Webinar Membership Area/Misalignments and Movement Dysfunctions
Misalignments & Movement Dysfunctions A Teacher’s Guide to Responsible Teaching
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Why this Class? • Most students come to class with dysfunctional movement patterns • Many students come with chronic misalignments • You probably have some challenges yourself • Some popular trends in yoga can actually encourage (or exacerbate) problems • Yoga can help or hurt—awareness, adaptation and modification are the most important first step ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
About this Class • 1 Continuing Education (CE) hour certificate • Registered teachers are required to complete 30 hours of continued study every 3 years • CE units certificates are awarded to those who complete the module • Details on certification are at the end of class
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
About Me • Yoga teacher, teacher trainer, studio owner • Founder and Managing Director of Absolute Yoga Academy, YOGABODY Naturals & YOGABODY Fitness • Taught in 4 countries at over a dozen studios (including my own) • 2,000 students have graduated from my teacher training programs
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Lucas Rockwood
Agenda for the Class • Identify most-common movement dysfunctions • Identify most-common chronic misalignments • Strategies for addressing this issues in classes and privately • Know your limitations • Make your teaching safer and more effective ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Definitions • Movement Dysfunction: movement or postural habits that can be corrected immediately through mindful practice and adjustment • Chronic Misalignments: genetic or long-term conditions that don’t reverse quickly (if at all), but can be modified and adapted to make massive improvements and even reversals NOTE: movement dysfunctions, even minor ones, can become chronic if left unchecked over time. ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
PRO TIP #1 Avoid the temptation to diagnose or treat your students. Focus on your expertise, yoga teaching, and frame all your recommendations within that context. Don’t play doctor.
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Common Issues Seen Daily • • • • • •
Lordosis (sway back) Kyphosis (hunched back) Hyper-extended knees Hyper-extended elbows Collapsed ankles Collapsed wrists
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Lordosis • AKA sway back, hollow back or saddle back • Can be congenital • Often due to dysfunctional movement patterns Common causes: excessive belly fat, pregnancy, tight psoas, heeled footwear, nutritional deficiencies • Common mistakes by students: puffing chest in many standing poses
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
How Yoga Can Help • • • •
Look for exaggerated inner rotation in standing poses Watch for students who stick their bum out Strengthen the posterior chain Train for flexibility in the psoas, quads, tops of legs • Soften the lower ribs in standing poses • Brace the spine (don’t collapse) in standing poses • Encourage “not so deep” but with better form ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Extension, Flexion or Braced • Students with lordosis will naturally “drop into their lower back” at any opportunity • Every pose, we extend, flex or brace—the flexed or braced poses will be the challenge here • Better alignment is often achieved by going a little less deep • Outer rotation in legs will help students brace their lower back in many poses • Often associated with a naturally yin-style practice (openness, flexibility, expansion) ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
PRO TIP #2 Yoga is a constant game of yin-yang balance. Whenever you’re looking at postural misalignment, always look at which energy tendency needs more emphasis to move toward balance.
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Postural Kyphosis • AKA hunch back, tight back, strong back • Can be congenital • Lifestyle causes: desk work, bad footwear, service-industry work, poorly programmed weight training, carrying children (new parents), nutritional deficiencies • Common mistakes by students: focus only on strength poses (like arm balancing) and avoid backbends and flexibility training ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
How Yoga Can Help • Down dog is amazing, long holds are very helpful (3-5 min) • Backbends of all types are crucial (careful with lower back) • Front body flexibility training is needed including muscles of the chest arms and shoulders • Quick tips: open arms out to the side in warrior, press palms firmly (they will want to keep hands apart), extend heart forward in seated poses (student will want to hunch), the drishti (focal point of eyes) is particularly important to help regain middle and upper back extension
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
In Practice • Students with kyphosis will naturally be drawn toward strength poses • Help them also learn to love flexibility poses, particularly backbends and anything with shoulder extension • Students will tend to inner rotate their arms constantly • Help them to outer rotate to find balance, particularly in standing poses and backbends • Help them work on the exhale to find space in the middle and upper back • Often associated with a naturally yang-style practice (strength, hugging midline, muscling through practice) ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
PRO TIP #3 If someone has an exercise routine, lifestyle, or job that is truly harming their body, it’s not up to you to tell them to stop. Your job is simply to help them identify and practice with their condition.
