Ep 65: Learning Anatomy Feels Overwhelming, Start Here!

I wholeheartedly believe every yoga teacher must have a working knowledge of anatomy, it is the responsible thing to do because you're teaching movement and working with bodies. Your students trust you, therefore you should be well-educated. 

It doesn’t matter if you teach vinyasa, or yin; meditation or pranayama… understanding why a student might be uncomfortable in a seated cross leg position is important.

• Why does that hurt? 
• What life experiences may have led to this pain? 
• Is there anything you can do about it? 

Get your journal for this one because you’ll want to write down these steps I’m going to walk you through to finally get a handle on anatomy.

I can't wait for you to listen!

Ep 64: Sequencing for Students with Rotator Cuff Injuries

Transcript

Monica: 0:00

I wholeheartedly believe every yoga teacher must have a working knowledge of anatomy. It is the responsible thing to do because you are teaching movement and working with bodies. Your students trust you so you should be well educated. It doesn't matter if you teach vinyasa or yin meditation or pranayama. Understanding why a student might be uncomfortable in a seated cross leg position is important. Why does that hurt? What life experiences may have led to this pain? Is there anything you can do about it? Get your journal for this one because you'll want to write down these steps. I'm going to walk you through to finally get a handle on anatomy. So here we go. Welcome to the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers podcast with me. I'm Monica Bright, and I've been teaching yoga and running my yoga business for over a decade. This is the podcast for you. If you're a yoga teacher, you're looking for support. You love to be in conversation and you're a lifelong student. In this podcast, I'll share with you. My life as a yoga teacher, the lessons I've learned, my process for building my business and helpful ideas, tools, strategies, and systems I use, and you can use so that your business thrives. We'll cover a diverse range of topics that will help you whether you're just starting out or you've got years under your belt and you want to dive deep and set yourself up for success. I'm so glad you're here. Listen, I don't take myself too seriously, so expect to hear some laughs along the way. Now, let's do this. Together. Welcome back to the podcast. I'm Monica, and I'm so glad you're here. Guess what? Your girl had a birthday yesterday. Birthdays these days look so different. I used to want to go out with my girlfriends, have a little drink, dinner, and party. But you know how I celebrated this year? Facials and lunch. it was perfect. I was able to be in bed by a decent hour and my skin is glowing. How do you celebrate your birthday? Whatever you do, make sure to make it special and treat yourself to something you'll remember for a long time to come. All right, enough about me. Let's get on to anatomy. When I took my first 200 hour yoga teacher training, I admit I didn't know much about anatomy. My career had been in education, teaching children, teachers, and administration in schools across the country. So I knew how to teach, but with anatomy, I needed to learn more of the content. I grew more and more fascinated with anatomy during my yoga teacher training when we had the opportunity to visit a cadaver lab and my mind was blown. Initially I thought I'd just sit back and observe, but when we were invited to touch tendons and knee replacements and various organs, I thought this is my chance. I have to, and I loved every minute of it. Yes, learning anatomy can feel intimidating. I'm coaching a teacher right now who wants to learn more about anatomy to teach her yin classes and she's feeling the overwhelm. So if you feel it too, know that you are not alone. break this down. Remember I told you I have a background in education? Well, I used to be a kindergarten and first grade teacher and I love to break down big ideas and concepts so that even a kindergartner can understand it. Now, I'm not calling you a kindergartner, but I am saying you will begin to understand anatomy and how to teach it in your classes if you hang with me. I wholeheartedly believe every yoga teacher must have a working knowledge of anatomy. It is the responsible thing to do because you are teaching movement and working with bodies. Your students trust you, so you've got to be well educated. It doesn't matter if you teach vinyasa or yin meditation or pranayama understanding why a student might be uncomfortable in a seated cross leg position is important. Why does that hurt? What life experiences may have led them to this hip pain? Is there anything you can do about it? Get your journal for this one, because you'll want to write down these steps that I'm about to go through. Okay, you ready? Number one. Start with the basics, the major body systems, because understanding the big picture will help you see how everything connects. Let's focus on the skeletal system, the bones and joints, and the muscular system, muscles and tendons. First, as these are the most relevant to a physical yoga practice, then learn the names and locations of major bones. For example, the femur, the scapula, the pelvis, and major muscles, the hamstrings, the quadriceps, the deltoids. Finally, use anatomy books, apps, or online resources. My most favorite anatomy book is Trail Guide to the Body by Andrew Bile. It's big, it's thick, it's dense, it's got a lot of information, but it is my go to book and I go to that book First, when I want to review or learn something new about anatomy, but I also like trail guide to movement also by the same author and your body, your yoga by Bernie. Oh, one more book I like is yoga anatomy by Leslie Kamenoff. That's a good one. One