Yoga Tune Up^® Blog

The erector spinae (EE-rec-tor SPEE-neh) are primary movers and shakers (okay, not shakers) in backbends. Why? Because it’s a set of back muscles that runs the entire length of the spine connecting the hips, spine, ribs and noggin (that’s the non-medical term for skull) working to help support the entire back body. I’m cheating though, because the erectors are actually comprised of three groups of muscles that combined are like many small ropes layered together running from the temporal bone at the mastoid process (back of the noggin) all the way down the back connecting at sacrum (two dimples between the hips on someone’s backside is the top of it).

The erector spinae group run like strong cables the length of your spine.

Prepare for scientific names. The three sets of muscles that make up the erector spinae are the spinalis, the longissimus, and the iliocostalis. Now… onward.

The spinalis run along the back of the spine connecting at each of the little humps sticking out of the back (these are also known as the spinous processes of your vertebrae). The second set, the longissimus, runs a little outside of the spine but connect at the back of the noggin (okay, technically the mastoid process) all the way down to the sacrum connecting to the ribs and sides of the spinal vertebrae as it goes. The final set, the iliocostalis, is the furthest away from the spine but as it connects at the sacrum and the neck has a bit of a curved look to it, like a bow that connects to each rib.

Looking at these more finely, they can contract to straighten the spine (e.g. tadasana), spill the pelvis forward as they pull up on the back of the hips, and of course there’s the aforementioned support in backbends. As a significant number of the layers run parallel but to the side of the spine, the erector spinae can also contract one side at a time to assist side bending (assisting lateral extension in the opposite side) and can produce a rotational effect in twists. Take a step back for a second. Imagine a professional tennis player serving. Holy erector spinae.

Is hip pain altering your disposition? Disrupting your sleep? Or simply slowing you down in your daily routine? Well, an often neglected yet important hip muscle known as the gluteus medius may need some special attention.

The previous blog illustrated the anatomical layout of the gluteus medius muscle and its versatile capabilities of abducting the legs and maintaining a level pelvis  in our normal walking patterns.

Asymmetrical Uttanasana is a tremendous Yoga Tune Up® stretch on the gluteus medius, tensor fascia latae and biceps femoris muscles. With the use of a prop such as a yoga brick, gravity allows some of the tightest areas of the outer hip and buttock region to stretch without restriction!

Check out this amazing  pain relieving exercise for the hips from Yoga Tune Up® ~ and sleep well!

We are living during an era where the speed at which technology is evolving and the time required at a computer is at an all time high. With that stated, the long periods of sitting that many careers demand, along with the amount of drive thru services that exist is taking its toll on the general public with poor postural habits, including forward head posture, increased  kyphotic spinal curves, weakened core muscles and underactive gluteus muscles.  One muscle that suffers chronically from the above mentioned scenarios, is the gluteus medius. Sore hips, low back pain and uneven pelvis all may have a connection to this weak, compressed muscle.

The  gluteus medius is one of the three gluteal muscles responsible for support and movement of the hip joint. Its shape is very fan-like with a broad, thick surface that originates on the outer surface of the ilium below the iliac crest and anterior to the gluteus maximus’ origin. This span of muscle then inserts on the greater trochanter of the femur. The outer third region of the gluteus medius is covered by the gluteus maximus and the gluteus minimus is layered deep within the gluteus medius. These layers of muscle within the gluteal group all function with specific actions and if are balanced with strength, flexibility, and pliability help to maintain and support a level pelvis. Unfortunately, sitting for long periods of time day in and day out doesn’t help the cause.

The gluteus medius is versatile in its function which is why it needs our loving attention. In conjunction with the gluteus minimus, it can abduct the thighs away from the midline of the body. When the hip is extended, the posterior fibers of the medius work with the maximus to laterally rotate the hip. Finally, when the hip is in flexion, the anterior fibers of the medius work with the minimus to medially rotate the hip. Not a muscle that should be ignored!

