Do yoga inversions help drain lymph?

By joemillerJuly 25, 2014October 16, 2017 Anatomy, Anatomy answers, Asana, Breathing, Health, Inversions, Physiology benefits of headstand, benefits of shoulder stand, benefits of yoga inversions, yoga and circulatory system, yoga and lymphatic system, yoga inversions 4 Comments

Do yoga inversions help drain lymph? Basically, yes. In the same way that inversions, such as headstand and shoulder stand, help return blood to your heart, turning upside down can assist lymph drainage from your legs. However, it isn’t necessary to invert to keep lymph moving. Your body has other means to accomplish the same…

Do yoga inversions reverse the flow of blood?

By joemillerJuly 19, 2014October 12, 2017 Anatomy, Anatomy answers, Asana, Health, Inversions, Physiology blood flow and inversions, blood flow and yoga, yoga and circulatory system, yoga inversions, yoga physiology 2 Comments

Do yoga inversions reverse the flow of blood? Although yoga teachers sometimes say this, the answer is no. The blood in your body only flows in one direction. From your heart’s left ventricle, it’s pumped through a network of arteries to the capillary beds that surround the cells of your body. That’s where your cells take…

The glutes and hip pain in yoga

By joemillerApril 11, 2014October 13, 2017 Anatomy, Asana, Health, Injuries, Practice buttock muscles in yoga, femoroacetabular impingement, femoroacetabular impingement in yoga, glutes in yoga, gluteus maximus anatomy, gluteus maximus in yoga, hip impingement, hip injury, hip pain, yoga anatomy, yoga injury Leave a comment

“Don’t contract your glutes.” I’ve heard this instruction many times from yoga teachers, especially during backbending poses, but it’s always puzzled me. The gluteus maximus – the large muscle of your buttocks — is the prime mover in actions that require hip extension against gravity, such as climbing stairs or standing up from a squat….

Protect your knees in lotus: New yoga anatomy video

By joemillerMarch 9, 2014November 8, 2017 Anatomy, Anatomy answers, Asana, Health, Injuries, Practice, Teacher training Leave a comment

Forcing yourself into lotus can be risky for your knees–especially for your meniscus. Learn how to come into the pose more safely in this video clip from a yoga anatomy workshop I taught recently at the Shala in New York City.

Yoga anatomy video: Knee hyperextension

By joemillerFebruary 14, 2014November 8, 2017 Anatomy, Asana, Health, Practice Leave a comment

Just put up another video from the yoga therapy workshop series on the knee that I’ve been teaching at the Shala. This one is on knee hyperextension in standing. I’ll be doing one more class on the knee, focusing on meniscus injuries, Tuesday, February 25, 1:35pm at the Shala, 815 Broadway, NYC.

Yoga anatomy video: Knee alignment in Warrior II

By joemillerFebruary 3, 2014November 8, 2017 Anatomy, Anatomy answers, Asana, Health, Practice, Uncategorized Leave a comment

Just put up a video clip from my first knee workshop last Tuesday at the Shala, about preventing patellofemoral pain in Warrior II. If you missed last Tuesday, I’ll be doing two more workshops about the knee. This Tuesday, February 4, we’ll go over repetitive stress injuries and what happens when you hyperextend your knee….

Celestial cycles, health and yoga (wow!)

By joemillerJanuary 2, 2014October 29, 2017 Health, Physiology, Practice Leave a comment

Today is the new year, although personally I think of the winter solstice as the real start of the year. From that point until the summer solstice, the days get longer and the nights shorter (at least for those of us in the northern hemisphere). That’s probably only the most trivial way in which we…

What happens when you stretch a muscle? (Part 2)

By joemillerNovember 16, 2013May 16, 2019 Anatomy, Anatomy answers, Asana, Flexibility, Physiology 1 Comment

In the previous post in this series, I described how stretching temporarily affects muscle tissue. This segment begins a discussion of long-term changes in flexibility. Ultimately, lasting gains in flexibility have more to do with your nervous system than with your muscles. More on that in the next post, but first, let’s look at an alternative hypothesis, namely…

What happens when you stretch a muscle? (part 1)

By joemillerMay 23, 2013October 13, 2017 Anatomy, Anatomy answers, Asana, Flexibility, Health, Physiology, Research slider 3 Comments

“What happens when a muscle stretches?” This frequently asked question — a perennial query during anatomy trainings — deserves a few blog posts, especially as the mechanism is often misunderstood. Stretching targets muscles in two ways. First, it directly affects muscle and connective tissue itself. As you’ll see in this post, those effects are temporary and short-lived. Stretching…

Yoga anatomy answers: How do your collarbones and shoulder blades move when you lift your arms overhead?

By joemillerApril 26, 2013 Anatomy, Anatomy answers, Asana Leave a comment

Another yoga anatomy video. This one was prompted by a question from a student about how the collarbones move when your raise your arms overhead, as in urdhva hastasana. The same movements happen in poses like handstand and downward-facing dog. Hope it’s helpful. If you have questions you’d like me answer in future videos, let…