pose didn't matter in the grand scheme of yoga, my ego still felt very attached to getting there. It's funny to look back and think -- where did I get this idea that if I worked harder, I would "get there." Probably lots of places but it sure is nice to let go.
the only injury I've had from practicing yoga was sitzbone attachment, due to my own ego, wanting to go farther in seated forward fold (Pascimottanasana, I believe was the pose). Yes, I had adjustments...my teacher was an Ashtanga practitioner. However, she was good at knowing when to stop (she'd watch me closely & listen to my breathing) She was very skilled & I actually loved getting her adjustments. I did not love the Ashtanga practice after awhile. I think I may have acquired more injuries had I stuck with that practice. Like you, I tend to be "bendy" in some poses, but not so much in others. Ashtanga was not a "balanced" practice for my body. Luckily for me, she moved away from Ashtanga & more towards Hatha & vinyasa, which was much better for my body.
I didn't get too far in the Ashtanga series' so doing that first series over and over with all of the forward bends was very hard on my body, too! Glad you have found your way to a more suitable practice for you :)
I had a yoga injury when I was an Ashtanga Vinyasa student in my early 20s. I was naturally flexible and the teacher decided it would be a good idea to press my front leg closer to the floor in Hanumanasa. I heard a pop from my hamstring but no immediate pain until after the class. That pain continued for about 18 months after. I let him do that to me because I trusted that he knew what he was doing, and because I didn't have any idea that I could get injured doing yoga (😕 I know, crazy, huh?). I learned a great deal from that experience and as a teacher myself I never give adjustments. I get that some adjustments can feel great, but to me it's not worth the risk and I wouldn't forgive myself if I injured one of my students.
Ugh...the pop. I've never had that happen myself, but I have definitely heard about this happening to people in various poses. I completely understand your approach -- it really is a big responsibility to take on when you could hurt someone else!
I have scoliosis and ended up with a pinched nerve in my shoulder twice due to teachers who insisted no practice was complete without shoulder stand, physically guiding me into the pose and insisting it would “fix” my scoliosis. Thankfully that was several years ago. I have not done shoulder stand since and no teacher in recent years has forced the issue, verbally or otherwise. Grateful to the many teachers over the decades who taught me how to listen to and support my own body and practice
I "liked" this comment only because I'm grateful that you shared it. And I'm so, so sorry to hear it. It pains me to hear that someone was so misinformed and glad you've had so many other teachers who have empowered you.
Thank you Andrea. I so appreciate you making space for this topic and really enjoyed the recent episodes you and Jason did on your podcast (which I love!) around this. Yoga has helped me in so many ways, one being creating strength in my back body that has made a huge difference in easing the pain I used to have due to my scoliosis. 🙏
I also don’t recall any specific adjustment-related injury but I do have a memory of a prominent local teacher trying to give me an “adjustment” that made no sense in my body, that I didn’t ask for, and that I refused to do. This teacher got more and more angry with me as I refused to adjust and then chastised me and stormed off muttering. It made angry and embarrassed (it was at a large public conference). I also have memories of being injured by repetitive stress. As a teacher I stopped offering hands-on adjustments a long time ago. I just don’t think it’s necessary and only reserve it for my private clients who I know well. I want to empower my students to learn their own body, not wait around for someone else to “make it better.”
It's interesting to hear that you had a similar experience! I'm sorry. And I'm glad there are teachers like you out there taking a completely different route!!
Yes, to injury - from a combo of receiving a deepening adjustment and not a balanced sequencing with deep twists. A few years ago, I had a teacher who was into a deep twist. Sometimes, we would do 3-4 “advance” twists per class, and sometimes we would have extra help to get into them. It didn’t take long for my SI joint to give up suddenly - and it would flare up once in a while. It’s been getting better mainly through a little bit more of the strengthening work, through becoming a teacher myself and understanding how to sequence a class, and having enough confidence and knowledge to tell a teacher in a class not to adjust me. In a way, I am grateful for my experience because it made me a better teacher who respects my students' bodies and, hopefully, can teach them to be their advocates. There is still big practice of manual deepening adjustments here in Hong Kong. My friend got injured by a teacher in a standing compass pose, and she was so convinced it was her fault because she didn’t relax into a pose - it’s heartbreaking.
I'm so glad to hear you are advocating for yourself -- and yes, that IS heartbreaking that your friend feels like it was her fault. I hope the tide starts to shift there...I can remember being told crazy things; like pain was a "breakthrough" and was taking things to a deeper place.
