Yoga Anatomy

Notes

If the latissimus dorsi are tight, the flexion and upward rotation of the scapulae are inhibited,
and the lumbar spine might hyperextend instead.
It’s very challenging to maintain the integrity of the hands with all the weight of the
body balancing on them, but it’s essential in this pose because collapsing into the wrist or
heel of the hand is quite dangerous for the carpal tunnel and the nerves passing through it.
For hypermobile students, it is especially important to find the strength of deep, intrinsic
muscles so that the pose doesn’t become rigid, but is both stable and fluid—in other words,
it is available for breathing.

Breathing

This can be one of the most difficult poses in which to breathe effectively because of the chal-
lenges of balancing, inverting, and doing strong upper-body actions. Many people instinctively
hold the breath, partly out of fear, but also because of a need to stabilize the movements of
the spine. Of course, to maintain this balance for more than a few seconds, the breath must
be integrated into the pose—not necessarily as deep, full breaths, but as efficient breaths
that don’t disrupt the balancing or stabilizing actions of the core musculature.

Skeletal joint actions

Spine Upper limbs Lower limbs

Cervical extension, slight tho-

racic and lumbar extension

Scapular upward rotation

and abduction, shoulder

flexion, elbow extension,

forearm pronation, wrist

dorsiflexion

Hip neutral extension and

adduction, knee extension,

ankle dorsiflexion

Muscular joint actions

Spine

To calibrate concentric and eccentric contractions to maintain neutral alignment of spine:

Spinal extensors and flexors

Upper limbs

Concentric contraction

To upwardly rotate and abduct scapula

on rib cage:

Serratus anterior

To stabilize shoulder joint:

Rotator cuff

To flex shoulder:

Deltoid, biceps brachii (long head)

To extend elbow:

Triceps brachii

To pronate forearm:

Pronator quadratus and teres

To maintain integrity of hand:

Intrinsic muscles of wrist and hand

Lower limbs

Concentric contraction Eccentric contraction

To extend, adduct, and internally rotate leg

to neutral:

Hamstrings, adductor magnus, gluteus

maximus

To resist leg falling back:

Psoas major, iliacus