Yoga Anatomy Resources!

A library of resources!  Be sure to check back regularly as I will be continually adding new and relevant information to each of these pages!

Zo Manik's Upper Body Anatomy Playlist
My YouTube Playlist for understanding upper body anatomy basics, including some sequences.

Yoga for Pain-Free Wrists!
My blog post of great tips & videos for prevention & modifications!

Zo Manik's Psoas Playlist
Includes both Anatomy & Sequences for the Psoas

Zo Manik's Lower Body Anatomy Playlist
My YouTube Playlist for understanding lower body anatomy basics, including some sequences. (The feet and its intricacies are included in this playlist for the time being.)

Yoga for Pain-Free Knees!
My blog post of anatomy, tips, & videos for injury-free knees!

Yoga Dork's X-Ray Video of Yoga Within 
A stunning display of an X-ray view of the yoga flow! (Thanks, Lisa Ann!)

The Foot as Way of Life
My blog post about the foot and proprioceptors of the ankle

Connective Tissue
My blog post about the curves of deep fascia & what it reveals about life

Human Skeletal System

Human Muscular System

Also!  Be sure to check out a personal hero of mine, Leslie Kaminoff, either on YouTube or his books on Amazon.  His understanding of the body is phenomenal and understandable.

Yoga for Pain-Free Knees!

Years ago, I came back to Yoga with a knee injury from poor form in my regular leg work out.  Yoga more than rehabilitated my knee, it strengthened the muscles around it and the tracking.  I learned to be conscientious of my knee tracking between the large and second toes in poses (such as Warrior) and that I'm not hyper-extending in poses, such as Downward-Facing Dog or even Tadasana.  Awareness of proper stacking of bones and activating strong feet, strong calves, strong thighs draws attention to proper knee placement in these poses and I'm now injury free, pain-free in my knees! YAY!



Randale Sehcrest's Animated Tutorial of the Knee gives a comprehensive look at the knee joint and surrounding infrastructure.

David Keil's video Working with the Knee in Lotus offers practical solution for easing into one of yoga's most sought after poses.

Chaz Rough's Yoga for the Knees offers a great sequence (about 30 minutes or so) for strong knees,  strong legs.

There is a wealth of information available but for starters check out the rest of my Yoga-The Knee Playlist.

Yoga for Pain-Free Wrists!

I don't know about you, but as a writer and avid computer junkie I'm always battling wrist issues.  Up-dog, down dog, plank, and even simple forward bends can having me cringing.  Here are several articles & videos that can help with pain in the wrists.

In addition to these videos, I have found that active fingertips, fists (with thumbs OUT!), blocks, and using forearms can alleviate wrist pain!  Maybe your Down-dog can be modified into a Dolphin pose or your plank is done on forearms.  Modifications are not disabling, they are empowering!  Remember, that the goal of the asana is to reap the fullest energetic benefits of the pose, not to be bendy or look perfect.  (Yoga is never perfect, that is why it is called a PRACTICE!)

I'll be updating this page with more relevant information over time, so please be sure to check back often!


Duncan Yoga's Wrist Free Power Yoga Class (use those active fingertips!)

Michelle Edwards' Wrist Injuries & Yoga (Great for modifications Down-dog, including mods for shoulder safety!)

Laura Germanio's Yoga for the Wrists--Relief from Carpal Tunnel & Wrist Pain V1 (Hyper-attentive focus on the wrist.  Excellent for Carpal Tunnel and Repetitive Stress Injury)

Today, BE LOVE

"You will learn by reading, but you will understand with love." -Shams Tabrizi

 
Skyward Earth is offering 10% off all orders with coupon code: BELOVE

Beautiful Dreary Thursday

YogiTimes: Presence in Instability

YogiTimes just published my article, "Presence in Instability." (Yay!)

Read it here and leave a comment (or a two, or more!) below the the article or down below on here, answering: 

How do you ground yourself when your footing feels weak or your energy is shifting?