Your story about deep twists brought me back to another time my sacrum flared up again when I teacher pulled me all the way into full Pasasana. If you see my more "natural" twists now, you can see my body had no business ever being in that pose!
Yes, in fact two memories come to mind. Years ago, I remember being in Trikonasana and a teacher came over to me and said, "you look like a little gumby!" and proceeded to yank my bottom hand closer to the ground. But the thing is, I'm not a gumby, not even close, and what she did really hurt my back.
The other memory was practicing partner yoga in the first 200-hr I took many years ago. We were in Upavista Konasana with our feet touching, holding hands, and the idea was to pull your partner further into a fold. Yikes. I think I knew at the time it wasn't a good idea for my back, but I didn't know how to say no. I know better these days.
I'm so glad you and Jason talk about this topic, it empowers everyone to do what's best for them in the yoga room. <3
If I had a nickel for every time I was in a partner pose with the two of us yanking on each other! 😬 I think I may have even taught the Upavistha you are referring too. As the saying goes, when we know better, we do better.
👋🏽 yoga butt. It could have been avoided by the instructor, giving better cues for all bodies, allowing props to be normalized and letting people work at their own pace, as opposed to trying to advance the class. As a teacher myself, I strongly encourage props in every class and teach adjustments for everyone’s body, as opposed to the advanced posture and encouraging people to get there.
yes...this concept of advanced poses was mesmerizing to me at the time. If I'd understood more of the benefits of the postures, perhaps I wouldn't have gone full throttle. But I definitely would've needed a teacher with guard rails, regardles!!
I was fortunate enough to do my main teacher trainings with Dru Yoga. Dru Yoga teachers are trained to always offer modifications for challenging poses so that everyone can adjust them to suit their unique physical condition. I was later quite shocked attending non-Dru classes where teachers just expected everyone to practice the pose without regard to their age, time of the month if female, recent surgery, high or low blood pressure, glaucoma or other conditions etc etc. it just wouldn’t happen in a Dru class.
Last November I was so warmed up because I had just taught a class and was taking a hot power yoga class right afterwards and in my standing split I felt so comfortable that I pushed it a little too much and the biggest “pop” happened at the bottom of my glutes/back of the hips. I was able to finish the class and was not really in pain but I felt a discomfort and as of today I haven’t regained my flexibility when doing a fold on that leg or in triangle with that leg forward. I suspect the attachment from the hamstring to the sitting bone was damaged … now it is all my fault but I have learned to not push any asanas further than a certain degree.
I'm sorry that this happened! As a very flexible person in my youth, I know how hard it can be to even feel our limitations. I think we bendies are often not even aware that we can get injured -- until we do. So, it is sometimes a way to learn more about ourselves. I hope you are no longer in pain! Do strength work in the form of Locust could be helpful :)
I have hypermobile Ehler Danlos Syndrome and some yoga poses are OK but in general I avoid yoga. I used to love it. I think a lot people, especially women who are hypermobile love yoga because they're good at it but it can be harmful in my opinion.
Take a look at the work of Libby Hinsley. She is a yoga teacher and a physical therapist with EDS. She has a book called Yoga for Bendy People that is an excellent resource! If you search past posts here under the book club tab, I featured the book as our book club selection and you can read some posts about it.
Libby Hinsley is wonderful. ❣️ She offers a couple of different options to work with her personally through her two programs, Yoga for Bendy People (I may have messed up the name of that course.) and an Anatomy Bites membership where she offers two live sessions per month to ask personal questions and seek clarification as you study anatomy in small, manageable bite sized chunks each month. I hope it’s okay to shamelessly plug her work in here. ( I shamelessly plug Yogaland and Andrea and Jason elsewhere). Libby also has her own podcast. https://open.spotify.com/show/6DTsniE4hl5iFYgvmlVdhx?si=qvXumVOJSpGuFHNk7OMC1Q
Fabulous! I will look for the book and posts. It would be great to do yoga again. Right now I am practicing exercises from Somatic Movement Center. They are really helping me and there is no stretching involved.
The 8 limbs of yoga in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra are:
1. Yama
2. Niyama
3. Asana
4. Pranayama
5. Pratyahara (sense withdrawal)
6. Dharana (concentration)
7. Dhyana (meditation)
8. Samadhi
Asana is literally only mentioned in 3 of the 196 sutras and it is defined as finding a comfortable seat in which you can maintain steadiness and ease. Nothing about poses 🙂
We had a teacher at Past Tense who once said something to the effect of if you're a level 1 student do this, if you're level 2 do this, if you're level 3 you'll listen to your body in this moment and take the shape that works for you today. I don't thinks she used the word level, but I can't remember exactly what it was she said. But the point was so clear and gave students such wonderful guidance: If you're an advanced practitioner than you'll set ego and peer pressure and all of that aside and listen to your body.
