Discover the latest on yoga biomechanics and exercise science.
By reading, commenting and sharing these posts, you are participating in the development of my work. Thank you for playing such an important role in the process.
Yoga has been a regular part of my life for over 20 years, during which time my practice has dramatically changed and my teaching style has evolved to reflect my personal experiences. After years of teaching anatomy for yoga teacher training programs, I had collected an extensive list of questions about how asana was actually affecting our anatomy and function. I enrolled in graduate school and found many of the answers to my questions were to be found by studying biomechanics. Partly due to my own injuries and partly due to the public perception that yoga is mostly stretching, my Master's thesis project became a comprehensive literature review on the science of stretching, referencing the most current collection of scientific research on the topic of flexibility. During the process, I discovered that the emphasis on stretching in the yoga community is often misunderstood, resulting in anecdotal information unsupported by the vast body of evidence published by exercise scientists. Additionally, I discovered that our bodies (systems, organs, tissues, cells) respond to tensile loading in ways far beyond stretching for flexibility purposes. "Stretching" had to be redefined in order to see the bigger picture.
I'm currently writing my book, Yoga Biomechanics: Stretching Redefined, which should be available in 2017. Through my blog, I share my educational journey with you. My views have matured and my rhetoric has become more sophisticated as I have continued to research, write, and teach this material to yoga teachers internationally. Thus, older posts don't always reflect my current opinion on some subjects, but they do reflect my growth as an educator.
By reading, commenting and sharing these posts, you are participating in the development of my work. Thank you for playing such an important role in the process.To read through the posts, just scroll down to work your way back, beginning with my most recent posts. Or start at the beginning, and work your way forward by clicking here.
Why are we told to avoid the transition from neutrals to externals?
Are you really stretching what you think you are?