Sensational Yoga Poses

Muscle driven sensation (the making of sensational yoga poses)

The "sensational" in sensational yoga poses refers to the sensations that are driven by your muscles. They include muscle sensation, connective tissue tension, skin contact and pressure.

These are the sensations that can help you use your body more effectively in anything that you do while at the same time helping you to become present and actually enjoy the experience of your body.

Breath

• Breathing anatomy for yoga teachers
• Respiratory diaphragm
• Learning to feel your diaphragm and psoas
• Anchoring your diaphragm
• Breathing basics
• Costal breathing
• Easy breathing technique
• Ujjayi breathing

Posture

• Improve your posture
• Posture: Slouch to zero slouch exercises to fix your posture.
• fixing forward head posture

Spine

• Spine: Feel your spine
• Muscle control: spine, hip bones, ribcage

Balance

Tips on making balance a general skill (versus activity specific).

• Feeling your Center of Gravity for Better Balance
• Yoga Balance Poses (Control Your Center)
• Improve Balance with yoga: be Responsive
• Fun yoga poses to improve Balance
• 11 Basic Balance Poses
• Balancing in Side Plank, Make Your supporting Foot Stable
• Tips for Balancing in Balancing Cat Pose
• Balancing on One Foot
• Can You Look Up (and Stay Balanced) in Half Moon Pose?
• Warrior 3 Step-by-Step Instructions For Improving Balance and Body Awareness
• Making Tree Pose Big and Strong
• Finding Balance in Yoga Tree Pose
• Exercises to Help You Wrap Your Legs in Eagle Yoga Pose
• Arm Balances, Pressing Down to Lift Up
• How to Lift Your Feet (and Keep them Lifted) in Crow Pose
• Astavakrasana Yoga Arm Balance
• Galavasana The Flying Pigeon Arm Balance
• Eka Pada Bakasana
• Mayurasana, Getting Your Feet off of The Floor
• Arm balance videos (on youtube)
• inverted yoga poses: Get Used to Being Upside Down
• Plough Pose, getting your hips over your head (without hurting your neck)
• Shoulder stand (Salamba Sarvangasana) and learning to balance on your shoulders
• Pincha Mayurasana, Balancing on Your Forearms
• Yoga pose inversion videos (on youtube)
• How To Do A Headstand
• Yoga Headstand, Lifting into it with legs straight
• Headstand Yoga Pose, how to make your headstand stable so that you have more control and better balance
• Tripod headstand
• Handstands
• L Shaped Handstand
• Balancing In Handstand
• Jumping Into Handstand
• Kicking Up Into Handstand
• Lifting Into Handstand

Proprioception

• proprioception
• understanding proprioception
• can stretching improve proprioception
• muscles are force sensors
• conscious proprioception
• mindful muscle control and proprioception
• learning to feel your body
• yoga pose brush strokes
• anatomy as a guide to better body awareness
• conscious proprioception and change.
• Why improve body awareness
• pain and poor posture
• yoga for lazy people

Getting into the flow

• learning to flow
• be like water
• no mind
• managing change
• understanding consciousness
• what is yoga?
• Proprioception and flow

I've included a more detailed explanation of the flow, and it's opposite mind-state in my book Know to Flow. A large part of this book is about learning more efficiently, and also, how you can implement flow while learning to make learning almost anything more enjoyable.

Yoga poses

For an easier to navigate set of yoga pose links use the TOC on the yoga poses page.

(You can also get to this via the "yoga poses" link in the "main menu".)