I also think as teachers we need to trust our students a lot more than we used to or were probably taught to. Part of this practice is learning to be embodied, not disassociated. And some of what we're talking about -- thank you for the conversation -- didn't just cause physical injury, but a distrust and disassociation of our body's own cues. How does that trickle up to the mind and spirit? Or show up off the mat?
You point out something so important...this idea of being an authority figure who knows more than you do about your body-- even when you're feeling pain -- feels like a recipe for disaster and an exercise in control. Tara Stiles did a recent podcast about suffering from sexual abuse as a child and how she teaches her daughter to always listen to her body. Even when she simply senses that a person near her doesn't "feel right," she encourages her to move her body away. I thought that was such a valuable nugget.
And isn’t a big part of what we’re teaching actually different ways to listen to and learn from our bodies? “Listen” to them when they are engaged in extension, “listen” to them when they are at rest, etc. That this is what it feels like to be alive in this body in this moment.
My injuries were anterior shoulder problems from poorly executed chaturanga. Not understanding where effort and strength needed to come from and just quickly pushing through.
Never got injured in yoga class, TG. I’m not longer teaching but as a teacher I found that the more I knew the less certain I was about adjustments, for two reasons. One, I didn’t feel I knew everyone’s body well enough to always do the right thing. I only did stuff I thought had to be harmless at worst, but I made mistakes, and one doesn’t know the other person’s body if they’re a stranger. Second, people have very rightfully become more aware of issues with touching, and I never fully worked out how to deal with that. I had one bad experience, not with adjustments but a talk I gave on yoga history, from a young woman who was hostile, I believe basically because I am an older white man, which really made me more gun shy. So I was experimenting with various methods, consent cards etc, until my retirement, but nothing seemed easy. I’d really enjoyed giving adjustments, and I think it can be so healing, people thrive with the right sort of touch. I was sad I was more or less giving it up. Ignorance was blissful while it lasted. Nonetheless it is a good thing that people are giving more thought to this practice.
I have not gotten a yoga injury, but I suspect it was because I started yoga very young (age 16) and was naturally flexible so the chance of getting hurt was slim for me. I bet, though, my chance of injury are higher now at the age of 43 and after having two kids. I've barely gone to any yoga classes in the past few years though, mostly because I prefer my own practice! But I will say that at this point in life, I feel more free in just doing what feels right to me rather than what the teacher says to do! Thanks for sharing this post. It's so important.
Thanks, Jacquie -- so glad you've avoided yoga injuries! I tend to think it's the exception, not the norm.
I agree!
Yes - i have been injured quite a few times and know a lot of people who have been injured in yoga classes. My sister and some yoga teacher friends quit yoga after many years due to chronic back or hamstring or other injuries. I have had low back injuries, a bad shoulder injury from chatterangas when i didn’t have the strength or shoulder structure to do them. I used to love ashtanga as well as power yoga years ago. Both are styles of yoga that can lead to injuries because they move too fast and often students aren’t yet strong enough or given options for modifications. Going to through teacher training helped me know my own body more. Teaching trauma sensitive yoga and chair yoga really helped me to cue students on a spectrum of options and to listen to their own body. I even would cue to change the pose if needed. I feel like the power that a teacher has can lead to students not trusting themselves and their bodies. I used to always hate the phrase “you will get there some day” when talking about a pose like forward fold. NO - my body will never get there because I am tall, tight, and will always need to bend my knees and not go very far! And that’s ok. I haven’t been back to a studio in a few years, but it seems like the trend is for more slower flows, better cueing, more mindful hands on adjusting or no hands on. I do classes on Glo and Jason’s teachings never injure me! I tend to do more hatha and gentle yoga (after 20 years…I’m older too) or slow vinyasa. Thanks for bringing up this very important topic. My sister refuses to yoga after she did it for 20 years - had chronic low back pain.