Weakness in the gluteus medius is illustrated very clearly in our normal daily movement patterns of walking. If you think your swagger is cool, consider this: if the hip of the swinging leg drops down too far while walking, an imbalance or weakness within the gluteus medius may be the culprit. Think it stops there? More likely than not, a domino effect can radiate up and down from the pelvis. In the lower body, lack of support in the gluteus medius can travel along the femur, weakening the knees and ankles, and in the upper body, it can create an uneven shoulder girdle which pulls against the neck. In between the shoulders and hips, shortening or underactive shoulder muscles, obliques, psoas, and quadratus lumborum muscles may also suffer.

Thankfully, there is help out there and Yoga Tune Up® offers some fantastic poses that revitalize, strengthen and nourish the hip muscles. Check back in on Friday for a great Gluteus Medius stretch!

Two experts in body mechanics meet in the middle, the middle of the body that is.  Watch and see how Dr. Kelly Starrett, DPT of www.MobilityWOD.com and Jill explore the respiratory diaphragm.  Every athlete, yogi, golfer, singer, mother, father, sister, brother, dog lover, et cetera, should watch this video.  You will learn how to find your best breath and approach your favorite activity with a new found power and presence.

Get to know it and you will unlock your inner power.  Maybe even walk on fire!

One of my favorite things to do is breathe.  I just love how it makes me feel…calm, centered, grounded, inspired, quiet.  Oh, yeah.  And it keeps me alive!  Breath is the link between the conscious and unconscious mind.  You can change your life by changing your breath.  Anxiety?  Stress?  Get to know your breath.  Back pain?  Tight hip flexors?  Get to know your breath. Your respiratory diaphragm is the primary muscle of respiration, breathing and it is located at your CENTER!  When you lose your center, which we often do in our busy lifestyles, you create tension in the respiratory diaphragm.  This creates tension in your breath.  You cannot find peace of mind without peace in your diaphragm, the center of your being.  The facts below introduce this most important muscle and start you on the journey of taking responsibility for your breath!   Healing your body and mind from the inside out begins with your breath.  You are in charge.  It is after all, YOUR breath. Read the rest of this blog post »

Student: Jill, what do you actually do for your personal yoga practice?

Me: I practice what I teach.

Student: You mean you don’t do anything else? Spinning? Or running? Or Zumba? I mean, how do you get your arms to look like that?

Me: I don’t mean to sound cryptic … but I practice what I teach.

It’s true. I have been practicing yoga and multiple movement arts since I was 11 years old, and the yoga practice I teach in the classroom (I began teaching part-time at age 19 at The Omega Institute) has evolved and changed with me through the past two decades. The work I share in my classes, workshops, conferences and videos all resonates with my own discoveries in my personal “jungle gym” of a practice.

Every movement, every moment.

One maxim that I hold to be true is that every moment counts, every movement counts. (Thank you, Zobha, for making this your awesome brand statement!) I would add to this: How you hold yourself in every movement amounts to moments that matter to your longevity.

In other words, we have choices to make in every moment about how we use our body to accomplish an action. These choices include our posture while standing in line, talking on the phone, sitting at our desk, during exercise or watching TV. Practice using your body in daily life the way a first-chair violinist maintains their precious instrument. Keep it in tune. Treat your body with impeccable form during all of the “small things.” This adds up to better posture over time. Practicing with your body in inefficient positions creates deficits in the body that can create imbalance, discomfort and pain.

You literally take your yoga practice with you wherever you go. Make it matter. Connect to the smaller actions in life. They add up!

How I stay in tune: A portrait of my daily practice

But if you are really curious as to what my daily yoga practice entails … here is what a good day looks like for me. My yoga practice is full of variety, and what I’ve pulled together below is just a small slice of a much larger pie. Of course, a year from now, this might all look totally different! Read the rest of this blog post »

Are you addicted to crack? Cracking your joints, I mean! There were years during my 20s when I could not fathom getting through my early-morning yoga practice without popping my shoulders, low back, hips and neck. I was popping and cracking my way through the day like a one-woman band.

Usually these fast internal whacks felt great, a rush that temporarily relieved aches and pains. What I didn’t know at the time was that all that cracking was not only emblematic of my body’s instability, but it was accelerating my own tissue breakdown.

