YOGA BODY ANATOMY

If you're already practicing yoga, you don't need exercise scientists and physiologists to convince you of the benefits of stretching. Instead, you'd probably like them to tell you if there's anything in their flexibility research that can help you go deeper in your asanas. For example, when you fold into a forward bend and are brought up short by the tightness in the back of your legs, can science tell you what's going on? And can that knowledge help you go deeper?

The answer to both questions is "Yes." A knowledge of physiology can help you visualize the inner workings of your body and focus on the specific mechanisms that help you stretch. You can optimize your efforts if you know whether the tightness in your legs is due to poor skeletal alignment, stiff connective tissues, or nerve reflexes designed to keep you from hurting yourself. And if you know whether any uncomfortable sensations you feel are warnings that you're about to do damage, or whether they're just notices that you're entering exciting new territory, you can make an intelligent choice between pushing on or backing off-and avoid injuries.

Of course, yoga does far more than keep us limber. It releases tensions from our bodies and minds, allowing us to drop more deeply into meditation. In yoga, "flexibility" is an attitude that invests and transforms the mind as well as the body.