First, I'm so sorry that your sister has suffered some long-term injuries. That's really a bummer to hear. Your comment about "you will get there someday" really resonated with me. It took me years to accept that there are certain poses my body will never do -- and that's not my "fault." While I knew that some "final" idealized version of a pose didn't matter in the grand scheme of yoga, my ego still felt very attached to getting there. It's funny to look back and think -- where did I get this idea that if I worked harder, I would "get there." Probably lots of places but it sure is nice to let go.
the only injury I've had from practicing yoga was sitzbone attachment, due to my own ego, wanting to go farther in seated forward fold (Pascimottanasana, I believe was the pose). Yes, I had adjustments...my teacher was an Ashtanga practitioner. However, she was good at knowing when to stop (she'd watch me closely & listen to my breathing) She was very skilled & I actually loved getting her adjustments. I did not love the Ashtanga practice after awhile. I think I may have acquired more injuries had I stuck with that practice. Like you, I tend to be "bendy" in some poses, but not so much in others. Ashtanga was not a "balanced" practice for my body. Luckily for me, she moved away from Ashtanga & more towards Hatha & vinyasa, which was much better for my body.
I didn't get too far in the Ashtanga series' so doing that first series over and over with all of the forward bends was very hard on my body, too! Glad you have found your way to a more suitable practice for you :)
sounds like our Ashtanga experience was similar. Happy for both of us that we "moved on" to practices that were more beneficial for our bodies. :-)
I had a yoga injury when I was an Ashtanga Vinyasa student in my early 20s. I was naturally flexible and the teacher decided it would be a good idea to press my front leg closer to the floor in Hanumanasa. I heard a pop from my hamstring but no immediate pain until after the class. That pain continued for about 18 months after. I let him do that to me because I trusted that he knew what he was doing, and because I didn't have any idea that I could get injured doing yoga (😕 I know, crazy, huh?). I learned a great deal from that experience and as a teacher myself I never give adjustments. I get that some adjustments can feel great, but to me it's not worth the risk and I wouldn't forgive myself if I injured one of my students.
Ugh...the pop. I've never had that happen myself, but I have definitely heard about this happening to people in various poses. I completely understand your approach -- it really is a big responsibility to take on when you could hurt someone else!
I have scoliosis and ended up with a pinched nerve in my shoulder twice due to teachers who insisted no practice was complete without shoulder stand, physically guiding me into the pose and insisting it would “fix” my scoliosis. Thankfully that was several years ago. I have not done shoulder stand since and no teacher in recent years has forced the issue, verbally or otherwise. Grateful to the many teachers over the decades who taught me how to listen to and support my own body and practice
I "liked" this comment only because I'm grateful that you shared it. And I'm so, so sorry to hear it. It pains me to hear that someone was so misinformed and glad you've had so many other teachers who have empowered you.
Thank you Andrea. I so appreciate you making space for this topic and really enjoyed the recent episodes you and Jason did on your podcast (which I love!) around this. Yoga has helped me in so many ways, one being creating strength in my back body that has made a huge difference in easing the pain I used to have due to my scoliosis. 🙏
I also don’t recall any specific adjustment-related injury but I do have a memory of a prominent local teacher trying to give me an “adjustment” that made no sense in my body, that I didn’t ask for, and that I refused to do. This teacher got more and more angry with me as I refused to adjust and then chastised me and stormed off muttering. It made angry and embarrassed (it was at a large public conference). I also have memories of being injured by repetitive stress. As a teacher I stopped offering hands-on adjustments a long time ago. I just don’t think it’s necessary and only reserve it for my private clients who I know well. I want to empower my students to learn their own body, not wait around for someone else to “make it better.”
It's interesting to hear that you had a similar experience! I'm sorry. And I'm glad there are teachers like you out there taking a completely different route!!
Yes, to injury - from a combo of receiving a deepening adjustment and not a balanced sequencing with deep twists. A few years ago, I had a teacher who was into a deep twist. Sometimes, we would do 3-4 “advance” twists per class, and sometimes we would have extra help to get into them. It didn’t take long for my SI joint to give up suddenly - and it would flare up once in a while. It’s been getting better mainly through a little bit more of the strengthening work, through becoming a teacher myself and understanding how to sequence a class, and having enough confidence and knowledge to tell a teacher in a class not to adjust me. In a way, I am grateful for my experience because it made me a better teacher who respects my students' bodies and, hopefully, can teach them to be their advocates. There is still big practice of manual deepening adjustments here in Hong Kong. My friend got injured by a teacher in a standing compass pose, and she was so convinced it was her fault because she didn’t relax into a pose - it’s heartbreaking.
I'm so glad to hear you are advocating for yourself -- and yes, that IS heartbreaking that your friend feels like it was her fault. I hope the tide starts to shift there...I can remember being told crazy things; like pain was a "breakthrough" and was taking things to a deeper place.
