Yoga Teaching and Learning

by Andrea Newman

Flexibility is complex and dynamic. How we work with yoga students most effectively depends on the individual, their current level of flexibility, and their life situation.

Understanding the functional anatomy behind the concept of flexibility helps us as yoga teachers to personalise and optimise the guidance we give students in developing flexibility.

Yoga is well known as a great way to increase and maintain flexibility in the body and mind. In fact improving flexibility is one of the main reasons why people attend yoga classes.

When joints become stiff, the body loses flexibility. The positive side of this is that we gain some stability in affected parts of the body. But overall, any stiffness in the body produces lack of fluidity in movement and a loss of stability and adaptability in the body as a whole.

What is flexibility?

Flexibility in the body can be defined as the capability of the joints to move freely and efficiently through a full range of motion (ROM).

Each joint in the body has a specific normal range of motion that is dictated by its structure and the anatomical structures around it, particularly the muscles, tendons and ligaments. 

For example the ankle joint is a hinge joint, only able to flex and extend, and only to a limited degree, while the hip joint can flex, extend, abduct, adduct, and externally and internally rotate and can make relatively big movements.




The structures of these joints support their function. The ankle joint has a limited range of movement because it needs to be stable in order to support the weight of the body while upright, and to provide a stable connection for the foot while walking. 




The hip joint however has a much wider range of motion so that we can walk and run, turn quickly on the spot, and adopt a wide range of body movements as we move around the world, for example squatting, climbing, and avoiding falls.

What causes joint stiffness?

We develop stiffness in movement after we’ve had a period of immobility due to injury, illness or other trauma. Even just a few days in bed quickly leads to stiffness.

Stiffness can also creep in because of ageing, dehydration and lifestyle changes.

Flexibility will be lost when there is any chronic illness that reduces joint movement, such as arthritis, or the existence of scar tissue after injury.

Stiffness also arises simply from having a sedentary lifestyle and not moving enough.


 

Fascial changes

When a joint is under-used over a longer period of time, this can lead to lack of blood flow and dehydration of the tissues, which makes the fascia surrounding the joint less pliable and less able to repair itself.

Lack of movement also increases the possibility of adhesions – where layers of fascia stick to each other – which limits movement.

Lack of regular movement decreases the elasticity of fascia and it tends to thicken and become more fibrous, which decreases joint mobility.

In yoga classes it is useful to include a range of practices that mobilise all the joints in the body to maintain fascial health and increase mobility. Particularly since even active people may have certain movements that they rarely do in everyday life.




It’s important to note that fascia doesn’t change quickly. Regular short practices, respectful to the body’s current limits, are the best way to ease tight fibrous fascia.

Muscle tension

Another cause of limited flexibility is muscle tension which restricts joint movement. Muscles support and move joints, but can sometimes hold the joints a little too much and fail to let go when not needed.

This can be due to injury, but is very often associated with stress. Tight muscles will limit joint movement.

Stretching them out in yoga practice, gently and kindly, while breathing and relaxing, will help them to learn to let go. 




This process takes time, as the cause of the stress also needs time to be processed mentally and emotionally.

Loss of flexibility

Ideally we want each joint to have enough mobility to carry out its function well for us, accompanied by enough stabilisation to support the joint in movement to prevent injury. The ROM and stabilising ability varies from person to person and joint to joint. For healthy mobile and stable joint movement, these two need to be in balance.




Loss of mobility brings about a loss of resilience. We have fewer possibilities for adaptive movement when we have to respond to new challenges, eg. falling or running away or trying something new.




So maintaining flexibility in the body plays a large part in allowing the body to cope with life's demands.

Yoga moves the body in all sorts of different ways, maintaining familiar and well-used movements, as well as developing other movements that we don’t use ordinarily in everyday life. This holistic approach is important for developing resilience.

Too much flexibility

Hypermobile individuals have a larger range of mobility than most of the population. This makes their joints less stable.  

