Yoga Anatomy

Why is Yoga good for you?

This is the question I am trying to answer. This is an summary page for all PadaYogi articles and essays geared towards understanding the physiology of the human body. I focus on four separate categories of description:

Nervous System
Muscular-Skeletal System
Circulatory System
Organ Systems

Together, these topics allow me to cover most issues that yoga improves.

Yoga’s health benefits

Science still has a lot to learn about yoga. Nearly every system of the body has been proven to have positive effects from a yoga classes. Some of the most prominent effects are also psychological and have a lot to do with the stress and cortisol levels in the blood stream. Yoga is another way for you to process stress from your life.

Is Yoga Really Safe?

Absolutely. The responsibility for safety lies with you. This requires either a skilled teacher or the ability to self-educate at first and eventually self-knowledge. The body’s process and current state must be respected when entering into a yoga practice. If you are over 60, you NEED to talk to your doctor before practicing yoga. Yoga is a process of becoming sensitive to your body and sensitive to your feelings. It is a flowering of awareness and focus and all kinds of amazing mental clarity, so yoga also requires a bit of mental discipline. Ultimately, you must take responsibility for your own practice as you get deeper and deeper into the asanas of yoga. A guide is great to start.

Anatomy allows for a responsible Yoga Practice

Without knowledge of the human body, yoga can be very difficult. The reason for this lies in the intricacies of the muscular alignment of yoga poses. Many times, the most effective yoga stretches happen within a few millimeters of a muscle. Learning your anatomy will allow you to practice responsibly in a studio, by yourself, and help you to constantly be exercising with optimal alignment for maximum effect on your muscles!

Knowledge is Safety

Anatomy will give you full knowledge of what the body is capable of, more specifically of what your body is capable of. You can push yourself to your limits without having to be constantly worried about injury. It is easier to regulate a safe intensity of a yoga practice with the proper knowledge of how poses are supposed to be aligned. You’ll also know how muscles support each other and connect.

Remember that the body is completely connected! Learning the entire system will help you to optimize the individual parts. Enjoy your yoga practice with some extra knowledge about what is happening while you are practicing!