Australian Yoga Journal — January 2018

72

january 2018

yogajournal.com.au

Finally, 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 the

I 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 of

the 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.