KayaYogini

When I was young I always put my legs in a cross legged position when sitting by the dining table. My mom, who wanted to raise me to become a decent person, always told me: take your legs down, sit properly, take your legs down! I could not. It was an automatic reflex. I always took them back up to sit cross-legged soon after taking them down, to which I am glad. I have always had flexible hips. Although many things have been hard for me in my asana-practice, lotus position was not. I could easily put my legs in lotus position even when I started practicing yoga. For many people however, lotus position is so hard, they can work years and years on opening their hips. For some people it is literally impossible due to the skeletal structure of their joints, but for others it is purely muscular and still they experience that their hips just do not want to open up. 

We are not born with stiff hips. We are born very flexible. Actually we are born quite stable as well. Most kids have very healthy movement patterns. It is through learning, adaptation, emotional stress responses that affect the nervous system and thus the musculoskeletal system, and through how and how much we move that our movement pattern becomes less healthy. Sitting a lot on chairs is one factor that is not healthy for the musculoskeletal system. It kind of defies the natural position of the joints. Sitting in a squat however, is a natural position for the body as well as sitting cross legged or in mermaid pose (with one knee pointing outwards and one knee pointing inwards so that one hip joint is outwardly rotated and one is inwardly rotated). This is sometimes called oblique sit as well. 

Walking is one other thing that is important. You can tell a lot about a person’s musculoskeletal system by how they walk. Can you extend your leg far back? Do you get back pain when you walk? When I first started practicing yoga, I did not like walking. Walking was painful and uncomfortable for me. No wonder. My musculoskeletal system was not healthy at all. I have written more about this before, but in short, I had scoliosis, anterior pelvic tilt and hyperlordosis. I could not extend my leg far back, my abdominal muscles did not function properly and my back was suffering.

Moving is supposed to be healthy and make you feel good. Your body is supposed to be able to move in a healthy manner. If you get pain when you move, there is something wrong. Pain is a sign that something isn’t working right. There is an issue that needs to be addressed. Luckily there is a lot that can be avoided just by moving on a daily basis. A lot of discomfort in the body is just due to sitting still too much for too many years. Move your body in all directions (extension, flexion etc) regularly, preferably a little every day. It’s better to move a little often than to do long workouts once a week. How much you move and what positions you sit in, can predict a lot about your future musculoskeletal health. What is the movement culture in your family? Do you sit a lot on chairs? Do you all plunge on the couch when you come home from work?

Your movement pattern helps you or challenges you when you start any physical activity, whether that is a sport, lifting weights or practicing yoga. If you have a healthy movement pattern, it will be easier for you to start anything compared to a person who has an unhealthy movement pattern. However you can improve your movement pattern and your musculoskeletal health by approaching your yoga practice with emphasis on some specific things: breathing correctly, stabilising the body and learning how to stabilize the body when you move. For example, how do you move when you are moving into a forward fold or into warrior one? Do you use your hips or your back? I teach about this in my yoga classes and more in depth in my workshops. So if you are interested in learning more about this, please subscribe on my platforms to make sure you’re notified. Thank you so much for reading my blog. I hope it gave you inspiration and clarity.