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Hyper-Extension: Knees & Elbows • Can be congenital • Often caused by “collapsed” posture, loosening of tendons and ligaments that support the joint • Joints need to be braced to be stable, relaxing into your joint puts all the pressure on the connective tissues • Extremely common in yoga, often exacerbated because it’s not addressed by teachers • Can lead to joint degradation, osteoarthritis and worse ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Simple Teaching Tips • • • • •
Micro-bend your arms or legs Firmly engage arms & legs Hug shins into middle (standing) Hug forearms into the middle (up dog) Adjustment: tap the inside of the joint to help students find their micro-bend • Strengthening and shortening is the counter correction to hyper-mobile joints—not common in yoga but helpful ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
PRO TIP #4 Unstable joints can create huge potential problems, injuries, and worse long term. Just because it’s common, it doesn’t mean it’s not serious.
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Collapsed Ankles/Wrists • Can be congenital • Most often lifestyle created • Causes: atrophy, poor footwear, tightness, weakness • Common mistakes: often left untreated can lead to knee problems, wrist problems, shoulder and even back problems • Most students suffer from this to some degree—it needs to be addressed ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Ankle Teaching Tips • Talk about the 4 corners of the foot—finding equal pressure throughout • Slight bend in the knees can often correct many problems • Play with inner and outer rotation of the legs to find the four corners of the foot • Play with “lifting the toes” then putting them back down • Focus on strengthening and activating the foot, leg, and arch of the foot
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Wrist Teaching Tips • Hand “like a claw” • You want to create “arches & domes” with your handles • Talk about the 4-corners of the palm of the hand forming domes with the fingers forming arches for support • Flexibility in the hand, wrist and forearm is an issue—train for it • Grip strength is a problem, yoga is not great for grip strength (suggest alternatives) ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
PRO TIP #5 Since our feet are usually covered by restrictive footwear, and our hands are mostly used for typing and playing with mobile phones—they are often weak, stiff, and lifeless. Use yoga to create strong, limber and dexterous hands and feet.
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Move Toward Balance • The only “wrong” way is a way that harms you or is ineffective • All bodies are all unique • All bodies are imbalanced and asymmetrical • Your goal is to improve functional movement and energy flow • Total balance is impossible, so make it a target not the goal • Forget right or wrong, just move toward balance—that’s a yoga practice ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Risk vs. Reward • Worse case: yoga creates or exacerbates conditions leading to chronic pain, reduced mobility, and long-term problems • Best case: yoga promotes a yin-yang balance, leads to functional strength and mobility and improves quality of life • Reality: you’ll never meet a single yoga student (or teacher) who didn’t need to work on one of these misalignments
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
How to Talk About Imbalances • • • • • •
Avoid public confrontation Be mindful of body insecurities—we all have them Avoid diagnostic language (ex: “You have scoliosis”) Whisper to students during class with suggestions Speak 1-on-1 before or after class Use inclusive phrases like: “Many of my students have a similar challenge…” or “I have the same issue in my back…” or “Most flight attendants I teach have the same thing…” • Students love help but hate embarrassment ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Know Your Limitations • • • •
Back/neck pain should always be taken seriously Joint pain should always be taken seriously If yoga is not helping (or hurting) refer them to a health care provider Most people are not actively involved in their own health care—help them get active • Yoga is not a panacea so never over-promise • You never know the whole story, so play it safe • “Check with your doctor” is something you need to make a regular part of your vocabulary ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Key Learning • Almost everyone (including you) struggles with misalignments • Don’t be a doctor—be a yoga teacher! • Use your teaching tools to help students work with the body they have today • Avoid ideals, focus instead on moving toward balance • Default to health care professionals if yoga is not working (or hurting) • Be sensitive in the way you communicate with your students ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
About Absolute Yoga Academy • • • •
School started out of necessity Huge success right from day one We’re the “United Nations” of yoga Courses taught in English but nearly 1/2 our students speak another language • Thailand is our “home base” with courses on offer 6 months out of the year
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Get Your Certification www.AbsoluteYogaAcademy.com/certificate Your attendance of this course qualifies you for a 1hr Continuing Education (CE) credit registered with Yoga Alliance.
