Blog

A short post this week following on from the focus upon shoulders.  The last investigation of how rigid scapulae can directly affect the function of the rotator cuff has been followed up by some who experience sore shoulders on a regular basis.  There seems to be a concern about "winged scapulae" when practising plank I [...]

Following last week's "post" here have been interesting comments "from the floor" relating to being competitive in yoga classes and even in home practice.  This might come from the notion that there is a "correct shape " that must be achieved  in yoga practice as opposed to inquiry of individual functional movement to help us [...]

A little quiet on the blogging front of late.  Some students thinking that I had "nodded off".  Hastily, covering my tracks I alluded to a post in the pipeline - how we support the head; imbalances resulting in tension, sore neck, shoulders and headaches. I had labelled the post as "Nodding - Off/On?".  When I [...]

In our sensory approach to yoga practice, we tend to "rock and roll" on a regular basis. Early on in  sessions We have been rocking in apanasana (knees to chest) in order to notice and to remember movements that are helpful to our spine.  Towards the end of a session we rock backwards and forwards [...]

'Pelvis' - derivation is from Latin, meaning basin or bucket.  It acts as a shock absorber; balancing forces from 2 directions: ....the downward fall of weight from the trunk and the upward thrust from the ground as it receives the impact of the weight....The Thinking Body by Mabel Todd Shock absorbers require some elasticity and [...]

Awaiting feedback on how yoga students feel in the 3 stages of Sprinter's pose, as outlined last week. Came across a study conducted in Brigham Young University, Utah, which suggests that activity (in this case running) benefits the knee-joint as opposed to sitting which "seemed to make the knee biomechanically more vulnerable to later disease.."  [...]

There seems to be a love/hate relationship with this movement and I often slip it into a class so as not to antagonize the "haters" too much (!). I have written about how this pose helps to organize the feet, ankles and knees, to "educate us in good bio mechanics.."  It might be useful to [...]

Mindful of the forthcoming bank holiday and your time, this week's post is more brief than some.  I have also stolen the title from a symposium held in April in NYC. An interesting observation this week has been that when one starts to notice tension, to pay attention to a particular holding pattern and begin [...]

I often focus upon weak/flat arches and over-pronation since this appears to be the most common foot "type" in my yoga classes.  However, I have recently become more aware of my neglect in addressing the problems of high arches and the difficulties that this presents in our "grounded" yoga which emphasizes movement from the floor [...]

In How to Stand Up on Radio 4 on 29th March, the philosopher Barry Smith states: Standing upright is one of the biggest challenges the brain faces...and it doesn't always get it right.  Maintaining balance depends upon information received by the brain from sensory receptors.  Vision is the most dominant sense in balance , working [...]