Your story about deep twists brought me back to another time my sacrum flared up again when I teacher pulled me all the way into full Pasasana. If you see my more "natural" twists now, you can see my body had no business ever being in that pose!
Yes, in fact two memories come to mind. Years ago, I remember being in Trikonasana and a teacher came over to me and said, "you look like a little gumby!" and proceeded to yank my bottom hand closer to the ground. But the thing is, I'm not a gumby, not even close, and what she did really hurt my back.
The other memory was practicing partner yoga in the first 200-hr I took many years ago. We were in Upavista Konasana with our feet touching, holding hands, and the idea was to pull your partner further into a fold. Yikes. I think I knew at the time it wasn't a good idea for my back, but I didn't know how to say no. I know better these days.
I'm so glad you and Jason talk about this topic, it empowers everyone to do what's best for them in the yoga room. <3
If I had a nickel for every time I was in a partner pose with the two of us yanking on each other! 😬 I think I may have even taught the Upavistha you are referring too. As the saying goes, when we know better, we do better.
👋🏽 yoga butt. It could have been avoided by the instructor, giving better cues for all bodies, allowing props to be normalized and letting people work at their own pace, as opposed to trying to advance the class. As a teacher myself, I strongly encourage props in every class and teach adjustments for everyone’s body, as opposed to the advanced posture and encouraging people to get there.
yes...this concept of advanced poses was mesmerizing to me at the time. If I'd understood more of the benefits of the postures, perhaps I wouldn't have gone full throttle. But I definitely would've needed a teacher with guard rails, regardles!!
I was fortunate enough to do my main teacher trainings with Dru Yoga. Dru Yoga teachers are trained to always offer modifications for challenging poses so that everyone can adjust them to suit their unique physical condition. I was later quite shocked attending non-Dru classes where teachers just expected everyone to practice the pose without regard to their age, time of the month if female, recent surgery, high or low blood pressure, glaucoma or other conditions etc etc. it just wouldn’t happen in a Dru class.
Last November I was so warmed up because I had just taught a class and was taking a hot power yoga class right afterwards and in my standing split I felt so comfortable that I pushed it a little too much and the biggest “pop” happened at the bottom of my glutes/back of the hips. I was able to finish the class and was not really in pain but I felt a discomfort and as of today I haven’t regained my flexibility when doing a fold on that leg or in triangle with that leg forward. I suspect the attachment from the hamstring to the sitting bone was damaged … now it is all my fault but I have learned to not push any asanas further than a certain degree.
I'm sorry that this happened! As a very flexible person in my youth, I know how hard it can be to even feel our limitations. I think we bendies are often not even aware that we can get injured -- until we do. So, it is sometimes a way to learn more about ourselves. I hope you are no longer in pain! Do strength work in the form of Locust could be helpful :)
I have hypermobile Ehler Danlos Syndrome and some yoga poses are OK but in general I avoid yoga. I used to love it. I think a lot people, especially women who are hypermobile love yoga because they're good at it but it can be harmful in my opinion.
Take a look at the work of Libby Hinsley. She is a yoga teacher and a physical therapist with EDS. She has a book called Yoga for Bendy People that is an excellent resource! If you search past posts here under the book club tab, I featured the book as our book club selection and you can read some posts about it.
Libby Hinsley is wonderful. ❣️ She offers a couple of different options to work with her personally through her two programs, Yoga for Bendy People (I may have messed up the name of that course.) and an Anatomy Bites membership where she offers two live sessions per month to ask personal questions and seek clarification as you study anatomy in small, manageable bite sized chunks each month. I hope it’s okay to shamelessly plug her work in here. ( I shamelessly plug Yogaland and Andrea and Jason elsewhere). Libby also has her own podcast. https://open.spotify.com/show/6DTsniE4hl5iFYgvmlVdhx?si=qvXumVOJSpGuFHNk7OMC1Q
Fabulous! I will look for the book and posts. It would be great to do yoga again. Right now I am practicing exercises from Somatic Movement Center. They are really helping me and there is no stretching involved.
You can still do yoga Lora!! Asana is only 1/8 of the practice 🙂
What's the other 7/8th? Pranayama? Patanjali? Thanks!
The 8 limbs of yoga in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra are:
1. Yama
2. Niyama
3. Asana
4. Pranayama
5. Pratyahara (sense withdrawal)
6. Dharana (concentration)
7. Dhyana (meditation)
8. Samadhi
Asana is literally only mentioned in 3 of the 196 sutras and it is defined as finding a comfortable seat in which you can maintain steadiness and ease. Nothing about poses 🙂
Wow thanks for this Ashley!