Hip Anatomy & Mobility in Yin

Please use this forum for asking questions or offering comments arising from the 50-Hour Online Yin Yoga Teacher Training conducted by Bernie Clark, Diana Batts and Yoga International.
Post Reply
Andrea Murillo
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Aug 23, 2020 3:49 pm
Location: Hong Kong

Hip Anatomy & Mobility in Yin

Post by Andrea Murillo »

Hi Bernie,

I recently took and happily completed the July 2020 Live Yin Yoga TTC (in YI) and have been revising the different practices.
An interesting one for me is the Daily Practice Section 3: Human Variation.
Focusing on the hips and trying to understand the differences in bone shape and structure, I have a few questions:

1. Child Pose: When bending forward and reaching a point of compression, if knees have to be much wider than hips to avoid the pinching sensation, this seems to be transformed into Frog pose. How to differentiate and explain to students?

2. In frog pose (knees very wide and toes touching) I experience numbness / tingling down my calves and feet and this feeling goes away if I lift my hips to bring them in line with my knees and separate the feet like in an attempt to bring my pubic bone down to the floor (even though I don't have the bones for that). What are the nerves being affected? And what would be the implications of observing the sensation but not changing the posture?

3. During the lectures you mentioned a study about the relation between longevity and the ability to stand up and sit down (on the floor) using only 2 limbs. Where can I find more details or read the full study? And what were the main considerations towards the anatomical differences of the hips?
I am very curious as my external rotation is very limited and so far is impossible for me to get up and sit down as you did over again during the course just crossing the feet and being at ease with the hips.

Your comments on mobility and anatomy would be highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!!
Andrea Murillo
Bernie
Posts: 1293
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:25 am
Location: Vancouver

Post by Bernie »

Hello Andrea

1) Child's pose is very similar to the first stages of Frog (which I call the Tadpole) when the knees are apart. So, yes - for many students, due to compression at front of the hips (at the ASIS), they have to spread their knees apart, changing the pose into Tadpole, the beginnings of Frog.

I am not sure that you have to explain any of this, though, to your students. Instead, remember what your intentions are for offering the pose in the first place. If you offer Child's pose simply as a resting posture, just encourage them to find the version where they can relax the most. If you offered it as a deep hip flexion, then again it doesn't matter whether the knees are together or not: are they feeling the flexion in the hips? Tadpole is a way to begin to explore abduction of the hips, whereas Child's pose is not intended to do that very much. So, as always, it comes back to - what is your intention? Then, pay attention: are you getting the desired stress in the targeted area?

2) You may want to re-watch the section of the course on sciatica (in the anatomy of the hips section). If you are affecting nerves, it is probably the sciatic nerve. Or, you may be compressing the femoral artery. Regarding the “implication of observing the sensation...,: my philosophy is No Pain, No Pain! That includes nerve tingling. Don't stay in pain! Change the posture. Compressing or stretching a nerve to the point of creating tingling is not a good idea. Stop doing that. (Remember: “No pain, no gain = Bullshitihi!,)

3) The link to the study on the Sit-Rise test is in your resources page in the Training Manual. (All studies I mention have links in the resources.) And, there is a link written on the slide page as well. But, here it is again for you: Finally, yes - skeletal variations in your hips and ankle bones can affect the ability and ease with which you can stand up from and sit down on the floor. Some people just don't have the ankle bones to be able to do this! You do need to be able to externally rotate at the hips and dorsiflex at the ankles.

Cheers
Bernie
Post Reply