Yoga anatomy courses?

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Hi all

I’m interested in pursuing some studies in yoga anatomy.

Does anyone know of any reputable courses anywhere at all that will help me on my way?

What do you do to learn about yoga anatomy short of reading books about it?

I have the Leslie Kaminoff book, and The Anatomy of Hatha Yoga but I’d like to know more!

Thanks in advance
Y

#2

How to learn anatomy depends very much on your objectives. The approaches of a general medical doctor, a surgeon, an artist, a yoga teacher and a yoga student are all different. So, please clarify your objectives first and then choose your method. There are books, workshops, university courses, physical education curricula, you name it.

For me it paid off to be very practical. To identify the muscles, their origin, their insertion and their action both on paper and in my body. Really hands on experience. Feeling these points. The intellectual knowledge and the body experience went hand in hand. The book I used was Mukunda Stiles “Structural Yoga Therapy” and I went through the entire joint freeing series (chapters 15-16), muscle by muscle. Many, many times over. Then I went on to 24 asana - and these are more complicated because they combine actions and muscles - and repeated the whole exercise. In the end, this made me more sensitive to my own body and hopefully a better yoga teacher and practitioner. But the journey never ends. Enjoy your own journey of discovery! For some (e.g. David Coulter Anatomy of Hatha Yoga), it has been a life-long journey.

#3

Hi yonita,

in addition to the books already mentioned, have a look at these:

The 3d-viewer is interesting too:

http://www.bandhayoga.com/flyarounds.html

3d-software is a good help as well, there are numerous, I particularly like the Primal 3d-series:

And the Visible Human Project:

Visit the external links for viewers.

#4

Thankyou to you both for taking the time to respond.

Intention for looking into this area is to better understand the limits of my own body in yoga. So I can approach yoga more safely.

I’m not a teacher but would perhaps like to teach someday - I think that getting a very firm grasp of anatomy is fundamental. And not an area that any one month TT can even hope to cover adequately. To me, teaching asana is like prescribing medicine and I don’t think anyone should do it without being well informed of anatomy.

I have already poured over Coulter and Kaminoff’s resources. I’ve also read Stiles’s SYT, all which have been helpful in their own ways. I’ll check out Quetzal’s suggestions too. And I’ve got Paul Grilley’s excellent lectures before anyone suggests those.

I’d have thought that with so many yoga teachers on the forum, there would be more suggestions for good courses in this area?

Thanks to you all.

Y

#5

If you would like to to teach soemtime, maybe it’s time to sign up for a yoga teacher training course. The course im on is amazing, it’s a dimploma course at an ashram and is accredited with the British Wheel of Yoga. We don’t just cover teaching yoga and anataomy & physiology (which is amazing), but personal development through doing the practices and doing things like Jala Neti and the like.

I was in a similar position to you, wanted to know more about the body, my limits and was wanting to learn to teach so I could share yoga with friends and family.

Good luck with what ever you do.

That Structural Yoga books looks fab, it’s on my amazon wish list now, but I wont’buy it yet, I need to see how the course pans out.

The Pawanmuktasana - Part I is a good overall joint freeing and strengthenging series, so if you want some variety maybe this is worth a try. This is details in Asana Pranyama Bandha & Mudra (Bihar School)

All the best

#6

Everyone has given great advice and I must agree that it does partly depend on what your end use is. Although this isn't a course per se... These are great general anatomy DVDs for yoga specifically.

Good Luck:-D

#7

I can only caution that some books on anatomy are not sound books on YOGA anatomy. David Coulter’s book is supposed to be very good. But I think it is prudent to understand the difference between learning anatomy and learning its application (or not) to asana.

A sound course is to use some sound texts and supplement that by studying with someone who knows how to use it, what is germane, and what is preoccupation.

#8

Quetzalcoatl

I just wanted to say thankyou so much for giving me exactly what I was after - excellent yoga anatomy resources that I didn’t already know about.

Shanti

For some reason I can’t get on to the site you’ve recommended. Are they a series put out by Leslie Kaminoff? The Chinese Government must have deemed something on the site to be offensive to their political wellbeing because it’s blocked from where I sit.

Yoga Bija

Thankyou for your suggestion. I’ve looked into TTs and the more I look the more exasperated I become. But this is the subject of another thread.

Thanks to all

Y