WELCOME TO the MONTHLY THROUGH LINE

Hey ciaoooo Chromatic family, it’s Simon here from Chromatic Yoga. October is here, autumn is upon us and the mornings around Lake Garda are crisp, and we’re heading around to the back of the body into the most misunderstood real estate in the upper body to explore two bones that quietly influence almost everything we do with our arms: the scapulae, aka the shoulder blades. 

We talk a lot about “the shoulder” in yoga. But the shoulder isn’t really one joint doing one thing. It is a beautifully complicated relationship between the humerus, scapula, clavicle, rib cage and several articulations working together.

The scapula is particularly interesting because the scapulothoracic articulation isn’t technically a conventional anatomical joint at all. There is no typical bone-to-bone articulation, joint capsule or synovial surface between the scapula and rib cage. Instead, the scapula essentially glides over the posterior thorax, supported and controlled largely by muscular and fascial structures.

Which gives us a pretty important clue about how we should approach it:

The scapula was designed to MOVE.

It can elevate and depress.
Protract and retract.
Upwardly and downwardly rotate.
Internally and externally rotate.
Anteriorly and posteriorly tilt.

And usually it is doing several of these things simultaneously. So join me in this months Through Line where dive deep in focusing on these specific actions:  Week 1 Protraction, Week 2 Retraction, Week 3 Anterior Tilt, Week 4 Posterior Tilt. 

For anyone who is new here, read on about what the CHROMATIC MONTHLY THROUGH LINES are, for you regulars, skip on to the juicy stuff! 

In Chromatic Yoga, we keep things straightforward. That’s why we’ve being doing this “Monthly Through Line” community initiative for some time now. It’s designed to help you – our Chromatic Teachers – focus and intelligently design your classes to best support your students. If you’re not a Chromatic Teacher yet, and are simply here out of interest, that’s great too, as you’ll be able to apply these through-lines to gain more insight in to body biomechanics and potentially access the poses in a deeper and more intelligent way.

WHAT IS A PHYSICAL THROUGH LINE? 

• A Physical Through Line is a term we use in Chromatic Yoga that is defined by the muscle engagement (e.g. engaging the glutes in Warrior 3), or the joint action (e.g. hip extension in Warrior 3) that becomes the primary anatomical focus through the duration of the yoga class. Rather than throwing fifteen unrelated anatomical instructions at students, we repeatedly explore one action in different relationships to gravity, load and joint position.

  One action. Multiple contexts. Deeper understanding.

  Certified Chromatic Teachers construct their classes around a PTL (Physical Through Line) in order to create a more effective progressive learning environment where students don’t simply perform poses, they develop a clearer understanding of how their body creates them.

  . As a student you can expect that each Chromatic class will include a PTL. Of course, you will do other postures and other muscle engagements within a Chromatic class, however there is a strong emphasis on the PTL.

THE SHOULDER GIRDLE – A QUICK TOUR

Your arm is attached to your torso by almost nothing. The only bony connection to the skeleton is the tiny sternoclavicular joint at the front of the chest. Everything else is muscle, which is why the shoulder is the most mobile joint complex in the body, and the one most likely to file a complaint.

The girdle is a team of four bones (sternum, clavicle, scapula, humerus) and four working parts:

• The glenohumeral joint is the ball and socket. Picture a golf ball on a tee, with the humeral head much bigger than the shallow glenoid. That’s mobility, at the price of stability.
• The acromioclavicular and sternoclavicular joints are the clavicle’s two ends, and they act as the strut that holds the scapula out from the ribs.
• The scapulothoracic “joint” is the scapula gliding over the ribcage. It isn’t a true joint, since no bones meet, but it does the heavy lifting.
• The rotator cuff (of which there are 4, composed of supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, subscapularis) keeps the ball centered in the socket.

Then there’s scapulohumeral rhythm. Lift your arm overhead and roughly two degrees of movement happen at the ball and socket for every one degree at the scapula. Skip the scapula’s contribution and the shoulder jams.

The scapula is the foundation the whole arm moves from.

Week 1: PROTRACTION

What It Is: Protraction is the movement of the scapula forward and away from the spine and around the curvature of the rib cage. Place your hands on your mat and imagine pushing the floor away without bending your elbows. Feel your shoulder blades slide away from one another? That’s protraction.

Key Muscles:  Serratus anterior, Pectoralis Minor, Pectoralis Major can assist depending on the position and task.

Why It Matters: Protraction does not automatically mean rounding the spine while pushing the floor or mat away from you. Try Plank. Keep your thoracic spine relatively neutral while pushing the floor away and allowing the scapulae to separate. That ability to differentiate scapular movement from spinal movement is where body awareness becomes much more sophisticated.

Where it shows up: Balasana Childs Pose (with arms alongside the shins), Cat, Plank, Bakasana Crow Pose. 

Week 2: RETRACTION 

What It Is: If protraction takes the scapulae away from the spine, retraction is the action of drawing them together and gliding them toward the spine.

