SKELETAL

differences

The extraordinary ability to respond to demand accounts for the wide variety of joint shapes across the human spectrum. Dramatic differences can be seen in the above categories of bones. Besides the obvious size and length variations some bones are twisted 40 degrees backward or rotated 30 degrees upward. These differences might remain a mere curiosity but when these skeletal differences are coupled with the idea of compression it usually turns a student’s yoga world around. Because all of our bones are different, all of our joints compress at different angles.

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Architectural principles start from the premise that all structures, including our bodies, are a balance between stretching forces and crushing forces, or “tension and compression”. When we practice Yoga asana the fundamental distinction to make is : “Are the physical restrictions I am feeling tension or compression?” Tension is due to the stretching of muscle or connective tissue but compression can be determined by the shape of our bones.  

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- The shape of our bones determines the range of motion of the joints. 

- The size and proportion of the bones determines how safely and effectively we can do the asana. 

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Skeletal variation shows up everywhere in yoga, in every pose. The more you focus on where you fingers and toes should be, the more you are potentially compromising the bigger joints of the body closer to you spine. Two people standing in exactly the same way -- with feet together, facing forward -- may be feeling it differently in their hips because of their skeletal differences.

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1. When we practice asanas we move our joints.

2. When we move our joints our bones pivot away from each other.

3. Because the bones are moving apart tissues are stretched.

4. At first our limits of motion are determined by how much we can stretch.

5. But the ultimate limit to our range of motion is compression.

6. Compression is due to the shape of our bones.

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TEACH SKELETAL DIFFERENCES & COMPRESSION

Compression is not a native conception to most yoga students. Even if a student senses a “natural limitation” in their movements they will not use the word “compression” to describe it. The closest they will come is “I don’t bend that way.”

Time and again I have seen students unable to tilt his pelvis forward in a forward bending posture because the trochanter of their femur is compressed. When I ask them where they feel the restriction they are not sure what to say because they don’t feel a “stretch” in their groin or hamstrings. They are not in pain. Pushing on them doesn’t bother them much. They just “can’t do down”. - Paul Grilley

Virtually all the metaphors of present day yoga instruction are tensile. "relax the muscle tension, breath into it, soften up the tissue, let go, release tension, make a space – let the bones move apart." Why limit our conceptions to tensile metaphors? For the vast majority of us who have practiced yoga for several years the restrictions we experience are compressive, not tensile.

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ARCHITECTURAL STABILITY versus MUSCULAR STABILITY

Being able to stack the bones right on top of each other has benefits. Architecturally, when the bones are completely aligned, the stresses of the weight in the posture are taken by the full column of the bones, not by the joints nor by the muscles. In this case the muscles are used simply to keep the bones aligned, not to support the weight of the body. Bones are great at supporting weight. When we are not architecturally aligned, however, the bones are not doing this job, and more of the stress of the body’s weight falls onto the muscles and/or the joint and its ligaments. Muscular stability is harder to maintain: it is work, but that may be quite desirable. The big difference will be time: when we are stacked, we can stay much longer in a pose than if we have to rely on muscles or ligaments.

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By understanding our skeleton, we can potentially stack our bones and move in a safe way that will keep us injury-free and practising yoga for the long-term.