Namaskar - Oct 09

Workshop Review
A journey into Anatom
omy – with Paul and Suz
uzee Grilley
Rani Kamaruddin
In this, the first of a two-part
workshop review, Rani
introduces readers to the
anatomy of yoga as taught by
Paul and Suzee Grilley at True
Yoga in Singapore 25 th - 30 th
September. Part two - “Yin
Yoga: Theory & Practice” will
follow in the next issue.
PAUL & SUZEE GRILLEY
As glossy pictures of asanas fill
pages of yoga magazines, the
descriptive annotations to them
ease the visualization of how a
pose should ‘look’ like. These
aesthetic descriptions (with or
without the pictures) are often
mistaken as a standard of
achievement, the norm for
posture alignment or a
measurement of the right and
wrong of a shape. It presents a
picture-perfect pretzelicious
pose, but rarely pays attention to
the functional purpose of the
pose or the anatomical range of
motions for each unique and
individual body, as is
predetermined in the womb.
To understand the functional
purpose of a pose, we must
understand the anatomical range
of motion. At the workshop we
learned the anatomical range of
motions can be analyzed
through 14 body segments.
Each segment is limited by a
number of possible
movements. While there are
numerous yoga poses and
variations, all poses find their
functional purpose in these
segments, one at a time, or
combined.
The 14 segments are scapula,
humerus, ulna, radius, wrist,
fingers, cervical, thorax, lumbar,
pelvis, femur, tibia, ankle and
toes.
Paul took a pragmatic approach
to analysing the range of
motions in each of these
segments by having us
experiment with each other to
feel at which point the
compression of the bones
started to limit the range of
motion. Many times I wished
for super x-ray glasses so I could
look through my partner’s skin
and muscles and recognise her
body as a walking skeleton!
It’s not so much about
someone’s persistence, wanting
to go beyond the edges,
stamina, focus, ability to endure
pain, taking a deeper breath or
number of years of practice that
determines whether the person
can do a pose or not; it is the
compression of the bones and
tension in the muscles that limit
the range of motion. These
experiments certainly peeled
away the layers of concepts of
how a pose should be aligned or
whether a pose is advanced.
Take, for instance, seated spinal
twist (ardha matsyendrasana). The
placement of the arm has
nothing to do with the degree
of the twist itself. Whether or
not the elbow could be placed
against the outer edge of the
knee had to do with how much
the femur could adduct, the
more the knee could move
across the midline of the torso,
the easier it is for the person to
place the elbow against the outer
edge of the knee. Neither did it
matter if the placement of the
foot was closer to the buttocks
or further away, right next to the
straight leg or slightly away from
it. The straight leg and the foot
on the leg that is bent serve the
purpose of anchoring. The arm
serves as leverage to twist the
thoracic spine. The limbs are
completely of secondary
importance. The functional
target of the twist is the thoracic
spine. How deep the twist is, is
a measurement of the thoracic
spine relative to the pelvis, not
to the floor, the edges of the
mat, or the placement of the
limbs. One student who could
not bring her knee across the
midline of her torso (as a result
she wrapped her arm around her
knee to pull it into her chest),
had a twist of 75 degrees.
Another student who, from
appearance looked to have a
deeper twist (her elbow was
against her knee) had a twist of
70 degrees. The average twist is
70-75 degrees; both students
were average and normal.
Through these experiments,
Paul and Suzee brought us
valuable insights into the
anatomy of yoga and completely
turned the approach we take to
our own yoga practices upside
down. It brought the focus of
the asana practice back to its core:
what functional purpose does a
pose have? Which area in my
body does this pose target? The
functional purpose of a pose
could also be different to each
of us: where someone may use
downward dog to stretch the
hamstrings; someone else may
use it to stretch the spine. If we
work from the basis of looking
at the functional purpose of a
pose, we are able to work
compassionately
in our practice.
Rani is forever
thankful to the
teachers who
introduced her
to yoga.
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