Anatomy and Physiology of the Human Body

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:

  1. Nervous System
  2. Muscular-Skeletal System
  3. Circulatory System
  4. 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!

Yoga Anatomy Articles

Elliot's Backpacking Trip through Yellowstone National Park

10 Days and 9 Nights Journeying through Yellowstone National Park’s Back Country

Elliot's Yellowstone Adventure Overview Yellow is my Walking Routes Pink is my Hitching Routes When I first arrived in Cody, ...

The Abdominal Wall and Attraction to Potential Partners

Have you ever been at the gym doing crunches and planks with your buddies and had no idea what you ...
grays_shoulder_anterior

Human Shoulder Anatomy and Physiology

There are 3 bones in the human shoulder, or glenohumeral joint; the humerus, the clavicle, and the scapula. These bones ...
Femur

Anatomy of the Femur Bone: The Pillar of Support for the Human Skeleton

Introducing the most Massive and Strongest (in most ways) Bone in the Human Body There are 62 bones in the ...
mula bandha

Mula Bandha | मूल बंध (Bandhas part 1/4)

The Mula Bandha and the Perineal Muscles Sanskrit for "MULA" - मूल In Sanskrit, Mula means "root", foundation, origin, source, and ...
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What Does Cold Weather do to Your Body?

Cold Weather and Lower Temperatures Affect the Human Body The Human Body is made to deal with the Cold Cold ...
Sciatic Nerve

The Sciatic Nerve: A River of Energy Suppyling Human Legs

The Anatomy of the Sciatic Nerve Also known as the ischiadic nerve or ischiatic nerve, the Sciatic Nerve is the largest nerve in ...
Yoga's Heart Benefits

Five of Yoga’s Heart Benefits (Heart Health)

5 of Yoga's Heart Benefits Yoga's Heart benefits are rather robust, ranging from increased circulatory function to decreased heart rate, ...
human bone anatomy

Human Bone Anatomy | Osteology

What are Bones? Bones are not inanimate rock like structures in the human body; bones are organs that produce red and ...
nose breathing

The Anatomy of Nose Breathing

Why is Nose Breathing Important? Nose breathing is the most essential part of yoga. It is also poorly understood in ...
vegetable protein

Vegetable Protein Sources for the Average Vegetarian

Vegetable Protein Sources Vegetable protein isn't hard to find. In fact, it's probably already in your house, disguised. I am ...
Yoga's Primary Benefits_autonomic_nervous_sytstem

Yoga’s Primary Benefits: Control of the Autonomic Nervous System

Yoga's Primary Benefits Honestly, yoga's primary benefits are still unknown. Our science isn't good enough yet. Not really. Science is ...
ashtanga workshop w/ Elliot cover

Yin Yoga Meditation

A Unique Approach to Meditation Meditation is one of my favorite things. Yoga, sitting cross-legged while doing various mental exercises, ...
http://ashtangayogaathens.com/2014/08/healing-injuries-with-ashtanga-yoga/

5 Reasons I Don’t Practice Ashtanga Everyday

I still practice Ashtanga. Just not every day. I practiced every day while I was in India up until 3 ...
ujjayi breathing

Ujjayi Breathing – The Victorious Yogic Breath

The "Victorious" Breath That changes in respiration that occur during a yoga practice might be the greatest benefit of yoga ...
k pattabhi jois

Krishna Pattabhi Jois

Krishna Pattabhi Jois is the founder of the Ashtanga style of yoga and one of the most influential yoga teachers ...
Ashtanga_Advanced_Series

Adjusting Ashtanga

I am a huge fan of the Ashtanga practice. The intensity, the discipline, the mindlessness, and the routine of the sequential ...
E.Coli

The Human Body is an Ecosystem (Part 4/5 : Gastro-Intestinal Micro-Organisms)

Part 4: Micro Organisms of the Gut Please see the other parts of the article; once they are completed the links ...
CDC/ Rodney M. Donlan, Ph.D.; Janice Carr (PHIL #7488), 2005

The Human Body is an Ecosystem (Part 3/5 : Oral Micro-Organisms)

Part 3: Micro-organisms in the Mouth Please see the other parts of the article; once they are completed the links will ...
"Human-Hands-Front-Back" by Evan-Amos - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Human-Hands-Front-Back.jpg#/media/File:Human-Hands-Front-Back.jpg

Hand Anatomy, Physiology, and Use

The Usefulness of Man's Hand The hand is one of the most intricate and useful mechanisms of the entire human body; ...
By Photo Credit: Janice Carr Content Providers(s): CDC/ Segrid McAllister [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The Human Body is an Ecosystem (Part 2 of 5: Skin Micro-Organisms)

Part 2: Micro-organisms on the Skin Please see the other parts of the article; once they are completed the links ...
Microbiome_Wikipedia

The Human Body is an Ecosystem (Part 1 of 5)

Part 1: Anatomy of the Human MicroBiome Please see the other sections of the article; once they are completed the links ...
hip_musculature_spinal_support

Anatomy of the Lower Back

(Part 1 of 2: Muscular Skeletal System) If you have practiced yoga lately, chances are that you sat on the ...
brain_map

Chemicals in Yoga

Everything is chemical. It is the basis of all matter in the universe. It is easy to think of some ...
leg_lateral_musculature

Keeping Knees safe in Hip Openers

Over the past few months, I have been working diligently toward lotus pose. This has led me to some very ...
Ganesha Temple, Gokulam

The Responsibility of Ashtanga

I love being able to learn yoga from multiple sources, multiple teachers with subjective and unique viewpoints. I think this ...
Ayruvedic Oils: from right to left, Lavender, Saffron oil, Sandalwood oil, Lotus oil

Ayurveda | आयुर्वेद

About 80% of the world's population relies on tradition remedies for their health care needs. India has many alternative medical ...
label_reading

10 Metabolic Facts to help you Optomize your Nutrition

I have been experimenting with nutrition for over 6 years, ever since I had the desire to get the most ...
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The Last Diet you’ll ever Need.

Are you looking for the list of ten things? I hate to break it to you, but your body's nutritional ...

The Respiratory System

Anatomy of Lungs and Respiration Get ready to be blown away by something you have done every moment of your ...

Here are some additional resources that I use often:

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