Yoga Anatomy

Notes

The goal of these seated poses is sthira and sukha—steadiness and ease. If the pelvis and
legs are arranged in a way that clearly supports the spine, the spine can then be a sup-
port for the skull, and the spine and skull can together protect the brain and spinal cord.
The nervous system can register this sense of support and ease, and turn its attention to
practices such as pranayama or meditation.
When the spine is supported efficiently by the pelvis and legs, the ribs are also free to
move with the breath, rather than become part of the supporting mechanism of sitting.
One thing to observe in the arrangements of the legs is to see if the knees are higher or
lower than the hips. There are advantages and challenges in making either of these choices.
Sitting with the legs crossed in such a way that the knees are higher than the hip joints
can be helpful for those who don’t have a lot of external rotation or abduction in their hip
joints (that is, if their knees don’t fall open to the sides very easily). For these people, crossing
the legs so the knees are higher than the hips can let the weight of the thigh bones settle
deeply into the hip sockets and down into the ischial tuberosities (sitz bones).
If there is shortness in the back of the pelvis or hip joints, however, having the knees
higher than the hips can tip the pelvis posteriorly and round the spine into flexion. To come
to vertical it would then be necessary to engage the muscles of the spine or to contract
the hip flexors to pull the pelvis and spine forward. This quickly becomes very tiring for the
muscles of the back and of the front of the hip joints.

Common skeletal joint actions (for five previous poses)

Spine Lower limbs

Neutral or axial extension Hip flexion, knee flexion

Weight tips

backward

Pelvis tips

posteriorly

E5267/Kaminoff/fig7.6/417670/alw/pulled-r2 E5267/Kaminoff/fig7.7/417671/alw/pulled-r2

Pelvis tips

anteriorly

Weight tips

forward

Sitting with the knees above the hips can posteriorly
rotate the pelvis and exaggerate primary curves.

Sitting with the hips above the knees

can anteriorly tip the pelvis and

exaggerate secondary curves.