Anatomical integrity and alignment during practice is very important to reduce the risk of injury for people with hypermobility, as well as limiting the amount of time spent practising extreme poses. 

Strengthening is the most important thing for highly flexible people to focus on, in order to stabilise the joints and reduce the risk of injury, not just in yoga but in everyday life.




In any yoga student, there can sometimes be a lack of stability in one joint or a particular group of joints, eg. after having a leg in plaster. When the nervous system senses a lack of stability somewhere in the body, it will recruit additional muscles to compensate. These won’t let go until the sense of stability is restored. So counterintuitively, even though stiffness is felt, sometimes strengthening poses are helpful.

Incorporating a mix of strengthening poses along with gentle dynamic poses to develop mobility, can be a helpful approach to improving overall flexibility.

Static or dynamic poses?

A static pose is when a pose is held. A dynamic pose is when we keep moving - coming in and out of a pose, or rolling the shoulders, opening and closing fists etc.

Static poses are sustained and therefore can be more demanding. They are great for strength-building, for example a static downward dog (adho mukha svanasana) and cobra (bhujangasana).  Pose like frog pose (mandukasana) are less demanding but offer a sustained stretch.




Dynamic poses are more useful for exploring the edges of a range of motion. Repeated isolated movements in particular can be really good for improving and maintaining flexibility and are often more powerful than they seem. They are great for flexibility as well as acting as limbers for stronger poses.

For example:

1. Rotating the feet in sitting with legs outstretched, making the biggest circles you can while keeping your legs still - don’t allow the legs to rock from side to side.
2. Rolling the shoulders forward, up, back, and down, slowly.
3. With fingertips on shoulders, circling the elbows to the edge of your ROM, with the breath.
4. In supine - rolling the head from one side to the other.
5. Simple cat stretches, from spinal flexion to extension with the breath, with arms straight and no rocking of the body.

Working in this way forces all the movement to occur in one particular set of joints, which maximises the effect of a small or limited movement. This approach also helps more clearly identify specifically where the areas of immobility are.

Important teachings in yoga

Here are some key yoga themes that we can emphasise in class when we are teaching students how to develop flexibility:

Awareness - Deepening awareness of the body and the breath through yoga practice develops the ability to notice and monitor the changes that happen with a regular yoga practice. Knowing the starting point informs the way to address any mobility issues.

Acceptance – an acceptance of the body's current state helps to avoid harm. It can be frustrating when flexibility is lost after injury, for example, but learning acceptance can be very helpful in a healing process. Pushing forward too quickly is rarely helpful for developing flexibility. When flexibility is unlikely to return to its original state, eg. after severe injury or with arthritis, acceptance is a useful skill to cultivate.

Patience - certain personalities and beginners who play active sports often find it challenging to work slowly. This can be presented to students as a challenge to work on. Stiffness takes time to develop and it also takes time, practice and patience to regain flexibility.

Self-nurturing – developing a kindly and joyful approach to yoga practice is a better way to nurture joint health, especially if there is pain or vulnerability in the body. Meeting the edge of a ROM is a helpful thing to do, but pushing into it is counterproductive and rarely elicits the desired response in the body. 

Balance - cultivating a balance between strength and stability (sthira), and ease and flow (sukha) in yoga practice maintains a dynamic equilibrium in the body. Being bold and challenged in the right pose, while the breath is flowing, is a better way to bring more flow to the body, than either a pose that is rigid with held breath, or a pose that is unstable and floppy. Observing students and giving individual teaching cues suggesting more reaching or grounding, or more letting go of breath and relaxing (whichever is lacking) can help students to find this balance.

Self-enquiry – using yoga asana and breathing practices to play and explore the body is a more effective attitude than trying to force a change. The ego has its uses but its desires can also get in the way sometimes! All the above teaching points, in combination with a spirit of self-enquiry, open up possibilities for students to find more flexibility in body and mind.