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Why this Class? • Most students come to class with dysfunctional movement patterns • Many students come with chronic misalignments • You probably have some challenges yourself • Some popular trends in yoga can actually encourage (or exacerbate) problems • Yoga can help or hurt—awareness, adaptation and modification are the most important first step ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
About this Class • 1 Continuing Education (CE) hour certificate • Registered teachers are required to complete 30 hours of continued study every 3 years • CE units certificates are awarded to those who complete the module • Details on certification are at the end of class
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
About Me • Yoga teacher, teacher trainer, studio owner • Founder and Managing Director of Absolute Yoga Academy, YOGABODY Naturals & YOGABODY Fitness • Taught in 4 countries at over a dozen studios (including my own) • 2,000 students have graduated from my teacher training programs
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Lucas Rockwood
Agenda for the Class • Identify most-common movement dysfunctions • Identify most-common chronic misalignments • Strategies for addressing this issues in classes and privately • Know your limitations • Make your teaching safer and more effective ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Definitions • Movement Dysfunction: movement or postural habits that can be corrected immediately through mindful practice and adjustment • Chronic Misalignments: genetic or long-term conditions that don’t reverse quickly (if at all), but can be modified and adapted to make massive improvements and even reversals NOTE: movement dysfunctions, even minor ones, can become chronic if left unchecked over time. ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
PRO TIP #1 Avoid the temptation to diagnose or treat your students. Focus on your expertise, yoga teaching, and frame all your recommendations within that context. Don’t play doctor.
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Common Issues Seen Daily • • • • • •
Lordosis (sway back) Kyphosis (hunched back) Hyper-extended knees Hyper-extended elbows Collapsed ankles Collapsed wrists
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Lordosis • AKA sway back, hollow back or saddle back • Can be congenital • Often due to dysfunctional movement patterns Common causes: excessive belly fat, pregnancy, tight psoas, heeled footwear, nutritional deficiencies • Common mistakes by students: puffing chest in many standing poses
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
How Yoga Can Help • • • •
Look for exaggerated inner rotation in standing poses Watch for students who stick their bum out Strengthen the posterior chain Train for flexibility in the psoas, quads, tops of legs • Soften the lower ribs in standing poses • Brace the spine (don’t collapse) in standing poses • Encourage “not so deep” but with better form ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Extension, Flexion or Braced • Students with lordosis will naturally “drop into their lower back” at any opportunity • Every pose, we extend, flex or brace—the flexed or braced poses will be the challenge here • Better alignment is often achieved by going a little less deep • Outer rotation in legs will help students brace their lower back in many poses • Often associated with a naturally yin-style practice (openness, flexibility, expansion) ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
PRO TIP #2 Yoga is a constant game of yin-yang balance. Whenever you’re looking at postural misalignment, always look at which energy tendency needs more emphasis to move toward balance.
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Postural Kyphosis • AKA hunch back, tight back, strong back • Can be congenital • Lifestyle causes: desk work, bad footwear, service-industry work, poorly programmed weight training, carrying children (new parents), nutritional deficiencies • Common mistakes by students: focus only on strength poses (like arm balancing) and avoid backbends and flexibility training ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
How Yoga Can Help • Down dog is amazing, long holds are very helpful (3-5 min) • Backbends of all types are crucial (careful with lower back) • Front body flexibility training is needed including muscles of the chest arms and shoulders • Quick tips: open arms out to the side in warrior, press palms firmly (they will want to keep hands apart), extend heart forward in seated poses (student will want to hunch), the drishti (focal point of eyes) is particularly important to help regain middle and upper back extension
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
In Practice • Students with kyphosis will naturally be drawn toward strength poses • Help them also learn to love flexibility poses, particularly backbends and anything with shoulder extension • Students will tend to inner rotate their arms constantly • Help them to outer rotate to find balance, particularly in standing poses and backbends • Help them work on the exhale to find space in the middle and upper back • Often associated with a naturally yang-style practice (strength, hugging midline, muscling through practice) ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
PRO TIP #3 If someone has an exercise routine, lifestyle, or job that is truly harming their body, it’s not up to you to tell them to stop. Your job is simply to help them identify and practice with their condition.