Denial is not a river in Egypt

I have always gone “all-in,” no matter what the physical practice. Yoga was always my mainstay and baseline, but on top of that practice (which I started at age 11) I was also a dancer, runner, skier (horrible skier), water aerobics instructor and rock climber. But yoga had always been my security blanket and my salvation. It was the way I knew that my body was balanced and set (or so I thought) to be able to do everything else I loved. Read the rest of this blog post »

1.Switch bags often.  This way your body isn’t maintaining a bad structural habit day after day.

2.Stabilize your core and bend your knees when lifting anything, even your bag.

3.Carry two smaller bags instead of one large one.

4.Practice Yoga Tune Up® joint mobilization and stabilization exercises, such as the Pranic Bath, Shoulder Circles, Shoulder Flossing Variations 1 and 2, Epaulet Arm Circles, Long Head of Triceps Arms, and Matador Circles, just to name a few.

5.Use Yoga Tune Up® Therapy Balls to soothe and restore slide and glide to aching muscles (try the exercise in the video below).

Many of the exercises on the Yoga Tune Up® Quickfix Rx: Upper Back Series DVD can help restore, soothe and stabilize the neck, upper back and shoulder muscles.

So the question is:

Will you be a Fashionista or a Fascianista?

One honors fashion, often at the expense of structural integrity; the other honors FASCIA (the soft fibrous connective tissue that is the aqueous scaffolding of our structure) at the expense of fashion.

Did you know that in 2007 The American Chiropractic Association reported that purse-related injuries surged 30%?  The average woman’s handbag weighs 5.2 pounds these days and the UK’s Daily Mail reports that the average “Man Bag” weighs almost 13 pounds!  That’s like hauling around 5 to12 one-pound bags of sugar.  The results are not so sweet.

Just this morning I observed a Fashion-savvy woman furiously text messaging on the subway.   From her texting arm hung a 10-12 pound bag and from the opposite shoulder hung another bag twice as heavy.  Her head hung forward about 6 inches, her cervical spine in wickedly deep flexion while her fingers ravenously danced over her Blackberry keyboard.

It’s hard to say which is worse, carrying a huge bag on the elbow joint or carrying on the shoulder since both purse-carries have detrimental effects:

The Arm Bag Carry

The Huge Handbag that hangs off the elbow joint can damage the superficial radial nerves that stretch from the elbow to the hand on the anterior side of the forearm.  As we daintily bear the weight on our forearm, our digital flexors and pronator teres become tenderized.   Alas, it’s not uncommon for those who’ve never played tennis to suddenly acquire a Tennis Elbow diagnosis as the olecranon bursa and/or the tendon attachments become inflamed.

The Shoulder Bag Carry

The Shoulder Bag Carry is not much improvement:  Strapping a giant bag on one shoulder can aggravate tender rotator cuff muscles and degrade the highly susceptible shoulder joint capsule, resulting in pain.  Furthermore, this big bag hanging off one side of your body may result in acquired functional spinal curvature as your muscles and spine are forced to counterbalance the weight, creating repetitive stress on the axial skeleton.  Again, the result is pain, usually in the back.

So, what’s the fix? Read my post on Friday to find out!

The following are images of 12 different humerus, scapula and clavicle moves. You mission is to try them out on your body. Hold each “position” for a total of five breaths, while attempting to strongly contract the muscles that create each distinct motion.

Great job! It’s a little like learning the ABC’s of your shoulders. Now play the Pranic Bath video again, and try to articulate to yourself which directions of movement are happening to your shoulders at every phase throughout the exercise.

The more awareness you have of how your shoulders move, the less likely you’ll be to injure them, so take some time to reacquaint yourself with this all-important joint system whenever you feel the need. Mission accomplished!

[Reprinted with kind permission from Gaiam Life.]

Have you ever had a shoulder injury? If so (or even if not) it’s important to get clear about how your shoulder works so that you don’t re-injure yourself.

Quite often, learning how to locate your body’s tissues and taking the time to learn a bit about anatomy can make all the difference between keeping your body functional and damaging yourself in Downward Dog. A bum shoulder can make all sorts of everyday movements painful and difficult, so it’s vital to keep yours in working condition.

In this post, I’ll give you the tools to do just that! Read the rest of this blog post »