#grasshopper pose prep

[meditativeyoga]

Pain in the Neck: 6 Yoga Poses to Nurture Your Neck and Shoulders

When I initially began my yoga exercise practice, I was still in the "no discomfort, no gain" mentality from my years educating high-impact aerobics. That perspective, incorporated with my disappointment trying to kick up into Sirsasana (Headstand) someday, led to a tumble on the floor covering and intermittent neck pain that has stuck with me almost eight years later.

Although a bad yoga attitude integrated with lack of ability as well as preparation brought about an injury, I have actually since boosted both my mindset and my abilities to discover just how yoga can additionally recover old injuries.

The Epidemic of Neck Pain

The National Institutes of Health and wellness reports that non-specific neck discomfort impacts concerning two-thirds of all people, normally around midlife. Although intense neck pain usually fixes within a couple weeks, neck pain becomes persistent in regarding 10 percent of sufferers.

Neck and also shoulder discomfort frequently overlap, because of referred discomfort through the numerous nerve pathways connecting the neck as well as shoulders. The connective soft cells between the neck and also shoulders additionally has a tendency to puzzle the details key injury or source of discomfort. One of the most usual reason of shoulder pain as well as neck pain is an injury to the soft cells, consisting of the muscular tissues, ligaments, and tendons within these structures.

Spending hours before a computer system or mobile phone with inadequate postural alignment is one more factor in the increase of neck and also shoulder pain. As the spine drops forward, the shoulder blades glide apart, both overstretching and also damaging the bordering muscular tissues. Those deteriorated muscular tissues are more probable to experience agonizing rigidity along the shoulder blades and also up right into the neck.

Common therapies for both neck as well as shoulder discomfort consist of remainder, ice and over the counter non-steroidal anti-inflammatories such as advil. Severe or getting worse pain or feeling numb and also weakness in the extremities require a doctor's evaluation.

A 2015 research study on the Effectiveness of Iyengar Yoga In Treating Back Discomfort, including neck pain, found a considerable as well as clinically crucial decrease in discomfort intensity in the team that exercised yoga exercise. The researchers ended:

Yoga is typically suggested as an evidence-based added treatment intervention for back as well as neck pain. Along with its advantages as an activity method, yoga seems to enhance body awareness, discomfort approval as well as coping.

How to Practice Yoga Exercise with Your Neck and also Shoulders in Mind

As with all yoga methods, appropriate type and positioning are type in both alleviating and also avoiding neck and shoulder discomfort. Typical imbalances consist of:

Overarching the neck in backbends. Rather than cuing my students to look up, which can trigger hyperextension of the cervical spine, I motivate them to look no more than where the wall satisfies the ceiling. In Salabhasana (Grasshopper Pose), Bhujangasana (Cobra Posture) or Urdva Mukha Svanasana (Upward Struggling With Canine Pose), students need to keep their neck neutral or their look to the floor in front of the mat.

Rounding of the back in onward folds. Try making use of the sign "press your heart ahead to extend the spine."

Hunching of the shoulders in Virabhadrasana I (Warrior I Pose). Advise students to keep shoulders away from the ears and also to slightly on the surface revolve the arms to open up the breast and shoulders.

Rounded shoulders with hands gripped behind the back. In chest growth presents, motivate students to slightly bend the arm joints as opposed to pressing their knuckles back. Pushing clasped return often tends to pull the shoulder internal, whereas curved arm joints produce outside turning. At the same time, they can keep a yoga exercise strap with their hands shoulder-width apart.

Inversions such as Sirsasana (Headstand Pose) and Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand Posture) need to only be attempted when the student has actually practiced appropriate prep poses as well as has the appropriate strength to hold the present. Neck assistance in Shoulderstand can be achieved with additional folded coverings placed under the shoulders and also the directly the floor.

6 Yoga Exercise Positions to Nurture Your Neck as well as Shoulders

When my students inform me their neck as well as shoulders are limited, I include the corrective versions of these 6 postures right into my class to relieve their neck and shoulder pain:

1. Garudasana Arms with Chin Tilt: From any comfy seated placement, bring your arms together into Eagle Arms to stretch the rhomboids and also reduced trapezius muscular tissues. A little tilting the chin to the upper body in the position enables the stretch to reach much deeper into the scalene muscle mass which leave both sides of the neck.

2. Malasana with Neck Pull: From Malasana, drop your chin to your upper body, allowing your back to round. Intertwine your hands carefully at the base of your neck. Never ever pull your head down, rather hold firmly motivating your neck to release.

3. Parsva Balasana: Thread-the-Needle Pose is wonderful for opening up the upper and also external muscular tissues of the shoulder as well as sending out fresh oxygenated blood to the top extremities. Just like all turning asanas, relocate delicately as well as carefully with the complete expansion. Positioning a rolled up towel, little cushion or neck roll under the neck for added assistance will urge the neck muscles to kick back.

4. Shoulder Opener on Blocks: Put 2 blocks shoulder-width apart at the front of the mat. Beginning in a kneeling all-fours setting, place your joints on the blocks. Bring the hands into Anjali Mudra, and after that slowly reduced the head down between the blocks. Preferably, the hands remainder backwards Petition Placement on your back. You will appear you remain in a changed Balasana (Child's Posture). If the shoulders are also limited, utilize an added block for support under the forehead.

5. Matsyasana with Support: From a seated position with knees curved, place one block horizontally in between your shoulder blades. Area the second block up and down under the head for assistance. This restorative version of Fish Posture can take a little bit of getting used to obtain the blocks right into the most effective most peaceful position. Permit the arms to rest palm up along the sides of the body.

[fitabouts]

Grasshopper Pose Step by Step Instructions and Benefits

Grasshopper pose, which is also known as Parsva Bhuja Dandasana or dragonfly pose or hummingbird or maksikanagasana, is a huge power yoga pose and challenging asana for your body and mind. This asana is a deep twisting, hip opening, arm balancing and...

Grasshopper pose, which is also known as Parsva Bhuja Dandasana or dragonfly pose or hummingbird or maksikanagasana, is a huge power yoga pose and challenging asana for your body and mind.

This asana is a deep twisting, hip opening, arm balancing and strengthening arm all in one posture.

Grasshopper Pose is not a pose that you can easily pick up. It has a lot going on, so it is important to…

[yurureri-yurari]

the ant and the grasshopper - chapter 1: めんどう

Premise: めんどう; mendou. Definition: trouble, difficulty, care, attention.

Sources: Image

Author’s Notes:

Nagi’s apartment number is fictitious.

    —  ⬟  —

“Nice to meet everyone; my name is Nakahara Rio. I look forward to being in class with you all.”

Just as she practiced several times the night before.

“Nakahara-san? Um, earth to Nakahara-san?”

“…! Oh— I’m sorry; I was a little too engrossed with the scenery outside, haha.”

That part would take a little time. Nothing to worry about.

Nakahara Rio’s first high school year was starting with ease. She secured new friends, the class president position, a student council position—most of her short-term goals were fulfilled. All that was left was finding a part-time job to pay for her portion of rent for her apartment, the other portion being paid for by her parents.

From the neighboring Kanagawa, she had come to Tokyo on her own to start anew and attend one of the capital’s top prep schools: Hakuho High. Away from her parents and siblings, she knew she would get lonely, but… not to the extent that she was feeling now.

Rio sighed to herself as she boarded her apartment building’s elevator with grocery bags in hand and school bag over her shoulder.

“It’s only been about two weeks and I already miss everyone a lot…” she muttered to herself.

She stared at the closed doors as the elevator went up, an unsure look glazing her expression.

… Those two aren’t going to fall behind in grades while I’m not there, are they?

With a chime, the pathway opened to her floor.

Oh, well… I’ll just have to believe in them. Try to believe in them.

Exiting as she blinked, when she opened her eyes again, she froze.

“...?”

Across from her by her next-door neighbor’s door, a white-clad person was on the floor; perhaps said neighbor?

Rio approached them.

It was a male student from her school, she recognized his blazer to have the same designs as hers. His arms were crossed over his chest like an Egyptian mummy, his eyes closed with his expression appearing uncomfortable.

… Is he unconscious or is he sleeping?

“Um… Excuse me,” she called out to him as she looked down at his face. “Are you okay?”

There was no response.

He was clearly breathing from the rise and fall of his chest, so there was no need to panic over a strangely positioned corpse.

Rio put her bags down, crouching beside him. She put a hand on his forehead under his overgrown fringe.

No temperature. His position is weird, but I shouldn’t overrule unconsciousness. Just in case, I should call—

A stomach growl ripped through the silence of the corridor as she was about to press on the number “1” on her smartphone’s dial. It wasn’t from her.

She stared at the boy in frozen disbelief.

… By chance… did this person collapse from hunger?

“... Unbelievable,” Rio uttered out loud.

     —  ⬟  —

After dropping her items in her apartment and dragging a large body that was probably even taller than her younger brother in, who was much taller than her, Rio gave herself a well-earned five-minute break from the hard effort she just made before she started cooking. Five minutes wasn’t enough for the workout she just had, but she didn’t want to prolong the boy’s hunger any longer. She hoped the neighbor who saw her earlier wasn’t going to call the authorities on her.

