Gluteus Maximus

In the practice of yoga, I often hear well meaning teachers use the cue “relax the butt” positions that require hip extension, like backbends.  While I get the intention is to decrease the risk of lumbar spine compression in back bends, my question is, Does it really do that, or is it simply reinforcing a weak back body chain

After many years struggling with pain in my lower back and an avoidance of any kind of back bends, I have begun to realize, it is the mechanics themselves that were causing me problems. See the video above to gain a better understanding of the movements caused by engagement of the Gluteus Maximus, and see how firing up these muscles can decrease pain and improve your strength and range of motion.

 Get Your Glutes Engaged with These Simple Steps

Alginment Ideals

In Chromatic Yoga we look at alginment from the standpoint of bennefits and drawbacks wrather than right or wrong. There are thousands of alignments that are excellent and only a few that have the potential for harm that we would likely opt out of. In the case of down dog – because most students have been told to relax their shoulders whenever their arms are over head there are tons of shoulder impingement issues in the Yoga community around the world. This is why I created this video to help you avoid impingement so you can continue to practice comfortably in your body. There are many ways to avoid shoulder impingement but many of them are complex and challenging, this is perhaps the simplest and easiest to attain in your practice. 

For the full blog and the 2nd video please visit www.theyogimatt.com/free

Patrick's Top Tips

Peak Postures to use:

Adduction: Frog, Wide Legged Forward Fold, Crow