Yoga Anatomy

YOG A ANATOMY leslie kaminoff amy matthews second edItIon Human kinetics Illustrated by sharon ellis ...

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kaminoff, Leslie, 1958- Yoga anatomy / Leslie Kaminoff, Amy Matthews ; Illust ...

To my teacher, T.K.V. Desikachar, I offer this book in gratitude for his unwavering insistence that I find my own truth. My grea ...

iv Preface vi Acknowledgments viii Introduction x cHaPter 1 dYnamIcs of BreatHIng . . . . . . . . ...

vv cHaPter 8 kneelIng Poses. . . . . . . . cHaPter 9 suPIne Poses. . . . . . . . . ...

vi I am pleased to write this preface to an expanded, updated, and improved version of Yoga Anatomy. Most important, this new ed ...

Amy and I are confident that this new edition of Yoga Anatomy will continue to be a valuable resource for practitioners and teac ...

viii F irst and foremost, I express my gratitude to my family: Uma, Sasha, Jai, and Shaun. Their patience, understanding, love, ...

I begin by thanking Leslie for his generosity of spirit. Since he initially invited me to be a part of The Breathing Project in ...

x IntroductIon T his book is by no means an exhaustive study of human anatomy or the vast science of yoga. No single book could ...

IntroductIon xi Welcome To my laboraTory The context that yoga provides for the study of anatomy is rooted in the exploration of ...

xii IntroductIon fulcrums against the constant pull of gravity, and the constant modulation of our breathing patterns is invoked ...

1 CHAPTER DYNAMICS OF BREATHING T his chapter explores breath anatomy from a yogic perspective, using the cell as a start- ing ...

2 yoga anatomy In a cell, as in all living things, the principle that balances permeability is stability. The yogic terms t ...

Dynamics of breathing 3 Prana also enters our bodies in gaseous form: the breath. Like solids and liquids, it enters at the ...

4 yoga anatomy Being born means being severed from the umbilical cord—the lifeline that has sustained the fetus for nine mo ...

Dynamics of breathing 5 The simplified illustration of the human body in figure 1.4 shows that the torso consists of two cav ...

6 yoga anatomy In contrast to the abdominal cavity, the thoracic cavity changes both shape and volume; it behaves as a flex ...

Dynamics of breathing 7 three-Dimensional Shape Changes of Breathing Because the lungs occupy a three-dimensional space in t ...

8 yoga anatomy A key observation that has been made in yogic teachings is that spinal movements are an intrinsic component ...