Some time later, perhaps allured by the smell of herbs, her unexpected guest awoke from his sleep when she was filling a  bowl with rice porridge from the pot she made it in.

“Where am I…?” he spoke, rubbing his eyes.

“In your neighbor’s apartment,” Rio told him, shortly walking over to his side. She placed his bowl on the small table next to him. “Here; please eat. It should be easy to digest something like this.”

“Oh; thank you for the food,” the boy replied, digging right in.

She stared at him in confusion at his nonchalant disposition and lack of caution.

Did I pick up a classmate or an abandoned child?

“So… are you the resident of apartment 511?” she posed a question. “This is 510, by the way.”

He hummed a confirmation.

“Why were you lying outside your door, if I may ask?”

“I got hungry when I came home from school and it was a lot more of a pain to unlock my door than usual because of that, so I decided to sleep it off.”

It was a pain…?

“I… see… Do you not have any food?”

“I have jelly drinks everyday, but lately it’s been a pain to sip these days.”

The more she was learning about this boy, the more her initial opinion of him lowered.

“From that uniform you’re wearing, we both go to Hakuho High School, correct? I don’t think we’re in the same class; what’s your name and year?”

“Nagi Seishirou; first year.”

“I’m I… Nakahara Rio, a first year as well. It’s nice to meet you, Nagi-san.”

She practiced for school, but she hadn’t practiced yet for everywhere else, the realization hit her. He didn’t seem to notice anyway, thankfully.

“Thank you for reviving me, Nakahara,” Nagi expressed to her, his bowl empty.

“You’re welcome…” Rio responded.

“I’m going to my own apartment now.”

“Okay…”

She followed him to the entrance, still frazzled by his strangeness as she watched him put his shoes on.

Nagi Seishirou was certainly as tall as she had thought when she dragged him into her apartment. He seemed to have no sense of caution and from how he carried himself, he was, frankly, considerably lazy. Granted, she was still wearing her school uniform, but jelly drinks as a meal every day? It had become “a pain to sip”?

This person is going to die from malnutrition or hunger.

Was what Rio thought matter-of-factly.

“Nagi-san?” she called out to him before he opened the door.

He looked over his shoulder at her, who was holding her phone up.

“Can we exchange contacts?”

“Why? Also, I don’t use LINE.”

“That’s fine. I want us to exchange contacts in case a situation happens where we need the other person. All the more reason to as classmates and neighbors.”

Nagi thought for a moment. Then he offered his phone to her after entering his passcode.

“Only for emergencies.”

She smiled out of politeness, exchanging her phone for his to put her phone number in.

“Yes.”

This person is going to die from malnutrition or hunger, she had thought earlier. And if she could do something about that, which she could and just did, she would do it. Even though it would certainly be—borrowing his catchphrase—a pain, judging from her observations.

In that case, she would be a pain to him too to even it out.

[vknopik]

Oh Lotus.....you are such a challenging shape for me! Even with lots of prep, my ankles just don’t love this position. Anyway... 🧘🏽‍♀️ Our first pose for #kgyogisinbloom is, you guessed it, Lotus! If you are are challenged by this shape like me, make sure you warm up a lot and don’t force it. There are many variations and modifications: sukhasana, half lotus, double pigeon, etc. so explore safely. Tell me if how you feel about this pose below and if you have any tips! ❤️ And don’t forget to check out my co-hosts! . 🌸#KGYogisInBloom • March 25-29 "Where flowers bloom, so does hope." -Lady Bird Johnson 🌼 ⠀ 🌷 Springtime is here and we could all use a little dose of happiness and cheer. Join us for a short and light-hearted 5-day challenge where we'll explore some spring-related yoga poses. Let's join together as a community and build a beautiful and bright gallery where we can connect and support one another. (And let's face it, it will give us all something to do to pass the time at home right now.) Be inspired by your hosts or make up your own variation of the following poses: ⠀ ✅ Day 1. Lotus Pose 🧘🏼‍♀️ Day 2. Tree Pose 🌳 Day 3. Butterfly Pose 🦋 Day 4. Grasshopper Pose 🦗 Day 5. Bird of Paradise 🦜 ⠀ 💐 Hosts: @cece.carson @laraliam @tjwellness @valerie.knopik @yogaandchaigirl ⠀ 🌹 Sponsors: @kiragraceyoga 🌸 How to enter the challenge: 1. Follow all hosts and sponsors (we check!). 2. Repost the flyer and tag a few friends. 3. Check your hosts’ pages for daily pose inspiration. 4. Post daily using #KGYogisInBloom and don’t forget to tag your hosts and sponsor in the caption. 5. Have fun and make sure your profile is set to public so we can see your posts in our gallery! https://www.instagram.com/p/B-J-q40j-fL/?igshid=11r8go6m22w7z

[chocolate-brownies]

4 Common Postural Patterns That Cause Yoga Injuries

4 Common Postural Patterns That Cause Yoga Injuries:

Plus, how to fix each to stay safe when you practice.

Posture and injury are closely connected. Here are four common postural habits that have the potential to cause yoga injuries, plus the simple fixes that can help keep you safe.

Recent research suggests that yoga injuries are on the rise, but even the most devoted students among us practice for a mere fraction of the day. What we do the rest of the time—our posture and movement habits—has a far greater impact on our joints, muscles and fascia than our yoga practice.

So, while yoga might get the blame, sometimes a yoga pose is simply the straw that breaks the camel’s back, highlighting long-standing biomechanical imbalances created in our lives off the yoga mat.

Here are four common postural patterns to look out for, the poses or practices where they might set us up for increased injury risk, and some tips on how to re-create balance in the affected area.

See also Inside My Injury: A Yoga Teacher’s Journey from Pain to Depression to Healing

Postural Pattern No. 1: Upper Cross Syndrome and biceps tendonitis.

Ever felt a nagging ache at the front of the head of your shoulder after a few too many sun salutations? This could be related to a common postural habit known as upper cross syndrome.

The Anatomy:

Many of our daily activities, including driving and typing, involve our arms working in front of our body. This pattern tends to shorten and tighten our anterior shoulder and chest muscles (including pectoralis major and minor plus anterior deltoid) while weakening our posterior shoulder and mid back muscles (including the rhomboids, middle trapezius and infraspinatus). This imbalance pulls the head of the humerus forward in its socket.

When we take this altered position into weight-bearing poses, especially when our elbows are bent and gravity adds to the forward pull on the shoulders, we tend to lay on the biceps tendon (the tendon of the long head of biceps brachii) over the front of our shoulder joint. With repetition, the extra load on the tendon could create irritation and inflammation, leading to a niggling pain on the front of our shoulder.

Due to its repetition in yoga classes, Four-Limbed Staff Pose (Chaturanga Dandasana) is the most obvious pose to be aware of. Bent elbow arm balances can also be an issue, including Crow Pose (Bakasana), Eight-Angle Pose (Astravakrasana) and Grasshopper or Dragonfly Pose (Maksikanagasana). Even Side Plank (Vasisthasana) can irritate the biceps tendon if we allow the head of our weight-bearing shoulder to displace forward toward our chest.

See also Yoga Anatomy: What You Need to Know About the Shoulder Girdle

How to reduce shoulder injury risk:

Humble Warrior arms in Warrior 1 Pose

• Soften chronic tension in your chest and anterior shoulders by incorporating both active and passive stretches for these muscles, such as humble warrior arms, reverse prayer position, or lying supine with arms out in a T-shape or cactus position (perhaps even with a rolled blanket or mat under your spine to create extra lift for your chest).

Reverse prayer position in Horse Pose

• Awaken your posterior shoulder muscles by utilizing arm positions that require active shoulder retraction or external rotation, such locust pose with T arm or cactus arm variations.

Chaturanga Dandasana

• Develop a more central weight-bearing position for the head of your shoulder in Chaturanga Dandasana by broadening your collarbones and turning your sternum forward. This position will be much easier to maintain if you stay higher in the pose, keeping your shoulders above elbow height. You might also consider skipping Chaturanga at times to build more variety into your yoga practice.

Postural Pattern No. 2: Lower Cross Syndrome and hamstring tendonitis

Another common yoga injury is pain in the proximal tendon of the hamstrings, where they attach to the sit bones at the base of the pelvis. This appears as a nagging, pulling pain just below the sit bones that often feels worse after stretching or sitting for long periods.

The Anatomy:

Most of us spend hours of each day sitting, and our soft tissues adjust to this habit. One such adjustment is the common muscular pattern called lower cross syndrome, where the hip flexors on the front of the pelvis and thighs (including the iliopsoas and rectus femoris) tend to become tight and the hip extensors on the back of the pelvis and thighs (including gluteus maximus and the hamstrings) tend to weaken, tilting the pelvis forward.

In yoga we often exacerbate this pattern by stretching our hamstrings far more often than we strengthen them. Over-stretching these weak muscles has the potential to irritate their tendinous attachment to the sit bones. The position of these tendons underneath the base of the pelvis also means that they are compressed every time we sit, potentially reducing their blood flow and making them slower to heal.