• Alignment: proper yoga alignment
• Alphabetical yoga poses
• Arm balances
• Astavakrasana
• How to Lift Your Feet (and Keep them Lifted) in Crow Pose
• Wrist pain in crow pose
• Eka pada bakasana
• Galavasana
• Mayurasana
• Arm balance videos (on youtube)
• Arm supported yoga poses
• Balancing Cat Pose
• Side plank (making your foot stable) Balancing in Side Plank
• Ashtanga yoga
• Back bends: Spinal Back Bending Yoga Poses
• Balance: Yoga poses to improve balance.
• 11 Basic Balance Poses
• Balancing on one foot
• Can You Look Up (and Stay Balanced) in Half Moon Pose?
• Warrior 3 Step-by-Step Instructions For Improving Balance and Body Awareness
• Making Tree Pose Big and Strong
• Finding Balance in Tree Pose
• Exercises to Help You Wrap Your Legs in
  Eagle Yoga Pose
• Binding yoga poses
• Ardha matsyendrasana
• Bharadvajasana
• Bound side angle pose
• Bound twisting side angle pose
• Compass pose
• Compass pose prep:Seated hamstring stretch
• Counterposes
• Grounding your yoga pose
• Lotus: Binding in seated half bound lotus
• Marichyasana yoga poses
• Marichyasana A
• Modified marichyasana B
• Marichyasana B
• Marichyasana C
• SI Joint Stability in Marichyasana
• Forward bends: Yoga forward bends
• Hamstring stretching yoga poses
• hatha yoga poses
• Inverted yoga poses: Get Used to Being Upside Down
• Getting Your Hips Over Your Head in Plough Pose
• Shoulder Stand (Salamba Sarvangasana)
• Pincha Mayurasana(Balancing on Your Forearms)
• Yoga pose inversion videos (on youtube)
• Handstand: Handstands
• L Shaped Handstand
• Balancing In Handstand
• Jumping Into Handstand
• Kicking Up Into Handstand
• Lifting Into Handstand
• Headstand: How To Do A Headstand
• Lifting into Yoga Headstand w/ legs straight
• Stabilizing your Headstand Yoga Pose
• Tripod headstand
• Kneeling yoga poses
• Virasana
• Learn your body: Using yoga poses to learn your body
• Yoga pose brush strokes
• modifying yoga poses
• Prone yoga poses
• Seated yoga poses
• Cross legged poses
• Stability in yoga poses
• Standing Yoga Poses
• 8 Reasons to do Standing Yoga Poses
• Basic hip adjustments for standing yoga poses
• Twisting Poses
• Standing twist
• Supine yoga poses
• yoga poses using a wall
• Warm ups: Yoga pose warm ups
• Surya namaskar A
• Yoga poses

Yoga pose basics

• Why do yoga?
• sequencing yoga poses
• sequencing yoga poses 2
• Yoga routine and mini-routine videos.
• Adding bigness to your yoga poses
• Making your Yoga Pose Sensational
• Feel your body
• Improving proprioception and control.
• Creating tensegrity in yoga poses
• preventing injury when starting yoga
• Hip Joint Stability
• Bandhas
• Mula bandha
• Uddiyana bandha

Sensational Anatomy

Sensational yoga anatomy is anatomy that is relevant to the practice of yoga, movement in general and proprioception. It deals mainly with muscles, bones, connective tissue and joints and in particular keeping joints lubricated.

• Experiencing Your Anatomy Anatomical Position
• Anatomy as a road map
• Sensational anatomy
• Anatomy trains
• anatomy for muscle control
• Muscle are Force Sensors
• Motor control for yoga
• Muscle Control Principles
• Muscle Control Basics
• How to know if your joints are lubricated
• Hydrostatic lubrication in articular joints
• Muscle control for proprioception and joint lubrication
• Joint pain yoga
• Joint centration
• Tensegrity
• Some problems with biotensegrity
• Fluid tensegrity joint anatomy
• Tensegrity, Motor Control and Proprioception
• Learn anatomy for yoga by drawing it
• Sensational yoga anatomy

Strength

Strength training via body weight and yoga poses, and the occasional kettlebell exercise.

• Abs: Yoga poses for abs
• Agni Sara
• Nauli Kriya
• Core stability exercises
• Arms: Arm strengthening exercises
• Shoulder strengthening exercises for yoga
• Rotator cuff exercises
• standing shoulder strengthening exercises
• shoulder yoga
• yoga push ups
• Back: Back strengthening yoga poses.
• Kettlebells: Kettlebell exercises
• turkish get up
• Legs: Leg strengthening exercises
• Hip flexor strengthening exercises
• Hamstring strengthening exercises
• Hip strengthening exercises
• Knee strengthening exercises
• leg and knee strength exercises videos.
• Squats
• Body weight squat
• Deep squats
• learning the pistol squat
• Stability Exercises to Improve Stability
• yoga for strength

Flexibility

For an easier to navigate set of "flexibility" links, use the TOC on the yoga for flexibility page.

(You can also get this via "flexibility" link in the "main menu".)

