In Yoga, we find two highly contrasting ideas about “anatomy.”

The so-called “traditional yoga anatomy,” described in various ancient and medieval texts and illustrations, gives us concepts that are directly linked to ideas about spiritual being and transformation: prana-vayu, gates, nadis, chakras and so forth.

The so-called “scientific anatomy,” also described in ancient and medieval texts but fundamentally updated through scientific examination in the modern age, gives us concepts that described the material (physical) dimension of organic human beings: bones, muscles, blood, organs, etc.

Many people on the yoga path have attempted to integrate these two approaches, usually exhibiting great flexibility and creativity when pestered by little things called facts and beliefs, which don't always neatly align.

In teaching yoga, we aim to give our students clear and well-informed guidance. When teaching postural yoga (asanas), we’re asking our students do things that might appear like circus arts or an Olympic sport – or even a “simple position” that just isn’t so simple for some (or most) humans. In doing so, we’re asking them to place forces (“hatha” means “forceful”) in their body, ideally in a way that is with stability and ease (sthira sukham). To help ensure it is safe and sustainable, it is helpful to understand how the body optimally functions, and how it sometimes does not function so well. And in this, we can gather some rich insights from the ancient yogis and more modern spiritual warriors for whom intuition and divine influence are all one needs. Some of us wish to go further, and that brings us to scientific anatomy and physiology for yoga.

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to basic human anatomy and physiology. We begin with the big picture of whole organic human beings, and then we look more closely through the refined prisms of scientific understanding to develop our knowledge of human physical structures and their functions. We offer a very basic introduction to human physiology and then turn to a detailed introduction to the human musculoskeletal system (one of our ten major physiological systems). This brings us to the beautiful internal world of our tissues, the nature of our bones, our variety of joints and how they work (and sometimes don’t work), and to our skeletal muscles.

With this basic information, we then look closely at the spine, lower extremity (from the pelvis to the toes), and upper extremity (from the shoulder girdle to the fingers). Here we look at every joint, how it is mobilized and stabilized, and how these qualities of action (kriya) appear in a wide array of asanas, thereby directly connecting the study of anatomy with our growing understanding of yoga practices and how best to teach them. In this way, we move from the abstract and theoretical to the very practical applications of anatomical knowledge in a yoga class or private session. We also do a set of observation exercises designed to build stronger bridges from what we understand to what we share with others, in a word, teaching.

Resources:

Reading: - Staugaard-Jones, chapter #

• MarkStephens, Yoga Therapy, chapters 6,7, and 9 (9, not 8!)

Activity:

• Looking and Seeing: Partner Observation Exercise

• Refined Assessment of Tadasana, Urdhva Hastasana, and Utkatasana

• Clay: Mold the Spine

Schedule:

Friday, April 8 6:00pm CET- 8:00pm CET Welcome & live practice with Mark (2 hours) (30 minute welcome + 90 minute practice)

Saturday, April 9 6:00pm - 8:30pm CET Q&A + Practice with Mark (2.5hours) (90 min practice + 60 min Q&A)

Sunday, April 10 6:00pm - 7:30pm CET Q&A (1.5 hours) (90 minute Q&A)

Urban Yoga 300h trainees, please sign up for this course via email to nell@urbanyoga.hamburg