Every time we flex our hips, especially with straight legs, we lengthen the hamstrings. This makes the list of yoga poses to be aware a long one, including standing forward bends, seated forward bends, Extended Hand to Big Toe Pose (Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana), Pyramid Pose (Parsvottanasana), Splits (Hanumanasana), Standing Splits (Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana), Head to Knee Pose (Janu Sirsasana), Supine Hand to Big Toe Pose (Supta Padangusthasana), Downward Facing Dog, and others.

See also Get to Know Your Hamstrings: Why Both Strength & Length Are Essential

How to reduce your hamstring injury risk:

• Focus any hamstring stretches on the belly of the muscle. If you feel a stretch tugging on your sit bones when you stretch, move away from that sensation immediately by bending your knees or backing out of your full range of motion.

Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)

• Work on strengthening your hamstrings as often as you stretch them. Incorporate Locust Pose (Salabhasana) and Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana) variations into your practice more often. You could also try stepping your feet a few inches further away from your torso in bridge pose to highlight hamstring contraction instead of glute contraction. Finally, keeping your hips square to the mat when you lift a leg behind you in Downward Facing Dog and the kneeling Balance Bird Dog Pose will highlight hamstring (and gluteus maximus) contraction.

Balance Bird Dog Pose

Postural Pattern No. 3: posterior pelvic tilt and lumbar disc injuries

If you’ve ever had a lumbar disc rupture or protrusion—or been one of the 80% of adults that have experienced any kind of low back pain—you’ll remember how vividly aware you became of the movements and positions that put pressure on your spine, and how many of those appeared in the average class.

The Anatomy:

Our column of vertebra is connected by two moveable facet joints at the back of the spine and are sandwiched together by intervertebral discs at the front of the spine. When we lean back or take the spine into extension (a backbend), we load the facet joints; when we lean forward or flex the spine (into a forward curl) we load to the discs. If we fold more deeply forward, add weight by reaching with our arms, add sheering force by twisting the spine, or alter our pelvic position by sitting, we significantly increase the load on our discs.

Not all of us experience Lower Cross Syndrome; for some, slouching in our seat creates the opposite postural pattern, sending our pelvis into posterior tilt. The altered pelvic position has flow-on effects, one of which is to flatten the natural curve in our lumbar spine, bringing it out of extension into slight flexion. This means that in what we perceive as our neutral posture we are already adding extra load on our intervertebral discs, before we even start to fold forward, add weight, or alter pelvic position.

In healthy discs, adding load isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if our discs are damaged or degenerating, the extra force we exert in a yoga practice could be the last straw that leads to disc injury, causing the jelly like protein filling of our disc to leak out, potentially irritating neighboring nerves as well as reducing spine function in that area.

Any poses or movements that load the spinal discs are worth paying extra attention to. This includes seated forward folds like Paschimottanasana and Head to Knee Pose (Janu Sirsasana), Seated Twist (Ardha Matsyendrasana), as well as yoga transitions to and from standing like those in sun salutations between Mountain Pose (Tadasana) and Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana), and between a Low Lunge and Warrior I (Virabhadrasana I).

See alsoWhat You Need to Know About Your Thoracic Spine

How to reduce your disc injury risk:

The overall theme of reducing risk injury is to use your yoga practice to develop keener awareness of your posture. Once you know what a truly neutral lumbar spine and pelvis feel like, you can make a deliberate decision as to whether to add load to the discs by flexing the spine, rather than allowing your posture to make the decision for you.

Warrior III (Virabhadrasana III)

• Using mirrors, photos, help from a friend, or the tactile feedback of the floor, wall, or a dowel stick behind your spine, practice creating neutral lumbar spine and pelvis in various orientations to gravity. Start supine (as in Savasana), progress to standing upright (Tadasana), then explore other standing poses like Extended Side Angle (Utthita Parsvakonasana) or Warrior III (Virabhadrasana III).

Paschimottanasana prep

• Pay particular attention to what is required to create a neutral spine and pelvis in seated poses; that might include propping your sit bones on the edge of a blanket to lift them away from the floor and guide the pelvis out of posterior tilt into a neutral position.

• Learn to maintain a neutral lumbar spine in movements that load the discs as well. The transitions between standing and folding forward, and vice versa, place particular load on the lumbar; using your core muscles and legs to share the workload is hugely supportive for the spinal discs - a helpful habit to take off the mat as well.

Postural Pattern No. 4: “tech neck” and neck injuries

Smart phones and other devices have become a dominant part of our lives, but the hours spent looking down at a screen can have unintended side-effects. Forward head carriage, also called text neck or tech neck, is a common pattern these days, thought to be driven by the habit of looking down at phones and other devices for hours of every day.

See also Yoga We Know You Need: 4 Smartphone Counterposes

The Anatomy:

Tech neck is a common scenario where the weight of our head tilts forward from its natural weight-bearing position. Like all the postural habits discussed here, it can alter the biomechanical patterns around the spine, in this case placing additional load on the discs in our cervical spine. This could be an issue in any yoga pose but the stakes increase dramatically when we add body weight to the equation, as we do in certain inversions including Headstand (Sirsasana) and Shoulderstand (Salamba Sarvangasana).

It’s challenging enough to create a neutral spine when we turn the world upside-down for headstand; the challenge increases hugely if our perception of neutral is skewed to begin with. Taking forward head carriage into Headstand means carrying our bodyweight in a way our body—including our vulnerable discs—isn’t designed to do.

Shoulderstand is another controversial pose, taking the forward head position of text neck and adding bodyweight to it; given how common tech neck is in yoga students, some argue that the therapeutic benefits of this pose may no longer be worth the risk of it reinforcing existing dysfunction.

How to reduce neck injury risk:

As in posterior pelvic tilt, the core of neck injury prevention is re-education: learning anew what a neutral head and neck position look and feel like so that we can choose when and how we load the structures of our neck, rather than allowing unconscious habits to do that for us.

• Practice finding and maintaining neutral head and neck in various orientations to gravity, from supine using the feedback of the floor, to upright with a wall behind the back of the head, then progressing to unsupported positions like Tadasana, Triangle (Trikonasana), Downward Facing Dog and Dolphin Pose (Ardha Pincha Mayurasana).

• If you do wish to practice Headstand, invest time and effort in building improved muscular stability in your shoulders so that (while neutral head and neck position is still crucial) you are able to efficiently carry the bulk of the load in your arms instead of your head.

Supported Shoulderstand (Salamba Sarvangasana)

• If you enjoy practicing Shoulderstand, experiment with stacking blankets under your shoulders to reduce the degree of neck flexion required to create a straight line in the remainder of your body, or stay flexed in your hips so that you are able to support more of your bodyweight through your arms and hands and carry less in your head and neck.

Any physical activity has its risks and yoga is no exception. However, the recent rise in reported yoga injuries may be less a reflection of the practice, and more related to the habits we take into it. One of the great benefits of yoga practice is the opportunity it creates for reflection; rather than giving up on our practice because of the risks it could entail, we can choose to use it to become more aware of our posture, and more mindful in the way it influences us.

See also Yoga to Improve Posture: Self-Assess Your Spine + Learn How to Protect It

[cedarrrun]

Plus, how to fix each to stay safe when you practice.

Posture and injury are closely connected. Here are four common postural habits that have the potential to cause yoga injuries, plus the simple fixes that can help keep you safe.

Recent research suggests that yoga injuries are on the rise, but even the most devoted students among us practice for a mere fraction of the day. What we do the rest of the time—our posture and movement habits—has a far greater impact on our joints, muscles and fascia than our yoga practice.

So, while yoga might get the blame, sometimes a yoga pose is simply the straw that breaks the camel’s back, highlighting long-standing biomechanical imbalances created in our lives off the yoga mat.

Here are four common postural patterns to look out for, the poses or practices where they might set us up for increased injury risk, and some tips on how to re-create balance in the affected area.

See also Inside My Injury: A Yoga Teacher's Journey from Pain to Depression to Healing

Postural Pattern No. 1: Upper Cross Syndrome and biceps tendonitis.

Ever felt a nagging ache at the front of the head of your shoulder after a few too many sun salutations? This could be related to a common postural habit known as upper cross syndrome.

The Anatomy:

Many of our daily activities, including driving and typing, involve our arms working in front of our body. This pattern tends to shorten and tighten our anterior shoulder and chest muscles (including pectoralis major and minor plus anterior deltoid) while weakening our posterior shoulder and mid back muscles (including the rhomboids, middle trapezius and infraspinatus). This imbalance pulls the head of the humerus forward in its socket.

When we take this altered position into weight-bearing poses, especially when our elbows are bent and gravity adds to the forward pull on the shoulders, we tend to lay on the biceps tendon (the tendon of the long head of biceps brachii) over the front of our shoulder joint. With repetition, the extra load on the tendon could create irritation and inflammation, leading to a niggling pain on the front of our shoulder.