question I get a lot from yoga teachers is how do I incorporate anatomy into my classes? Use simple cues like place your fingers on the bony protrusions on the front of your pelvis. This is called the ASIS. I may or may not further explain the acronym and teach that it stands for the anterior superior iliac spine, but it kind of depends. If I have a lot of teachers in class, Or if I have a lot of regular students in class who are used to learning anatomy with me, then I'll go into more detail. But if you're just starting to teach anatomy, you could have students just feel that part of their body and get familiar with it. And in your next class, define it for them. Think about it like this. You're introducing one anatomical term per class, and offering a brief explanation of it. Here's another example. Your hamstrings are the muscles on the back of your thighs. Feel the stretch in them? in this forward fold. then think about what other muscles or bones that you could call attention to in class and have a little conversation about them with your students. next, think about diving deeper into joints and movement because joints are where movement happens and understanding their range of motion is key to understanding alignment. There are different types of joints in the body. Study them. For example, ball and socket, hinge and pivot joints. Study their movements, flexion, extension. rotation. Joints have different movements and understanding them will help you with sequencing, transitions, and student's movement limitations. You don't have to know all the joints in the body, just focus on learning about key joints in yoga. Shoulders, hips, knees. spine, maybe the wrist, and finally learn about joint stability and how muscles support joints during movement. Can you teach joint movement in class? Absolutely you can. Cue joint awareness. For example, keep your knee aligned over your ankle in warrior two, or one of my favorites is to push your knee past your ankle in warrior two and notice how your thigh feels. This second example is a bit more advanced as you're combining joint movement and awareness with muscle engagement and asking students to tune into themselves and feel. It also pushes the boundaries on alignment rules in yoga too, which I personally love to do. You can also practice explaining movements and tie the movement and feeling together. For example, in this twist. You're rotating your spine. Notice what that feels like. The third thing you'll want to do as you're tackling the beast of anatomy is to learn about muscle actions in yoga poses because an understanding of which muscles are active, lax, or stretched in each pose will help you guide your students from a more informed place. Study agonist primary mover and antagonist opposing muscle pairs. For example, in a forward fold, the hamstrings agonists stretch while the quadriceps antagonist, relax. Explore how muscles work in common poses like downward facing dog, warrior two, and even a standing balance like tree pose. A great resource for understanding this is the book The Key Muscles of Yoga by Ray Long. The illustrations are exceptional and will definitely help visual learners understand what's happening underneath the mask. the skin. A couple ways to incorporate feeling and noticing muscle action into classes is to call it out. First, cue muscle engagement. Squeeze your glutes, Or in a standing pose, lift your kneecaps and notice how your quads feel. Or make fists with your hands and notice how your forearms feel. Second, highlight stretching. you could say, feel your hip flexors stretching in this lunge. Or notice how your hamstrings feel in this forward fold. Or ask, do you feel the stretch across your chest? In this supported backbend, we talk about physical yoga a lot when it comes to learning anatomy, but it's equally important to understand the nervous system and breath because the nervous system and breath are central to yoga's mind body. Connection. Take steps to learn about the autonomic nervous system, sympathetic versus parasympathetic, and how the yoga practice influences it. Drill down and study the diaphragm and how breath impacts its movement and relaxation. Understand how a forward rounded posture affects breath mechanics and teach this to your students. To incorporate this into your classes, you can teach breath awareness and subtle movement in twists, like Use your inhale to lengthen your spine and your exhale to deepen your twist. Begin to explain the nervous system to your students. You can say this restorative pose will help to activate your parasympathetic nervous system, which in turn can help you relax. Once you get a good solid foundation of anatomy, movement, and the nervous system, start studying common injuries and modifications. Understanding injuries helps you keep students safer and offer appropriate modifications as well. Learn about common yoga related injuries. For example, the rotator cuff, or lower back, or knees. And learn about their causes. In my last episode, In this podcast, number 64, it's all about understanding rotator cuff injuries. You should listen to it. I'll link it in the show notes below. Also study movements for these poses that might aggravate these injuries and what modifications you might be able to offer. Another common question I get about teaching a group class when one student has an injury is, do I modify the entire class for this one student? My answer is It depends. It really depends on the injury, your sequence, the students in the class, but don't freak out here. One of the things I like to do is to teach the modification to the entire class. This way, the injured student isn't singled out and there's valuable teaching you can offer in modified. Pose variations, then teach your students why you're doing the