• Adductor stretches
• Half side split
• Ankle: Yoga ankle stretches
• calf stretches
• Arm stretches
• Shoulder stretches
• Yoga shoulder stretches
• Shoulder flexibility stretches.
• Hip and shoulders stretches
• Glute stretches
• pigeon pose
• pigeon pose glute stretch
• foot behind the head
• armpit pose
• hamstring stretches for working towards front-to-back splits
• Hamstring anatomy
• Hip extensor stretching variations
• Happy Baby Hip Stretch)
• adductor magnus
• gluteus maximus
• Hip flexor stretches
• Front to back splits
• Sartorius stretch, warrior 1
• Couch stretch
• Meridian stretches
• Psoas stretches
• Psoas stretches-1
• Psoas Stretch
• Active Psoas Stretches
• Standing psoas stretch variations
• Reclining Psoas Stretch
• Bent knee hip flexor stretches
• Hero pose
• kneeling poses
• Spine stretches
• Lower back stretches
• Side stretches
• Yoga for flexibility

Flexibility basics

• What is flexibility?
• Three reasons why you should improve flexibility
• Stretching for flexibility
• flexibility tips
• Stretching Techniques
• Stretching for beginners
• a quick guide to stretching.
• 10 Muscle Control Principles
• Reciprocal inhibition
• Basic yoga sequence
• basic yoga sequence 2
• basic yoga sequence 3

Ribcage and Abdomen

• Ribcage mobility
• external obliques
• intercostal muscles
• internal obliques
• levator costarum
• obliques and intercostals

The transverse abdominis

• Transverse abdominis
  (A Tension Control Mechanism for your Abs)
• agni sara
• effectively activating transverse abdominis
  (Exercises for Activating All Three Bands of the Transverse Abdominis Muscle)
• transverse abdominis exercises
  (Training All Three Bands of the Transverse Abdominis)
• transverse abdominis training
  (Understanding How the Transverse Abdominis Interacts with Other Muscles)

The thoracolumbar fascia

• Thoracolumbar fascia
• Latissimus dorsai
• Serratus posterior inferior
• Multifidus
• Spinal erectors
• Sacrotuberous ligament

The lower back

The lower back page includes links to articles on the SI Joints as well as the lower part of the ribcage. If you want to strengthen your lower back, improve flexibility, or deal with low back pain, it helps to have a thorough understanding of all of these and how they relate.

• Anatomy of the lower back
• Lower back muscles
• Anatomy and biomechanics of low back stability
• Low back pain.
• Low back pain anatomy for yoga
• Standing exercises for low back pain
• Standing hip exercises for dealing with low back pain
• Spinal back bending exercises

The SI Joint

• Sacroiliac joint anatomy
• SI Joint
• pelvic floor muscles
• Sacroiliac joint anatomy
• Sacrum
  (and the Muscles that Connect it to the Legs, Spine and Pelvis)
• Dual SI Joint stabilization
  (In Spinal Forward Bends and Spinal Backbends)
• Single SI Joint stabilization
  (Stabilizing the same side Hip Joint and SI Joint)
• Single side SI joint stability
  (Anatomy and Biomechanics of the Pelvic Floor and Hip or Hip Rotation While Standing On One Leg)
• Sacroiliac joint stabilization (and the Muscles that help create it)
• Sacroiliac joint
  (Resisting Shear and Stabilizing the SI Joint in Forward Bends)
• Sacroiliac joint exercises
  (Practicing nutation and counter-nutation of the SI Joints while noticing the muscles that cause these actions)
• SI Joint Stability in Marichyasana

The hip joint

The hip joint page includes links to articles on the hip joint. This includes anatomy, how to exercise the hip joints and how to keep them lubricated which is especially important if you want your hips to last you a life time.

• keeping your hip joints lubricated
• Hip joint stability
• hip popping and centering the hip joint
• Basic hip adjustments for standing yoga poses
• hip joint anatomy
• obturator externus
• obturator internus
• quadratus femoris
• understanding your hip joint
• hip joint bicycle wheel
• gluteus maximus anatomy for yoga teachers
• hip joint pain
• fixing hip pain in standing forward bends
• hip joint questions

The psoas

• The psoas
• Psoas muscle
  (Stretching the Psoas, The Psoas as a Lumbar Stabilizer, A Tip for Using it to Transition from Upward Dog To Downward Dog and more)
• Psoas anatomy
  (Hip Flexion, Active Psoas Stretches and Preventing Lumbar Shear in Reclining Hero)
• Psoas Major anatomy
  (Learning from Richard Freeman how the Psoas connects to the kidneys and the 12th ribs)
• Psoas major
  (why it's tight and what you can do about it)
• Understanding the psoas
  (Understanding the psoas and learning to activate it)
• Psoas release
  (Stabilizing the hip joint to release the psoas)

Adductors

• adductors and inner thigh muscles
• adductor magnus

The hip flexors

• hip flexors
• Adductors and inner thigh muscles
• Long hip flexor muscles
• Single joint hip flexors
• Obturator externus
• Obturator internus
• The Psoas
• Hip flexor pain while walking
• Bent knee hip flexor stretches
• Couch stretch
• Hip flexor stretches
• Hip flexor stretching and strengthening
• Hip flexor strengthening exercises
• Sartorius stretch warrior 1

The hamstrings

To make it easier to stretch, strengthen or simply utilize The hamstrings it helps if you understand them. Part of understanding the hamstrings involves learning the connected structures and muscles and how they work together and how they can help to anchor the hamstrings for effective function of those muscles. Hence the links below may seem unrelated to the hamstrings. Where that seems to be the case, then the article in question is about compliments to the hamstrings (i.e. the long hip flexors) or anchoring the hamstrings or about structures that can be affect or are affected by the hamstrings (say for example the sacroutuberous ligament and the same side SI joint).