Due to its repetition in yoga classes, Four-Limbed Staff Pose (Chaturanga Dandasana) is the most obvious pose to be aware of. Bent elbow arm balances can also be an issue, including Crow Pose (Bakasana), Eight-Angle Pose (Astravakrasana) and Grasshopper or Dragonfly Pose (Maksikanagasana). Even Side Plank (Vasisthasana) can irritate the biceps tendon if we allow the head of our weight-bearing shoulder to displace forward toward our chest.

See also Yoga Anatomy: What You Need to Know About the Shoulder Girdle

How to reduce shoulder injury risk:

Humble Warrior arms in Warrior 1 Pose

• Soften chronic tension in your chest and anterior shoulders by incorporating both active and passive stretches for these muscles, such as humble warrior arms, reverse prayer position, or lying supine with arms out in a T-shape or cactus position (perhaps even with a rolled blanket or mat under your spine to create extra lift for your chest).

Reverse prayer position in Horse Pose

• Awaken your posterior shoulder muscles by utilizing arm positions that require active shoulder retraction or external rotation, such locust pose with T arm or cactus arm variations.

Chaturanga Dandasana

• Develop a more central weight-bearing position for the head of your shoulder in Chaturanga Dandasana by broadening your collarbones and turning your sternum forward. This position will be much easier to maintain if you stay higher in the pose, keeping your shoulders above elbow height. You might also consider skipping Chaturanga at times to build more variety into your yoga practice.

Postural Pattern No. 2: Lower Cross Syndrome and hamstring tendonitis

Another common yoga injury is pain in the proximal tendon of the hamstrings, where they attach to the sit bones at the base of the pelvis. This appears as a nagging, pulling pain just below the sit bones that often feels worse after stretching or sitting for long periods.

The Anatomy:

Most of us spend hours of each day sitting, and our soft tissues adjust to this habit. One such adjustment is the common muscular pattern called lower cross syndrome, where the hip flexors on the front of the pelvis and thighs (including the iliopsoas and rectus femoris) tend to become tight and the hip extensors on the back of the pelvis and thighs (including gluteus maximus and the hamstrings) tend to weaken, tilting the pelvis forward.

In yoga we often exacerbate this pattern by stretching our hamstrings far more often than we strengthen them. Over-stretching these weak muscles has the potential to irritate their tendinous attachment to the sit bones. The position of these tendons underneath the base of the pelvis also means that they are compressed every time we sit, potentially reducing their blood flow and making them slower to heal.

Every time we flex our hips, especially with straight legs, we lengthen the hamstrings. This makes the list of yoga poses to be aware a long one, including standing forward bends, seated forward bends, Extended Hand to Big Toe Pose (Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana), Pyramid Pose (Parsvottanasana), Splits (Hanumanasana), Standing Splits (Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana), Head to Knee Pose (Janu Sirsasana), Supine Hand to Big Toe Pose (Supta Padangusthasana), Downward Facing Dog, and others.

See also Get to Know Your Hamstrings: Why Both Strength & Length Are Essential

How to reduce your hamstring injury risk:

• Focus any hamstring stretches on the belly of the muscle. If you feel a stretch tugging on your sit bones when you stretch, move away from that sensation immediately by bending your knees or backing out of your full range of motion.

Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)

• Work on strengthening your hamstrings as often as you stretch them. Incorporate Locust Pose (Salabhasana) and Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana) variations into your practice more often. You could also try stepping your feet a few inches further away from your torso in bridge pose to highlight hamstring contraction instead of glute contraction. Finally, keeping your hips square to the mat when you lift a leg behind you in Downward Facing Dog and the kneeling Balance Bird Dog Pose will highlight hamstring (and gluteus maximus) contraction.

Balance Bird Dog Pose

Postural Pattern No. 3: posterior pelvic tilt and lumbar disc injuries

If you’ve ever had a lumbar disc rupture or protrusion—or been one of the 80% of adults that have experienced any kind of low back pain—you’ll remember how vividly aware you became of the movements and positions that put pressure on your spine, and how many of those appeared in the average class.

The Anatomy:

Our column of vertebra is connected by two moveable facet joints at the back of the spine and are sandwiched together by intervertebral discs at the front of the spine. When we lean back or take the spine into extension (a backbend), we load the facet joints; when we lean forward or flex the spine (into a forward curl) we load to the discs. If we fold more deeply forward, add weight by reaching with our arms, add sheering force by twisting the spine, or alter our pelvic position by sitting, we significantly increase the load on our discs.

Not all of us experience Lower Cross Syndrome; for some, slouching in our seat creates the opposite postural pattern, sending our pelvis into posterior tilt. The altered pelvic position has flow-on effects, one of which is to flatten the natural curve in our lumbar spine, bringing it out of extension into slight flexion. This means that in what we perceive as our neutral posture we are already adding extra load on our intervertebral discs, before we even start to fold forward, add weight, or alter pelvic position.

In healthy discs, adding load isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if our discs are damaged or degenerating, the extra force we exert in a yoga practice could be the last straw that leads to disc injury, causing the jelly like protein filling of our disc to leak out, potentially irritating neighboring nerves as well as reducing spine function in that area.

Any poses or movements that load the spinal discs are worth paying extra attention to. This includes seated forward folds like Paschimottanasana and Head to Knee Pose (Janu Sirsasana), Seated Twist (Ardha Matsyendrasana), as well as yoga transitions to and from standing like those in sun salutations between Mountain Pose (Tadasana) and Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana), and between a Low Lunge and Warrior I (Virabhadrasana I).

See also What You Need to Know About Your Thoracic Spine

How to reduce your disc injury risk:

The overall theme of reducing risk injury is to use your yoga practice to develop keener awareness of your posture. Once you know what a truly neutral lumbar spine and pelvis feel like, you can make a deliberate decision as to whether to add load to the discs by flexing the spine, rather than allowing your posture to make the decision for you.

Warrior III (Virabhadrasana III)

• Using mirrors, photos, help from a friend, or the tactile feedback of the floor, wall, or a dowel stick behind your spine, practice creating neutral lumbar spine and pelvis in various orientations to gravity. Start supine (as in Savasana), progress to standing upright (Tadasana), then explore other standing poses like Extended Side Angle (Utthita Parsvakonasana) or Warrior III (Virabhadrasana III).

Paschimottanasana prep

• Pay particular attention to what is required to create a neutral spine and pelvis in seated poses; that might include propping your sit bones on the edge of a blanket to lift them away from the floor and guide the pelvis out of posterior tilt into a neutral position.

• Learn to maintain a neutral lumbar spine in movements that load the discs as well. The transitions between standing and folding forward, and vice versa, place particular load on the lumbar; using your core muscles and legs to share the workload is hugely supportive for the spinal discs - a helpful habit to take off the mat as well.

Postural Pattern No. 4: “tech neck” and neck injuries

Smart phones and other devices have become a dominant part of our lives, but the hours spent looking down at a screen can have unintended side-effects. Forward head carriage, also called text neck or tech neck, is a common pattern these days, thought to be driven by the habit of looking down at phones and other devices for hours of every day.

See also Yoga We Know You Need: 4 Smartphone Counterposes

The Anatomy:

Tech neck is a common scenario where the weight of our head tilts forward from its natural weight-bearing position. Like all the postural habits discussed here, it can alter the biomechanical patterns around the spine, in this case placing additional load on the discs in our cervical spine. This could be an issue in any yoga pose but the stakes increase dramatically when we add body weight to the equation, as we do in certain inversions including Headstand (Sirsasana) and Shoulderstand (Salamba Sarvangasana).

It’s challenging enough to create a neutral spine when we turn the world upside-down for headstand; the challenge increases hugely if our perception of neutral is skewed to begin with. Taking forward head carriage into Headstand means carrying our bodyweight in a way our body—including our vulnerable discs—isn’t designed to do.

Shoulderstand is another controversial pose, taking the forward head position of text neck and adding bodyweight to it; given how common tech neck is in yoga students, some argue that the therapeutic benefits of this pose may no longer be worth the risk of it reinforcing existing dysfunction.

How to reduce neck injury risk:

As in posterior pelvic tilt, the core of neck injury prevention is re-education: learning anew what a neutral head and neck position look and feel like so that we can choose when and how we load the structures of our neck, rather than allowing unconscious habits to do that for us.

• Practice finding and maintaining neutral head and neck in various orientations to gravity, from supine using the feedback of the floor, to upright with a wall behind the back of the head, then progressing to unsupported positions like Tadasana, Triangle (Trikonasana), Downward Facing Dog and Dolphin Pose (Ardha Pincha Mayurasana).

• If you do wish to practice Headstand, invest time and effort in building improved muscular stability in your shoulders so that (while neutral head and neck position is still crucial) you are able to efficiently carry the bulk of the load in your arms instead of your head.

Supported Shoulderstand (Salamba Sarvangasana)

• If you enjoy practicing Shoulderstand, experiment with stacking blankets under your shoulders to reduce the degree of neck flexion required to create a straight line in the remainder of your body, or stay flexed in your hips so that you are able to support more of your bodyweight through your arms and hands and carry less in your head and neck.