modification. You can say this variation helps your lower back by reducing the feeling of compression. If you feel confident in changing bits of your sequence, do it. Or, if you don't want to change your sequence, you can say to your injured student. We're going to do a lot of backbends in this class. they may not feel good for you. You can try them and if they don't, skip them. Okay, so why would you want to be learning anatomy and then going to teach it at the same time? It's because when you apply what you learn in real time. It helps you solidify your knowledge. It's really difficult to teach something you don't understand yourself. So getting the words out of your mouth and teaching someone helps you understand it better yourself. You just got to do it. You can practice alone at home or with someone you trust, maybe even someone who doesn't understand anatomy. They'll be able to tell you if they understand what you're saying and how you're explaining it. Remember to start small by adding one or two anatomy based cues. per class and observe how students respond and adjust your cues as needed. How are you going to incorporate this into your classes? You're going to use clear, accessible language and you'll encourage body awareness. you can say, Notice how your body feels in this pose. Where do you feel the stretch? You can help them try to notice where they feel the stretch in their bodies too. Give them a few options like, do you feel it in your hip, your waist, or maybe across your chest? Students will feel stretches in different areas of their bodies, so let them know that it's okay. If they feel it somewhere. that's different than where other students feel it. now here's your assignment. You didn't think I was going to let you go without giving you a little homework. Did you? Okay, it's simple, but you've got to commit to it. Okay, promise me. Continue learning and growing. That's it. Because anatomy is a lifelong study and there will always be more to learn. Take workshops or courses on anatomy, read books and watch videos. If you want to get really nerdy like me, I have an app on my phone. It's called the Essential Anatomy App and I refer to it. all the time. It does cost, I think I paid a one time payment of 25, but it is so worth it. Okay. Don't let all of this information overwhelm you. You don't have to know all the things. Just remember to start small, learn about, and then introduce one anatomical concept per class. You could say today, we're focusing on your hamstrings, the muscles at the back of your thighs. Next, use visuals. You could use your own body to demonstrate muscle actions or joint movements. This is especially helpful for visual learners. Encourage exploration. Ask your students to notice where they feel sensation in their bodies. For example, ask them, Do you feel this stretch in your hamstrings or your lower back? Teach modifications. Use your anatomy knowledge to provide options for different bodies and abilities and why they're helpful. finally, and dare I say most importantly, teach mindful movement. Teach students to connect with their bodies by noticing their alignment, their engagement, and their breath. Learning anatomy doesn't have to be overwhelming. By breaking it down into manageable steps and integrating it into your teaching gradually, you'll build confidence and deepen your understanding over time. Remember, the goal isn't to become an anatomy expert. expert overnight. It's to create a safer, more informed practice for yourself and your students. If you want a deeper understanding of anatomy, it might feel overwhelming at the start, but there are ways to make understanding it a little less complex. I love teaching teachers about anatomy because I believe with my whole heart that yoga teachers are movement educators, and we must understand the human body and its movements in order to be effective in our teaching. It's so important for us to have this conversation so that you remember that there are so many opportunities for you in the teaching world. Don't forget to download the ebook sequencing for different injuries. The link is in the show notes. I promise you it will help. Form a foundation for teaching students with injuries and aging bodies. The information will also help you understand how to accommodate students of different abilities, and it'll be a great resource for you to return to again. And again, when you download the ebook, you'll be joining my newsletter. That's just for yoga teachers, but I've got more exciting teachings coming soon. So I want to tell you all about them. The link is in the show notes below, and I would love for you to join it so we can always stay connected. I've also added a link to episode number 64 that's specific to rotator cuff injuries. You know that my goal is for you to love the yoga teaching life and allow it to be fulfilling and rewarding. And as always, Sometimes it takes some work to get there. If you loved this episode, let me know. I've added a link in the show notes for you to send me a quick text message about your thoughts on this episode. I won't know your phone number. It's just a neat addition to the platform I use that allows for this new and really easy way for you to communicate with me. Once you click on it, it will take you to your messages. Don't delete the code. That's how your message will get to me. And I would love to know your thoughts. Subscribe to the podcast. So you're always in the know when a new episode drops and share it with another yoga teacher. who you think would love to be in on these conversations. Thank you for helping to spread the word about this podcast. And if you've been taking notes in your journal, as you listen to these episodes, I'm so glad you are and I would love to hear about it. All right, that's it for now. Bye. Mhm.