We have divided anatomy into three main sections, Upper Limb, Lower Limb, and Torso.
More specifically we talk about shoulders, foot, hip, hamstrings, psoas, and SI joint.
I was in the DC area this month and saw a student that I knew from a previous workshop. At that time Patricia had recently “pulled a hamstring”. Her major symptom was sit bone pain (sit bone = ischial tuberosity) when folding forward, secondary was that it would also hurt when sitting for long periods, especially in the car. I saw her just a couple of weeks ago and she still had the same pain.
In the last two newsletters I’ve covered both mula and uddiyana bandhas from an anatomical point of view. I feel the need to finish off these two articles with one on the breath. It seems to me that without breath, there are no bandhas. In fact, as the title says, from breath comes bandha. My logic works like this, if we’re going to try and control as well as use energy in our body, then we have to be bringing that energy in. In yoga, there is one way in which energy comes in and it is through the breath.
The bandhas (mula bandha specifically) are perhaps the most difficult aspect to grasp in the practice of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. For me personally, I think I know what they are. But then I look back at my little life as an Ashtangi, amazingly at 11 years now, and realize, I thought I knew what they were 10 years ago. Then just 5 years ago I understand them even more differently than I do today. My experience of them has changed over the years and will continue to as I’m guessing your experience of them will.
In the last piece about mula bandha and its relationship to the pelvic floor muscles I alluded to the muscle that might be most associated with uddiyana bandha. Well, here we are continuing down the path to try and bridge the subtle and gross of our bodies as best we can.
A Real Pain in the…. Piriformis
I love tackling the “buzz” word muscles and topics. Piriformis fits into a category of muscle names that I hear so commonly. Other muscles and topics include psoas, QL (quadratus lumborum), sciatica and others.
I video taped this like 6 months ago and finally finished the edits necessary. It was part of an experiment to see how easily I could deal with subject matter that seems to be missing out there or is presented in ways that could perhaps be more clear and concise.
Doesn’t everyone want to be able to do a handstand in the middle of the room? I can’t tell you how many people I’ve met who do. How many are actually willing to do the work involved in actually making it happen? How many are willing to spend the time to create the patterns in their practice that support making this happen and then do it consistently? I truly believe that it is this part that prevents people from being able to do the handstands they so desire.
As a preface, there was an original question asking if someone could explain what nutation and counternutation actually were and how it might relate to backbending type postures such as ustrasana, kapotasana, and urdhva dhanurasana.