Any physical activity has its risks and yoga is no exception. However, the recent rise in reported yoga injuries may be less a reflection of the practice, and more related to the habits we take into it. One of the great benefits of yoga practice is the opportunity it creates for reflection; rather than giving up on our practice because of the risks it could entail, we can choose to use it to become more aware of our posture, and more mindful in the way it influences us.

See also Yoga to Improve Posture: Self-Assess Your Spine + Learn How to Protect It

[krisiunicornio]

Plus, how to fix each to stay safe when you practice.

Posture and injury are closely connected. Here are four common postural habits that have the potential to cause yoga injuries, plus the simple fixes that can help keep you safe.

Recent research suggests that yoga injuries are on the rise, but even the most devoted students among us practice for a mere fraction of the day. What we do the rest of the time—our posture and movement habits—has a far greater impact on our joints, muscles and fascia than our yoga practice.

So, while yoga might get the blame, sometimes a yoga pose is simply the straw that breaks the camel’s back, highlighting long-standing biomechanical imbalances created in our lives off the yoga mat.

Here are four common postural patterns to look out for, the poses or practices where they might set us up for increased injury risk, and some tips on how to re-create balance in the affected area.

See also Inside My Injury: A Yoga Teacher's Journey from Pain to Depression to Healing

Postural Pattern No. 1: Upper Cross Syndrome and biceps tendonitis.

Ever felt a nagging ache at the front of the head of your shoulder after a few too many sun salutations? This could be related to a common postural habit known as upper cross syndrome.

The Anatomy:

Many of our daily activities, including driving and typing, involve our arms working in front of our body. This pattern tends to shorten and tighten our anterior shoulder and chest muscles (including pectoralis major and minor plus anterior deltoid) while weakening our posterior shoulder and mid back muscles (including the rhomboids, middle trapezius and infraspinatus). This imbalance pulls the head of the humerus forward in its socket.

When we take this altered position into weight-bearing poses, especially when our elbows are bent and gravity adds to the forward pull on the shoulders, we tend to lay on the biceps tendon (the tendon of the long head of biceps brachii) over the front of our shoulder joint. With repetition, the extra load on the tendon could create irritation and inflammation, leading to a niggling pain on the front of our shoulder.

Due to its repetition in yoga classes, Four-Limbed Staff Pose (Chaturanga Dandasana) is the most obvious pose to be aware of. Bent elbow arm balances can also be an issue, including Crow Pose (Bakasana), Eight-Angle Pose (Astravakrasana) and Grasshopper or Dragonfly Pose (Maksikanagasana). Even Side Plank (Vasisthasana) can irritate the biceps tendon if we allow the head of our weight-bearing shoulder to displace forward toward our chest.

See also Yoga Anatomy: What You Need to Know About the Shoulder Girdle

How to reduce shoulder injury risk:

Humble Warrior arms in Warrior 1 Pose

• Soften chronic tension in your chest and anterior shoulders by incorporating both active and passive stretches for these muscles, such as humble warrior arms, reverse prayer position, or lying supine with arms out in a T-shape or cactus position (perhaps even with a rolled blanket or mat under your spine to create extra lift for your chest).

Reverse prayer position in Horse Pose

• Awaken your posterior shoulder muscles by utilizing arm positions that require active shoulder retraction or external rotation, such locust pose with T arm or cactus arm variations.

Chaturanga Dandasana

• Develop a more central weight-bearing position for the head of your shoulder in Chaturanga Dandasana by broadening your collarbones and turning your sternum forward. This position will be much easier to maintain if you stay higher in the pose, keeping your shoulders above elbow height. You might also consider skipping Chaturanga at times to build more variety into your yoga practice.

Postural Pattern No. 2: Lower Cross Syndrome and hamstring tendonitis

Another common yoga injury is pain in the proximal tendon of the hamstrings, where they attach to the sit bones at the base of the pelvis. This appears as a nagging, pulling pain just below the sit bones that often feels worse after stretching or sitting for long periods.

The Anatomy:

Most of us spend hours of each day sitting, and our soft tissues adjust to this habit. One such adjustment is the common muscular pattern called lower cross syndrome, where the hip flexors on the front of the pelvis and thighs (including the iliopsoas and rectus femoris) tend to become tight and the hip extensors on the back of the pelvis and thighs (including gluteus maximus and the hamstrings) tend to weaken, tilting the pelvis forward.

In yoga we often exacerbate this pattern by stretching our hamstrings far more often than we strengthen them. Over-stretching these weak muscles has the potential to irritate their tendinous attachment to the sit bones. The position of these tendons underneath the base of the pelvis also means that they are compressed every time we sit, potentially reducing their blood flow and making them slower to heal.

Every time we flex our hips, especially with straight legs, we lengthen the hamstrings. This makes the list of yoga poses to be aware a long one, including standing forward bends, seated forward bends, Extended Hand to Big Toe Pose (Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana), Pyramid Pose (Parsvottanasana), Splits (Hanumanasana), Standing Splits (Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana), Head to Knee Pose (Janu Sirsasana), Supine Hand to Big Toe Pose (Supta Padangusthasana), Downward Facing Dog, and others.

See also Get to Know Your Hamstrings: Why Both Strength & Length Are Essential

How to reduce your hamstring injury risk:

• Focus any hamstring stretches on the belly of the muscle. If you feel a stretch tugging on your sit bones when you stretch, move away from that sensation immediately by bending your knees or backing out of your full range of motion.

Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)

• Work on strengthening your hamstrings as often as you stretch them. Incorporate Locust Pose (Salabhasana) and Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana) variations into your practice more often. You could also try stepping your feet a few inches further away from your torso in bridge pose to highlight hamstring contraction instead of glute contraction. Finally, keeping your hips square to the mat when you lift a leg behind you in Downward Facing Dog and the kneeling Balance Bird Dog Pose will highlight hamstring (and gluteus maximus) contraction.

Balance Bird Dog Pose

Postural Pattern No. 3: posterior pelvic tilt and lumbar disc injuries

If you’ve ever had a lumbar disc rupture or protrusion—or been one of the 80% of adults that have experienced any kind of low back pain—you’ll remember how vividly aware you became of the movements and positions that put pressure on your spine, and how many of those appeared in the average class.

The Anatomy:

Our column of vertebra is connected by two moveable facet joints at the back of the spine and are sandwiched together by intervertebral discs at the front of the spine. When we lean back or take the spine into extension (a backbend), we load the facet joints; when we lean forward or flex the spine (into a forward curl) we load to the discs. If we fold more deeply forward, add weight by reaching with our arms, add sheering force by twisting the spine, or alter our pelvic position by sitting, we significantly increase the load on our discs.

Not all of us experience Lower Cross Syndrome; for some, slouching in our seat creates the opposite postural pattern, sending our pelvis into posterior tilt. The altered pelvic position has flow-on effects, one of which is to flatten the natural curve in our lumbar spine, bringing it out of extension into slight flexion. This means that in what we perceive as our neutral posture we are already adding extra load on our intervertebral discs, before we even start to fold forward, add weight, or alter pelvic position.

In healthy discs, adding load isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if our discs are damaged or degenerating, the extra force we exert in a yoga practice could be the last straw that leads to disc injury, causing the jelly like protein filling of our disc to leak out, potentially irritating neighboring nerves as well as reducing spine function in that area.

Any poses or movements that load the spinal discs are worth paying extra attention to. This includes seated forward folds like Paschimottanasana and Head to Knee Pose (Janu Sirsasana), Seated Twist (Ardha Matsyendrasana), as well as yoga transitions to and from standing like those in sun salutations between Mountain Pose (Tadasana) and Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana), and between a Low Lunge and Warrior I (Virabhadrasana I).

See also What You Need to Know About Your Thoracic Spine

How to reduce your disc injury risk:

The overall theme of reducing risk injury is to use your yoga practice to develop keener awareness of your posture. Once you know what a truly neutral lumbar spine and pelvis feel like, you can make a deliberate decision as to whether to add load to the discs by flexing the spine, rather than allowing your posture to make the decision for you.

Warrior III (Virabhadrasana III)

• Using mirrors, photos, help from a friend, or the tactile feedback of the floor, wall, or a dowel stick behind your spine, practice creating neutral lumbar spine and pelvis in various orientations to gravity. Start supine (as in Savasana), progress to standing upright (Tadasana), then explore other standing poses like Extended Side Angle (Utthita Parsvakonasana) or Warrior III (Virabhadrasana III).

Paschimottanasana prep

• Pay particular attention to what is required to create a neutral spine and pelvis in seated poses; that might include propping your sit bones on the edge of a blanket to lift them away from the floor and guide the pelvis out of posterior tilt into a neutral position.

• Learn to maintain a neutral lumbar spine in movements that load the discs as well. The transitions between standing and folding forward, and vice versa, place particular load on the lumbar; using your core muscles and legs to share the workload is hugely supportive for the spinal discs - a helpful habit to take off the mat as well.

Postural Pattern No. 4: “tech neck” and neck injuries

Smart phones and other devices have become a dominant part of our lives, but the hours spent looking down at a screen can have unintended side-effects. Forward head carriage, also called text neck or tech neck, is a common pattern these days, thought to be driven by the habit of looking down at phones and other devices for hours of every day.