• The hamstrings
• Hamstring stretches for working towards front-to-back splits.
• Simple postures for stretching your hamstrings
• Hamstring stretching yoga poses
• hamstring strengthening exercises
• hamstring anatomy for yoga: Yoga Anatomy for Back Bending and Forward Bending the Hips
• The long head of the Adductor magnus: your back bending friend
• Adductor magnus long head: Helping to stabilize the hip bone relative to the femur
• sacrotuberous ligament: How Adding Tension to the Sacrotuberous Ligament or the Long Dorsal Sacroiliac Ligament Helps to Stabilize the SI Joint
• obturator internus: Stabilizing the Hip Joint for Increased Mobility and Control in Standing Forward Bends
• sacroiliac joint: Resisting Shear and Stabilizing the SI Joint in Forward Bends
• foot exercises
• Long hip flexor muscles: Adding Tension to Take out the Slack For More Effective Forward Bending

The knee joint

The knees page includes links to articles on knee anatomy as well as exercises for the knees and tips for dealing with knee pain.

• Knee rotation
• Popliteus: A small but important muscle that can stabilize the knee against rotation^New!!!
• Long hip muscles
• Vastus Muscles: Knee extensors and tensioning devices for the overlying hip flexors
• Knee joint stability
• Knees, spine, ribcage and mood
• Knee pain
• Knee anatomy for yoga teachers
• Sartorius: How it can help to stabilize the knee against rotation while standing, walking or running
• Activate your quads
• IT band knee pain
• IT band anatomy biomechanics
• Medial collateral ligament pain
• Knee strengthening exercises
• Leg and knee strength exercise videos

The foot, ankle and shin

There is a set of muscles that could be called "the long foot muscles" that tie together actions of the foot, ankle and shin. These muscles can even affect heel stability. In addition, these muscles, and the as yet to be written about "long toe muscles" can all be used for better foot control in general as well as for dealing with collapsed arches.

These same muscles can also be important when dealing with knee and hip issues. They can also aid in improving flexibility of the ankles, knees and hips.

The foot

• Popliteus: A small but important muscle that can stabilize the knee against rotation^New!!!
• Foot exercises
• Fallen arches
• Anchoring the biceps femoris short head to counter act a collapsed arch or flat foot
• Shin rotations and heel stability
• Achilles tendon pain muscle control exercises
• IT Band anatomy and biomechanics
• IT band knee pain
• Peroneus longus
• Peroneus brevis
• Tibialis Anterior
• Tibialis Posterior
• Anatomy Trains

Shoulders and Arms

The shoulders and arms page focuses on the shoulders and arms as well as the ribcage.

• stabilizing the ribcage for stronger arms
• shoulder strengthening exercises for yoga
• upper body awareness and arm control exercise videos
• scapular awareness
• serratus anterior
• serratus anterior muscle
• pectoralis minor
• trapezius muscle
• shoulder impingement
• winged scapula
• shoulder anatomy
• shoulder anatomy 2
• shoulder yoga
• rotator cuff anatomy
• rotator cuff exercises
• shoulder rotation exercises
• elbow joint anatomy for yoga teachers
• arm stability
• Shoulders and arms

Dance of Shiva

• Learning the basics of the dance of shiva

Chakras and meridians

• meridians
• stomach meridian
• lung meridian
• large intestine meridian
• meridian stretches
• meridian stretches 1: Heart, Pericardium and Lung
• meridian stretches 2: Large intestine, triple heater and small intestine
• meridian stretches 3: Stomach
• meridian stretches 4: Bladder
• meridian stretches 5: Gall bladder
• meridian stretches 6: Kidneys
• five element theory.
• standing meditation
• chakra meditation

Home page, Quick links

The table of contents below link to different parts of this page.

Use the heading links that are underlined in red to return to this TOC.

Click this link to see the Latest posts.

Driving Lessons for Your Body

For more on learning to feel your body and control it, Driving Lessons for your Body is a series of online video courses with exercises for improving body awareness (proprioception and kinaesthetic awareness) and muscle control.

sensational-yoga-poses.com/
index.html