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january 2018yogajournal.com.auFinally, learn to understand pain.
If you’re a teacher, be aware that for
a lot of people, especially those that
have limited understanding of their
bodies, pain can be a scary thing.
Taking the time to walk around at theI personally feel the best thing you can
arm yourself with going into teaching,
or even for your own practice, is to have
a basic knowledge of anatomy. Start
with the joints - know the type of joint
it is, how that then allows it to move
(which gives you a sense of what it likes
and doesn’t like) and one or two key
muscles around that joint. For example,
the knee – it is a hinge joint (much
like on a door), which means it is
most comfortable moving through
flexion and extension (bending and
straightening) and less comfortable
with rotation. Two key muscle groups
around the knee are the quadriceps and
hamstrings. Therefore, when someone
comes into your class and mentions
they have knee pain, your mind should
go straight to thinking “well they will
probably be comfortable with a Warrior
I movement because this relies on
bending and straightening the knee and
works the quadriceps, but they may be
less comfortable with revolved half
moon pose.”
Use your own body as an experiment.
If you’ve had a past injury – let’s say a
hamstring strain – try a few poses
within a class that might work your
hamstrings – for example, downward
dog, triangle and wheel. In your
practice, monitor for any pain and
discomfort. If your body can
differentiate pain from discomfort
(a ‘worked muscle’ feeling) then you
will be better able to explain this
feeling to your students, or to work
within your body’s
limitations
and avoid
further injury.
The next step is to
grasp some understanding of
common pathologies within the body
and how this might impact a person’s
practice. For example, those with hip
pain may cope well with most exercises
but struggle where the hip joint is put
at it’s end range of movement – for
example in malasana squat or half
pigeon, even though these are often
given as good poses to loosen up the
hips.beginning of a class and talk to
your students, asking them if they
have current pains or niggles, can be
a great way to break down barriers
and let them know you’ll be looking
out for them.Within my own classes, I try to create a
focus at the beginning of the practice.
I start with a short meditation and
within this I tell students why I might
be focusing on a certain joint or group
of muscles that day and then give
them a couple of facts about these.
For example, if we are doing work
around the calves, I might inform my
students about the anatomy – that
the calves are made up of two muscles,
the gastrocnemius and soleus. The
gastrocnemius
runs across
the back ofthe knee, so to stretch it you have to
have the knee straight. The soleus on
the other hand, does not cross the
knee joint so to stretch it you have to
bend your knee. Immediately, you’ve
educated them with two facts that
they can walk away with and use in
a practical sense without overloading
their brains.
A lot of people come to yoga to
switch off, but I find that giving them
something different to think about
(rather than work emails or the grocery
shopping) you can relax their mind in a
slightly different way.