See also Yoga We Know You Need: 4 Smartphone Counterposes

The Anatomy:

Tech neck is a common scenario where the weight of our head tilts forward from its natural weight-bearing position. Like all the postural habits discussed here, it can alter the biomechanical patterns around the spine, in this case placing additional load on the discs in our cervical spine. This could be an issue in any yoga pose but the stakes increase dramatically when we add body weight to the equation, as we do in certain inversions including Headstand (Sirsasana) and Shoulderstand (Salamba Sarvangasana).

It’s challenging enough to create a neutral spine when we turn the world upside-down for headstand; the challenge increases hugely if our perception of neutral is skewed to begin with. Taking forward head carriage into Headstand means carrying our bodyweight in a way our body—including our vulnerable discs—isn’t designed to do.

Shoulderstand is another controversial pose, taking the forward head position of text neck and adding bodyweight to it; given how common tech neck is in yoga students, some argue that the therapeutic benefits of this pose may no longer be worth the risk of it reinforcing existing dysfunction.

How to reduce neck injury risk:

As in posterior pelvic tilt, the core of neck injury prevention is re-education: learning anew what a neutral head and neck position look and feel like so that we can choose when and how we load the structures of our neck, rather than allowing unconscious habits to do that for us.

• Practice finding and maintaining neutral head and neck in various orientations to gravity, from supine using the feedback of the floor, to upright with a wall behind the back of the head, then progressing to unsupported positions like Tadasana, Triangle (Trikonasana), Downward Facing Dog and Dolphin Pose (Ardha Pincha Mayurasana).

• If you do wish to practice Headstand, invest time and effort in building improved muscular stability in your shoulders so that (while neutral head and neck position is still crucial) you are able to efficiently carry the bulk of the load in your arms instead of your head.

Supported Shoulderstand (Salamba Sarvangasana)

• If you enjoy practicing Shoulderstand, experiment with stacking blankets under your shoulders to reduce the degree of neck flexion required to create a straight line in the remainder of your body, or stay flexed in your hips so that you are able to support more of your bodyweight through your arms and hands and carry less in your head and neck.

Any physical activity has its risks and yoga is no exception. However, the recent rise in reported yoga injuries may be less a reflection of the practice, and more related to the habits we take into it. One of the great benefits of yoga practice is the opportunity it creates for reflection; rather than giving up on our practice because of the risks it could entail, we can choose to use it to become more aware of our posture, and more mindful in the way it influences us.

See also Yoga to Improve Posture: Self-Assess Your Spine + Learn How to Protect It

[amyddaniels]

4 Common Postural Patterns That Cause Yoga Injuries

Plus, how to fix each to stay safe when you practice.

Posture and injury are closely connected. Here are four common postural habits that have the potential to cause yoga injuries, plus the simple fixes that can help keep you safe.

Recent research suggests that yoga injuries are on the rise, but even the most devoted students among us practice for a mere fraction of the day. What we do the rest of the time—our posture and movement habits—has a far greater impact on our joints, muscles and fascia than our yoga practice.

So, while yoga might get the blame, sometimes a yoga pose is simply the straw that breaks the camel’s back, highlighting long-standing biomechanical imbalances created in our lives off the yoga mat.

Here are four common postural patterns to look out for, the poses or practices where they might set us up for increased injury risk, and some tips on how to re-create balance in the affected area.

See also Inside My Injury: A Yoga Teacher's Journey from Pain to Depression to Healing

Postural Pattern No. 1: Upper Cross Syndrome and biceps tendonitis.

Ever felt a nagging ache at the front of the head of your shoulder after a few too many sun salutations? This could be related to a common postural habit known as upper cross syndrome.

The Anatomy:

Many of our daily activities, including driving and typing, involve our arms working in front of our body. This pattern tends to shorten and tighten our anterior shoulder and chest muscles (including pectoralis major and minor plus anterior deltoid) while weakening our posterior shoulder and mid back muscles (including the rhomboids, middle trapezius and infraspinatus). This imbalance pulls the head of the humerus forward in its socket.

When we take this altered position into weight-bearing poses, especially when our elbows are bent and gravity adds to the forward pull on the shoulders, we tend to lay on the biceps tendon (the tendon of the long head of biceps brachii) over the front of our shoulder joint. With repetition, the extra load on the tendon could create irritation and inflammation, leading to a niggling pain on the front of our shoulder.

Due to its repetition in yoga classes, Four-Limbed Staff Pose (Chaturanga Dandasana) is the most obvious pose to be aware of. Bent elbow arm balances can also be an issue, including Crow Pose (Bakasana), Eight-Angle Pose (Astravakrasana) and Grasshopper or Dragonfly Pose (Maksikanagasana). Even Side Plank (Vasisthasana) can irritate the biceps tendon if we allow the head of our weight-bearing shoulder to displace forward toward our chest.

See also Yoga Anatomy: What You Need to Know About the Shoulder Girdle

How to reduce shoulder injury risk:

Humble Warrior arms in Warrior 1 Pose

• Soften chronic tension in your chest and anterior shoulders by incorporating both active and passive stretches for these muscles, such as humble warrior arms, reverse prayer position, or lying supine with arms out in a T-shape or cactus position (perhaps even with a rolled blanket or mat under your spine to create extra lift for your chest).

Reverse prayer position in Horse Pose

• Awaken your posterior shoulder muscles by utilizing arm positions that require active shoulder retraction or external rotation, such locust pose with T arm or cactus arm variations.

Chaturanga Dandasana

• Develop a more central weight-bearing position for the head of your shoulder in Chaturanga Dandasana by broadening your collarbones and turning your sternum forward. This position will be much easier to maintain if you stay higher in the pose, keeping your shoulders above elbow height. You might also consider skipping Chaturanga at times to build more variety into your yoga practice.

Postural Pattern No. 2: Lower Cross Syndrome and hamstring tendonitis

Another common yoga injury is pain in the proximal tendon of the hamstrings, where they attach to the sit bones at the base of the pelvis. This appears as a nagging, pulling pain just below the sit bones that often feels worse after stretching or sitting for long periods.

The Anatomy:

Most of us spend hours of each day sitting, and our soft tissues adjust to this habit. One such adjustment is the common muscular pattern called lower cross syndrome, where the hip flexors on the front of the pelvis and thighs (including the iliopsoas and rectus femoris) tend to become tight and the hip extensors on the back of the pelvis and thighs (including gluteus maximus and the hamstrings) tend to weaken, tilting the pelvis forward.

In yoga we often exacerbate this pattern by stretching our hamstrings far more often than we strengthen them. Over-stretching these weak muscles has the potential to irritate their tendinous attachment to the sit bones. The position of these tendons underneath the base of the pelvis also means that they are compressed every time we sit, potentially reducing their blood flow and making them slower to heal.

Every time we flex our hips, especially with straight legs, we lengthen the hamstrings. This makes the list of yoga poses to be aware a long one, including standing forward bends, seated forward bends, Extended Hand to Big Toe Pose (Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana), Pyramid Pose (Parsvottanasana), Splits (Hanumanasana), Standing Splits (Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana), Head to Knee Pose (Janu Sirsasana), Supine Hand to Big Toe Pose (Supta Padangusthasana), Downward Facing Dog, and others.

See also Get to Know Your Hamstrings: Why Both Strength & Length Are Essential

How to reduce your hamstring injury risk:

• Focus any hamstring stretches on the belly of the muscle. If you feel a stretch tugging on your sit bones when you stretch, move away from that sensation immediately by bending your knees or backing out of your full range of motion.

Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)

• Work on strengthening your hamstrings as often as you stretch them. Incorporate Locust Pose (Salabhasana) and Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana) variations into your practice more often. You could also try stepping your feet a few inches further away from your torso in bridge pose to highlight hamstring contraction instead of glute contraction. Finally, keeping your hips square to the mat when you lift a leg behind you in Downward Facing Dog and the kneeling Balance Bird Dog Pose will highlight hamstring (and gluteus maximus) contraction.

Balance Bird Dog Pose

Postural Pattern No. 3: posterior pelvic tilt and lumbar disc injuries

If you’ve ever had a lumbar disc rupture or protrusion—or been one of the 80% of adults that have experienced any kind of low back pain—you’ll remember how vividly aware you became of the movements and positions that put pressure on your spine, and how many of those appeared in the average class.

The Anatomy:

Our column of vertebra is connected by two moveable facet joints at the back of the spine and are sandwiched together by intervertebral discs at the front of the spine. When we lean back or take the spine into extension (a backbend), we load the facet joints; when we lean forward or flex the spine (into a forward curl) we load to the discs. If we fold more deeply forward, add weight by reaching with our arms, add sheering force by twisting the spine, or alter our pelvic position by sitting, we significantly increase the load on our discs.

Not all of us experience Lower Cross Syndrome; for some, slouching in our seat creates the opposite postural pattern, sending our pelvis into posterior tilt. The altered pelvic position has flow-on effects, one of which is to flatten the natural curve in our lumbar spine, bringing it out of extension into slight flexion. This means that in what we perceive as our neutral posture we are already adding extra load on our intervertebral discs, before we even start to fold forward, add weight, or alter pelvic position.