::Daily Vision Board::

Vision boards are spaces where you can put up inspiration for projects, career moves, personal goals, even how you want to decorate your home. Many of us are most familiar with Pinterest (mine is here). Gabrielle Bernstein talks on "Andersen Live" about the use of vision boards as a means for effecting real life changes (I'm linking rather than embedding so as to cue right up to it, though her tips through out this video are highly effective as well).

I love the idea of the vision board—to create the space to manifest your own desires and get in touch with what you want in your life.  Here’s the kicker: you’re already doing this every single day.

When you sign on to Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Blogger, and write a status, a note, a blogpost you are creating a vision board for how you are seen and how you want to be seen without even realizing it.  How many times have you re-shared a political meme, a cry for activism, even a photo of a cat or a dog?  The hundreds of friends you may or may not encounter on a daily basis but see online access this cyber expression of you as being connected to the real you.  Rightfully so, when you consider how it takes your authorization to post, repost, or share.

Go to your homepage now of any of these accounts and scroll through.  What are you already sharing?  This is your daily, living, breathing vision board. Is this a true representation of who you are?  Is this the person you want to be, the tone you want to set?

Right now, right this second, get present in your now-moment.  Take a deep breath and inhale expectations you set for yourself and expectations you feel others pressuring onto you.  Now, roll the shoulders back and exhale deeply, releasing those pressures.  What do you feel?  What is present right now in you?  What is missing?

Take a few minutes and jot down some thoughts about it.  Don’t judge what comes out, just write freely and honestly.  Share with yourself, just how you’d want a good friend to share and to love and be honest with you.

Once you’re done, take these notes as permission from Spirit, Universe, Creator, to truly serve the divine presence inside of you.  With this permission, reconsider those cyber spaces as optimal times to exercise those actions and feelings and re-write that daily Vision Board. Don’t wait for someone else to inspire; inspire yourself.  Whether it's on or off line, everything we do is "real" life.  Cyber anonymity is no excuse for putting off the call of the Divine Self.  Live your vision in all things, in the now-moment.

Love & Light to you all,
Connie.

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::Skyward Earth Grand Opening::

Skyward Earth, my online shop where I sell jewelry made by yours truly *thank you thank you*), is running a GRAND OPENING free shipping discount!  Just watch my short vid below and listen out for the coupon code!

Have a gorgeous day, beautiful friends!

::The Magic of A Little Breath::

Yay!  I've resuscitated my old YouTube channel and a new video is up with me reading Cait Johnson's "Air Prayer" from Earth, Water, Fire Air: Essential Ways of Connecting to Spirit.  While I have always enjoyed this book and the poems, prayers and connections made in it, this poem/prayer-poem has been my go to for the past couple months.  It is a poem of awareness, awakening, and sight. 

What is present and awakening in your life right now?  Share what's on your heart and in your life in the comments below! Love and light to you <3

::We've Got a Live Mic!::

It is almost exactly A YEAR since my last blog post.

Terrible, terrible! I know!  If there were a Horrible Blogger award I would win it. Shamedly. After being publicly flogged.

After my last post in Jan 2012, I was hit with a barrage of health issues, finalizing a thesis & graduating with my MFA without punching kittens, making big exciting moves toward my career, opening my online shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SkywardEarth  (don't worry, I'll always be a poet!), & stepping slowly out of the broom closet. I'm still working on that balance thing, which is why I have an unfinished manuscript, 2 un-edited manuscripts (one being a collaboration with a fabulous poet who is on top of his game & thus edited his portion & is waiting on me-the-slacker), & several projects & major to-dos to accomplish (& etc & whining & blah blah).

BUT,  I'm (slowly) checking them off, one by one & now I am back here with my mic in hand.  My health is being restored, & as it took so much time/energy away last year from the things I love so much, I have made HEALTH & WELL-BEING my topmost priority in 2013 (no longer just a quiet background to my life).  It's amazing what drinking more water & deep breathing accomplishes.

What are your goals for 2013?  How will you accomplish them?