Key Muscles: Middle trapezius, Rhomboids (major and minor)

Why It Matters: Retraction is not the same thing as spinal extension. You can extend your thoracic spine without aggressively squeezing the scapulae together. And you can retract your scapulae while keeping the spine relatively neutral. Again, differentiation creates control.

Where it shows up: Locust Salabhasana with clasped hands, as well as any bind which will (and should!) require at least a minimum amount of retraction, Cobra Bhujangasana (with lifted palms), Bow Dhanurasana, Camel, Warrior 2 (gently), Cactus arms, and the lift out of a Chaturanga in to Upward Facing Dog.

Week 3: ANTERIOR TILt

What It Is: the top of the scapula tips forward while the bottom tips (inferior angle) lifts off the ribs. 

Key Muscles: Pectoralis Minor, Levator Scapulae and Upper Trapezius are assisting

Why It Matters: You may notice this more as the shoulder head rounding forward and down (think rounded shoulder posture) although in effect its the scapulae responsible for this – and it’s a small subtle movement, and when you hone in on the scapulae movement being the origin, it changes everything.

This week isn’t really about getting students to produce enormous amounts of anterior tilt. It’s about helping them feel a movement they probably didn’t know existed.

Where it shows up: any pose with the arms are extended behind the body, such as Reverse Plank, Reverse Prayer, Cow Face arms (the bottom arm), Cobra, and Locust with the arms reaching back.

Week 4: POSTERIOR TILT

What It Is: the reverse of anterior tilt: the scapula’s bottom point glides forward and flat against the ribs as the top tips back.

Key Muscles: Serratus anterior, lower trapezius

Why It Matters: Posterior tilt becomes particularly important as the arm travels overhead. To get the arms overhead without risking impingement or discomfort, or cranking the low back, the scapulae need to tilt posteriorly. Normal arm elevation doesn’t simply involve the humerus moving inside the shoulder socket. The scapula also moves, typically combining upward rotation, posterior tilt and changes in internal/external rotation as elevation increases. 

Where it shows up: overhead reaching in Upward Salute Urdhva Hastasana, Warrior 1 Vira 1, Downward Dog Adho Muka Savasana, Dolphin, and Handstand, and some backbends like Upward Facing Bow.

Check out this video giving you a week by week break down of each of this months actions, as well as pose suggestions, biomechanical and anatomical insights.  

Simon’s RECAP AND TIPS

We talk a lot about “the shoulder” in yoga. But the shoulder isn’t really one joint doing one thing. It is a beautifully complicated relationship between the humerus, scapula, clavicle, rib cage and several articulations working together. And so I’m guessing at this point the teachers out there have figured out that the shoulders/scapulae aren’t a light switch. Protraction ON. Retraction OFF. Posterior tilt ON..etc. Real movement doesn’t work like that.

The scapula was designed to MOVE and moves in three dimensions. 

It can elevate and depress.
Protract and retract.
Upwardly and downwardly rotate.
Internally and externally rotate.
Anteriorly and posteriorly tilt.

Several scapular actions normally occur simultaneously. When the arms elevate, the scapula normally upwardly rotates and posteriorly tilts as part of the movement.

Our PTL intentionally isolates one action for educational clarity, not because the human body actually moves one joint action at a time.

That’s an important distinction. We simplify anatomy in order to learn it. We shouldn’t simplify it so much that we misrepresent it. For this reason as teachers lets move away from the “shoulders back and down” cue. Although this cue can and might be absolutely be useful in the right context, as a single cue it risks mixing depression, retraction, and posterior tilt, so students get all three at once. Unpack it and decide what you actually want. 

Perhaps the biggest lesson from October isn’t whether the scapula should protract, retract, anteriorly tilt or posteriorly tilt. It’s understanding that the answer is: it depends on what you’re asking the body to do.

And that’s where intelligent movement begins. As always with Chromatic, start with your intention and choose the action that best serves your students.

Chromatic Yoga is a global community. No matter where you are in the world, we hope you’ll join us this month for a deep dive into the possibilities of flexion. Share/tag/collaborate your poses on Instagram. 

 Wishing you an intentional and transformative practice, 

~Simon Darroch, Director of Projects and Initiatives

Chromatic Blogs & Through-Lines

WELCOME TO the MONTHLY THROUGH LINE

Hey Chromatic family,

This month we’re going to the center of the system, THE SPINE. Every arm balance, every twist, every forward fold and backbend is, at its root, a spinal story, and understanding that story is what separates a teacher who cues “arch your back” from one who can actually explain what’s happening, why, and how to make it feel good.

The spine is organized into five regions, cervical (7 vertebrae), thoracic (12), lumbar (5), sacrum, and coccyx. Each region has a different job, the cervical and lumbar spine are built for mobility, the thoracic spine (anchored by the rib cage) trades some mobility for stability, and the sacrum and coccyx are largely fused, transferring load down into the pelvis and legs. 