In healthy discs, adding load isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if our discs are damaged or degenerating, the extra force we exert in a yoga practice could be the last straw that leads to disc injury, causing the jelly like protein filling of our disc to leak out, potentially irritating neighboring nerves as well as reducing spine function in that area.

Any poses or movements that load the spinal discs are worth paying extra attention to. This includes seated forward folds like Paschimottanasana and Head to Knee Pose (Janu Sirsasana), Seated Twist (Ardha Matsyendrasana), as well as yoga transitions to and from standing like those in sun salutations between Mountain Pose (Tadasana) and Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana), and between a Low Lunge and Warrior I (Virabhadrasana I).

See also What You Need to Know About Your Thoracic Spine

How to reduce your disc injury risk:

The overall theme of reducing risk injury is to use your yoga practice to develop keener awareness of your posture. Once you know what a truly neutral lumbar spine and pelvis feel like, you can make a deliberate decision as to whether to add load to the discs by flexing the spine, rather than allowing your posture to make the decision for you.

Warrior III (Virabhadrasana III)

• Using mirrors, photos, help from a friend, or the tactile feedback of the floor, wall, or a dowel stick behind your spine, practice creating neutral lumbar spine and pelvis in various orientations to gravity. Start supine (as in Savasana), progress to standing upright (Tadasana), then explore other standing poses like Extended Side Angle (Utthita Parsvakonasana) or Warrior III (Virabhadrasana III).

Paschimottanasana prep

• Pay particular attention to what is required to create a neutral spine and pelvis in seated poses; that might include propping your sit bones on the edge of a blanket to lift them away from the floor and guide the pelvis out of posterior tilt into a neutral position.

• Learn to maintain a neutral lumbar spine in movements that load the discs as well. The transitions between standing and folding forward, and vice versa, place particular load on the lumbar; using your core muscles and legs to share the workload is hugely supportive for the spinal discs - a helpful habit to take off the mat as well.

Postural Pattern No. 4: “tech neck” and neck injuries

Smart phones and other devices have become a dominant part of our lives, but the hours spent looking down at a screen can have unintended side-effects. Forward head carriage, also called text neck or tech neck, is a common pattern these days, thought to be driven by the habit of looking down at phones and other devices for hours of every day.

See also Yoga We Know You Need: 4 Smartphone Counterposes

The Anatomy:

Tech neck is a common scenario where the weight of our head tilts forward from its natural weight-bearing position. Like all the postural habits discussed here, it can alter the biomechanical patterns around the spine, in this case placing additional load on the discs in our cervical spine. This could be an issue in any yoga pose but the stakes increase dramatically when we add body weight to the equation, as we do in certain inversions including Headstand (Sirsasana) and Shoulderstand (Salamba Sarvangasana).

It’s challenging enough to create a neutral spine when we turn the world upside-down for headstand; the challenge increases hugely if our perception of neutral is skewed to begin with. Taking forward head carriage into Headstand means carrying our bodyweight in a way our body—including our vulnerable discs—isn’t designed to do.

Shoulderstand is another controversial pose, taking the forward head position of text neck and adding bodyweight to it; given how common tech neck is in yoga students, some argue that the therapeutic benefits of this pose may no longer be worth the risk of it reinforcing existing dysfunction.

How to reduce neck injury risk:

As in posterior pelvic tilt, the core of neck injury prevention is re-education: learning anew what a neutral head and neck position look and feel like so that we can choose when and how we load the structures of our neck, rather than allowing unconscious habits to do that for us.

• Practice finding and maintaining neutral head and neck in various orientations to gravity, from supine using the feedback of the floor, to upright with a wall behind the back of the head, then progressing to unsupported positions like Tadasana, Triangle (Trikonasana), Downward Facing Dog and Dolphin Pose (Ardha Pincha Mayurasana).

• If you do wish to practice Headstand, invest time and effort in building improved muscular stability in your shoulders so that (while neutral head and neck position is still crucial) you are able to efficiently carry the bulk of the load in your arms instead of your head.

Supported Shoulderstand (Salamba Sarvangasana)

• If you enjoy practicing Shoulderstand, experiment with stacking blankets under your shoulders to reduce the degree of neck flexion required to create a straight line in the remainder of your body, or stay flexed in your hips so that you are able to support more of your bodyweight through your arms and hands and carry less in your head and neck.

Any physical activity has its risks and yoga is no exception. However, the recent rise in reported yoga injuries may be less a reflection of the practice, and more related to the habits we take into it. One of the great benefits of yoga practice is the opportunity it creates for reflection; rather than giving up on our practice because of the risks it could entail, we can choose to use it to become more aware of our posture, and more mindful in the way it influences us.

See also Yoga to Improve Posture: Self-Assess Your Spine + Learn How to Protect It

[remedialmassage]

4 Common Postural Patterns That Cause Yoga Injuries

Plus, how to fix each to stay safe when you practice.

Posture and injury are closely connected. Here are four common postural habits that have the potential to cause yoga injuries, plus the simple fixes that can help keep you safe.

Recent research suggests that yoga injuries are on the rise, but even the most devoted students among us practice for a mere fraction of the day. What we do the rest of the time—our posture and movement habits—has a far greater impact on our joints, muscles and fascia than our yoga practice.

So, while yoga might get the blame, sometimes a yoga pose is simply the straw that breaks the camel’s back, highlighting long-standing biomechanical imbalances created in our lives off the yoga mat.

Here are four common postural patterns to look out for, the poses or practices where they might set us up for increased injury risk, and some tips on how to re-create balance in the affected area.

See also Inside My Injury: A Yoga Teacher's Journey from Pain to Depression to Healing

Postural Pattern No. 1: Upper Cross Syndrome and biceps tendonitis.

Ever felt a nagging ache at the front of the head of your shoulder after a few too many sun salutations? This could be related to a common postural habit known as upper cross syndrome.

The Anatomy:

Many of our daily activities, including driving and typing, involve our arms working in front of our body. This pattern tends to shorten and tighten our anterior shoulder and chest muscles (including pectoralis major and minor plus anterior deltoid) while weakening our posterior shoulder and mid back muscles (including the rhomboids, middle trapezius and infraspinatus). This imbalance pulls the head of the humerus forward in its socket.

When we take this altered position into weight-bearing poses, especially when our elbows are bent and gravity adds to the forward pull on the shoulders, we tend to lay on the biceps tendon (the tendon of the long head of biceps brachii) over the front of our shoulder joint. With repetition, the extra load on the tendon could create irritation and inflammation, leading to a niggling pain on the front of our shoulder.

Due to its repetition in yoga classes, Four-Limbed Staff Pose (Chaturanga Dandasana) is the most obvious pose to be aware of. Bent elbow arm balances can also be an issue, including Crow Pose (Bakasana), Eight-Angle Pose (Astravakrasana) and Grasshopper or Dragonfly Pose (Maksikanagasana). Even Side Plank (Vasisthasana) can irritate the biceps tendon if we allow the head of our weight-bearing shoulder to displace forward toward our chest.

See also Yoga Anatomy: What You Need to Know About the Shoulder Girdle

How to reduce shoulder injury risk:

Humble Warrior arms in Warrior 1 Pose

• Soften chronic tension in your chest and anterior shoulders by incorporating both active and passive stretches for these muscles, such as humble warrior arms, reverse prayer position, or lying supine with arms out in a T-shape or cactus position (perhaps even with a rolled blanket or mat under your spine to create extra lift for your chest).

Reverse prayer position in Horse Pose

• Awaken your posterior shoulder muscles by utilizing arm positions that require active shoulder retraction or external rotation, such locust pose with T arm or cactus arm variations.

Chaturanga Dandasana

• Develop a more central weight-bearing position for the head of your shoulder in Chaturanga Dandasana by broadening your collarbones and turning your sternum forward. This position will be much easier to maintain if you stay higher in the pose, keeping your shoulders above elbow height. You might also consider skipping Chaturanga at times to build more variety into your yoga practice.

Postural Pattern No. 2: Lower Cross Syndrome and hamstring tendonitis

Another common yoga injury is pain in the proximal tendon of the hamstrings, where they attach to the sit bones at the base of the pelvis. This appears as a nagging, pulling pain just below the sit bones that often feels worse after stretching or sitting for long periods.

The Anatomy:

Most of us spend hours of each day sitting, and our soft tissues adjust to this habit. One such adjustment is the common muscular pattern called lower cross syndrome, where the hip flexors on the front of the pelvis and thighs (including the iliopsoas and rectus femoris) tend to become tight and the hip extensors on the back of the pelvis and thighs (including gluteus maximus and the hamstrings) tend to weaken, tilting the pelvis forward.

In yoga we often exacerbate this pattern by stretching our hamstrings far more often than we strengthen them. Over-stretching these weak muscles has the potential to irritate their tendinous attachment to the sit bones. The position of these tendons underneath the base of the pelvis also means that they are compressed every time we sit, potentially reducing their blood flow and making them slower to heal.