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Hyper-Extension: Knees & Elbows • Can be congenital • Often caused by “collapsed” posture, loosening of tendons and ligaments that support the joint • Joints need to be braced to be stable, relaxing into your joint puts all the pressure on the connective tissues • Extremely common in yoga, often exacerbated because it’s not addressed by teachers • Can lead to joint degradation, osteoarthritis and worse ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Simple Teaching Tips • • • • •
Micro-bend your arms or legs Firmly engage arms & legs Hug shins into middle (standing) Hug forearms into the middle (up dog) Adjustment: tap the inside of the joint to help students find their micro-bend • Strengthening and shortening is the counter correction to hyper-mobile joints—not common in yoga but helpful ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
PRO TIP #4 Unstable joints can create huge potential problems, injuries, and worse long term. Just because it’s common, it doesn’t mean it’s not serious.
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Collapsed Ankles/Wrists • Can be congenital • Most often lifestyle created • Causes: atrophy, poor footwear, tightness, weakness • Common mistakes: often left untreated can lead to knee problems, wrist problems, shoulder and even back problems • Most students suffer from this to some degree—it needs to be addressed ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Ankle Teaching Tips • Talk about the 4 corners of the foot—finding equal pressure throughout • Slight bend in the knees can often correct many problems • Play with inner and outer rotation of the legs to find the four corners of the foot • Play with “lifting the toes” then putting them back down • Focus on strengthening and activating the foot, leg, and arch of the foot
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Wrist Teaching Tips • Hand “like a claw” • You want to create “arches & domes” with your handles • Talk about the 4-corners of the palm of the hand forming domes with the fingers forming arches for support • Flexibility in the hand, wrist and forearm is an issue—train for it • Grip strength is a problem, yoga is not great for grip strength (suggest alternatives) ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
PRO TIP #5 Since our feet are usually covered by restrictive footwear, and our hands are mostly used for typing and playing with mobile phones—they are often weak, stiff, and lifeless. Use yoga to create strong, limber and dexterous hands and feet.
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Move Toward Balance • The only “wrong” way is a way that harms you or is ineffective • All bodies are all unique • All bodies are imbalanced and asymmetrical • Your goal is to improve functional movement and energy flow • Total balance is impossible, so make it a target not the goal • Forget right or wrong, just move toward balance—that’s a yoga practice ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Risk vs. Reward • Worse case: yoga creates or exacerbates conditions leading to chronic pain, reduced mobility, and long-term problems • Best case: yoga promotes a yin-yang balance, leads to functional strength and mobility and improves quality of life • Reality: you’ll never meet a single yoga student (or teacher) who didn’t need to work on one of these misalignments
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
How to Talk About Imbalances • • • • • •
Avoid public confrontation Be mindful of body insecurities—we all have them Avoid diagnostic language (ex: “You have scoliosis”) Whisper to students during class with suggestions Speak 1-on-1 before or after class Use inclusive phrases like: “Many of my students have a similar challenge…” or “I have the same issue in my back…” or “Most flight attendants I teach have the same thing…” • Students love help but hate embarrassment ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Know Your Limitations • • • •
Back/neck pain should always be taken seriously Joint pain should always be taken seriously If yoga is not helping (or hurting) refer them to a health care provider Most people are not actively involved in their own health care—help them get active • Yoga is not a panacea so never over-promise • You never know the whole story, so play it safe • “Check with your doctor” is something you need to make a regular part of your vocabulary ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Key Learning • Almost everyone (including you) struggles with misalignments • Don’t be a doctor—be a yoga teacher! • Use your teaching tools to help students work with the body they have today • Avoid ideals, focus instead on moving toward balance • Default to health care professionals if yoga is not working (or hurting) • Be sensitive in the way you communicate with your students ©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
About Absolute Yoga Academy • • • •
School started out of necessity Huge success right from day one We’re the “United Nations” of yoga Courses taught in English but nearly 1/2 our students speak another language • Thailand is our “home base” with courses on offer 6 months out of the year
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
Get Your Certification www.AbsoluteYogaAcademy.com/certificate Your attendance of this course qualifies you for a 1hr Continuing Education (CE) credit registered with Yoga Alliance.
©Absolute Yoga Academy – All Rights Reserved