Every time we flex our hips, especially with straight legs, we lengthen the hamstrings. This makes the list of yoga poses to be aware a long one, including standing forward bends, seated forward bends, Extended Hand to Big Toe Pose (Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana), Pyramid Pose (Parsvottanasana), Splits (Hanumanasana), Standing Splits (Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana), Head to Knee Pose (Janu Sirsasana), Supine Hand to Big Toe Pose (Supta Padangusthasana), Downward Facing Dog, and others.

See also Get to Know Your Hamstrings: Why Both Strength & Length Are Essential

How to reduce your hamstring injury risk:

• Focus any hamstring stretches on the belly of the muscle. If you feel a stretch tugging on your sit bones when you stretch, move away from that sensation immediately by bending your knees or backing out of your full range of motion.

Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)

• Work on strengthening your hamstrings as often as you stretch them. Incorporate Locust Pose (Salabhasana) and Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana) variations into your practice more often. You could also try stepping your feet a few inches further away from your torso in bridge pose to highlight hamstring contraction instead of glute contraction. Finally, keeping your hips square to the mat when you lift a leg behind you in Downward Facing Dog and the kneeling Balance Bird Dog Pose will highlight hamstring (and gluteus maximus) contraction.

Balance Bird Dog Pose

Postural Pattern No. 3: posterior pelvic tilt and lumbar disc injuries

If you’ve ever had a lumbar disc rupture or protrusion—or been one of the 80% of adults that have experienced any kind of low back pain—you’ll remember how vividly aware you became of the movements and positions that put pressure on your spine, and how many of those appeared in the average class.

The Anatomy:

Our column of vertebra is connected by two moveable facet joints at the back of the spine and are sandwiched together by intervertebral discs at the front of the spine. When we lean back or take the spine into extension (a backbend), we load the facet joints; when we lean forward or flex the spine (into a forward curl) we load to the discs. If we fold more deeply forward, add weight by reaching with our arms, add sheering force by twisting the spine, or alter our pelvic position by sitting, we significantly increase the load on our discs.

Not all of us experience Lower Cross Syndrome; for some, slouching in our seat creates the opposite postural pattern, sending our pelvis into posterior tilt. The altered pelvic position has flow-on effects, one of which is to flatten the natural curve in our lumbar spine, bringing it out of extension into slight flexion. This means that in what we perceive as our neutral posture we are already adding extra load on our intervertebral discs, before we even start to fold forward, add weight, or alter pelvic position.

In healthy discs, adding load isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if our discs are damaged or degenerating, the extra force we exert in a yoga practice could be the last straw that leads to disc injury, causing the jelly like protein filling of our disc to leak out, potentially irritating neighboring nerves as well as reducing spine function in that area.

Any poses or movements that load the spinal discs are worth paying extra attention to. This includes seated forward folds like Paschimottanasana and Head to Knee Pose (Janu Sirsasana), Seated Twist (Ardha Matsyendrasana), as well as yoga transitions to and from standing like those in sun salutations between Mountain Pose (Tadasana) and Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana), and between a Low Lunge and Warrior I (Virabhadrasana I).

See also What You Need to Know About Your Thoracic Spine

How to reduce your disc injury risk:

The overall theme of reducing risk injury is to use your yoga practice to develop keener awareness of your posture. Once you know what a truly neutral lumbar spine and pelvis feel like, you can make a deliberate decision as to whether to add load to the discs by flexing the spine, rather than allowing your posture to make the decision for you.

Warrior III (Virabhadrasana III)

• Using mirrors, photos, help from a friend, or the tactile feedback of the floor, wall, or a dowel stick behind your spine, practice creating neutral lumbar spine and pelvis in various orientations to gravity. Start supine (as in Savasana), progress to standing upright (Tadasana), then explore other standing poses like Extended Side Angle (Utthita Parsvakonasana) or Warrior III (Virabhadrasana III).

Paschimottanasana prep

• Pay particular attention to what is required to create a neutral spine and pelvis in seated poses; that might include propping your sit bones on the edge of a blanket to lift them away from the floor and guide the pelvis out of posterior tilt into a neutral position.

• Learn to maintain a neutral lumbar spine in movements that load the discs as well. The transitions between standing and folding forward, and vice versa, place particular load on the lumbar; using your core muscles and legs to share the workload is hugely supportive for the spinal discs - a helpful habit to take off the mat as well.

Postural Pattern No. 4: “tech neck” and neck injuries

Smart phones and other devices have become a dominant part of our lives, but the hours spent looking down at a screen can have unintended side-effects. Forward head carriage, also called text neck or tech neck, is a common pattern these days, thought to be driven by the habit of looking down at phones and other devices for hours of every day.

See also Yoga We Know You Need: 4 Smartphone Counterposes

The Anatomy:

Tech neck is a common scenario where the weight of our head tilts forward from its natural weight-bearing position. Like all the postural habits discussed here, it can alter the biomechanical patterns around the spine, in this case placing additional load on the discs in our cervical spine. This could be an issue in any yoga pose but the stakes increase dramatically when we add body weight to the equation, as we do in certain inversions including Headstand (Sirsasana) and Shoulderstand (Salamba Sarvangasana).

It’s challenging enough to create a neutral spine when we turn the world upside-down for headstand; the challenge increases hugely if our perception of neutral is skewed to begin with. Taking forward head carriage into Headstand means carrying our bodyweight in a way our body—including our vulnerable discs—isn’t designed to do.

Shoulderstand is another controversial pose, taking the forward head position of text neck and adding bodyweight to it; given how common tech neck is in yoga students, some argue that the therapeutic benefits of this pose may no longer be worth the risk of it reinforcing existing dysfunction.

How to reduce neck injury risk:

As in posterior pelvic tilt, the core of neck injury prevention is re-education: learning anew what a neutral head and neck position look and feel like so that we can choose when and how we load the structures of our neck, rather than allowing unconscious habits to do that for us.

• Practice finding and maintaining neutral head and neck in various orientations to gravity, from supine using the feedback of the floor, to upright with a wall behind the back of the head, then progressing to unsupported positions like Tadasana, Triangle (Trikonasana), Downward Facing Dog and Dolphin Pose (Ardha Pincha Mayurasana).

• If you do wish to practice Headstand, invest time and effort in building improved muscular stability in your shoulders so that (while neutral head and neck position is still crucial) you are able to efficiently carry the bulk of the load in your arms instead of your head.

Supported Shoulderstand (Salamba Sarvangasana)

• If you enjoy practicing Shoulderstand, experiment with stacking blankets under your shoulders to reduce the degree of neck flexion required to create a straight line in the remainder of your body, or stay flexed in your hips so that you are able to support more of your bodyweight through your arms and hands and carry less in your head and neck.

Any physical activity has its risks and yoga is no exception. However, the recent rise in reported yoga injuries may be less a reflection of the practice, and more related to the habits we take into it. One of the great benefits of yoga practice is the opportunity it creates for reflection; rather than giving up on our practice because of the risks it could entail, we can choose to use it to become more aware of our posture, and more mindful in the way it influences us.

See also Yoga to Improve Posture: Self-Assess Your Spine + Learn How to Protect It

from Yoga Journal http://bit.ly/2Efkct4

[theinnovationspace]

Learning to Speak Shrub - Issue 59: Connections

blog tumbling : Entomologist Richard Karban knows how to get sagebrush talking. To start the conversation, he poses as a grasshopper or a chewing beetle—he uses scissors to cut leaves on one of the shrubs. Lopping off the leaves entirely won’t fool the plants. So he makes many snips around the edges and tips of the leaves—“a lot of little bites.” A few months later, Karban, a professor at the University of California, Davis who studies plant defense communication, returns to the sagebrush and examines its leaves, many of which now have damage from real grasshoppers or beetles. However, within about two feet of the branches he clipped, leaves have been spared the worst ravages of the hungry insects. That’s because Karban’s cuttings convinced those damaged leaves they were under insect attack, so they sent chemical alarms into the air. Neighboring leaves intercepted and deciphered the code messages, and began prepping their own defenses against the bugs. If plants seem silent to us, it’s only because we’re oblivious to their chatter��we are just beginning to tap into their cryptograms. Plants emit codes into the air all the time, helping them defend against insects and other threats, and in some instances serving as… Read More… http://dlvr.it/QQr4n3 @robinravi

[momwhatsfordinner]

Good evening yogis! Tomorrow for #firstlearnstandthenfly we have standing figure 4 pose, sometimes referred to has half chair pose. I am showing a deep prep for grasshopper, it is okay if you can't go as deep. Be grateful for where you are in your practice. Benefits of Figure 4 Pose: Strengthen quadriceps, ankle and foot muscles Tone the core Stretch the outer hip and glute muscles Relieve lower back tension Practice balance and concentration—great for helping you find balance in other aspects of your life The Hosting ladies<3 @momwhatsfordinner @livndream1 @kekehouhou @just.jessica11 The generous and amazing sponsors<3 @nourishtheworkshop @gypsytribes @kiavaclothing @namastetics @evcr @tesyogawear