The spine’s curves are what make it strong. A perfectly straight column of 24 stacked vertebrae would be structurally unstable under load. But the spine’s natural S-curve, cervical lordosis, thoracic kyphosis, lumbar lordosis, acts like a spring, giving it dramatically more resistance to buckling and compressive force than a straight rod ever could. Those curves aren’t a flaw to “correct,” they’re the architecture that lets the spine hold you upright all day and absorb shock without breaking down.

Your discs get nutrtion through movement. The intervertebral discs have almost no direct blood supply. They get their hydration and nutrients through imbibition, a pumping action driven by changing pressure as you move, flex, extend, and breathe. A sedentary spine isn’t just “stiff,” it’s under-nourished or starving. Movement is quite literally food for the vertebral column.

This month we’re breaking the spine down into its four fundamental actions, one per week, extension, flexion, rotation, and lateral flexion. Let’s get into it.

For the newcomers to the CHROMATIC MONTHLY THROUGH LINE: In Chromatic Yoga, we like to keep things straightforward. This “Monthly Through Line” is a community initiative designed to help our Chromatic Teachers focus and intelligently design classes to best support your students. If you’re not a Chromatic Teacher yet, and are simply here out of interest, that’s great too, as you might want to find and attend a Chromatic Class in person or online and feel what its like to apply these through-lines to gain more insight in to body biomechanics and potentially access the poses in a deeper and more intelligent way.

WHAT IS A PHYSICAL THROUGH LINE? 

• A Physical Through Line is a term we use in Chromatic Yoga that is defined by the muscle engagement (e.g. engaging the glutes in Warrior 3), or the joint action (e.g. back extension in Camel) that we focus on through the duration of the yoga class. Certified Chromatic Teachers construct their classes around a PTL (Physical Through Line) in order to create a more effective learning environment for students. As a student you can expect that each Chromatic class will include a PTL. Of course, you will do other postures and other muscle engagements within a Chromatic class, however there is a strong emphasis on the PTL. 

Week 1: EXTENSION – real longevity for your body 

What It Is: In yoga, extension is often mistaken for “backbending,” but it’s far more nuanced and intelligent than simply throwing the body backward in space. Spinal extension is the lengthening and straightening of the vertebral column, drawing it into a taller, more upright, or backward-curving shape. And it isn’t the spine’s job alone, the legs (hips, knees), arms, and shoulders all participate in a well-organized extension pattern 

Key Muscles: Erector spinae, multifidi, deep core stabilizers, trapezius, and latissimus dorsi all contribute to extending and supporting the spine through its length.

Why It Matters: Most of us spend the majority of our day folded forward, seated, typing, driving, scrolling, collapsing into flexion-dominant patterns that gradually narrow our available movement options. Over time, many bodies lose not just mobility into extension, but strength, coordination, and confidence there too. Learning to extend safely transfers directly into daily life and is a real marker of long-term vitality, every time you lift your chest, look up, stand upright, or resist collapsing under load, your spinal extensors are doing the work. The goal isn’t a deeper backbend, it’s a more responsive, articulate, functional spine. Think length and lift, not just bend.  

Where it shows up: Cobra, Upward-Facing Dog, Locust (Salabhasana), Bridge, Bow, Wild Thing and Camel (Ustrasana) all draw on organized spinal extension, creating space between vertebrae, engaging the erector spinae, and using the breath to lift and expand from within, rather than compressing into the low back.

Week 2: Flexion – More than just a foward fold

What It Is: Spinal flexion is the action of rounding the spine, bringing the head, shoulders, and rib cage closer to the pelvis. 

Key Muscles:  Rectus abdominus, external and internal obliques contracting bilaterally and psoas.

Why It Matters: While we often think of this as “forward folding,” true spinal flexion involves segmental movement, especially in the cervical, thoracic and lumbar regions. It’s essential for developing core strength, awareness, and safe transitions. And simply in life when we bend over to tie our shoes. It also plays a huge role breath control as it influences diaphragm excursion and rib mobility. Just as we talked about extension being underused in our forward-folded, desk-bound lives, the flip side is true too, for many bodies, the muscles required for active flexion are weak, underused, and chronically short rather than strong. Building genuine, engaged flexion, not just passive collapse, is just as fundamental.  

Where it shows up: Balasana Childs Pose, Ananda Balasana Happy Baby, Cat, Uttanasana Standing Forward Fold, Bakasana Crow Pose, Pachimottanasana Seated Forward Fold.

Week 3: ROTATION – Find the energy in the twist

What It Is: Structurally, rotation happens when one vertebra turns relative to the one above or below it, most freely in the thoracic spine. In the asana practice it is when one side of the trunk twists forward whilst the other twists backward. True spinal rotation begins with establishing a foundation (think anchor point), then length, by lifting through the crown and broadening the chest first, to avoid the vertebrae spiral without compressing into one another.

Key Muscles: The obliques (working asymmetrically this time, rather than bilaterally as in flexion), along with the deep rotatores and multifidi, drive and stabilize the twist segment by segment. Rectus abdominus assist in stabilising twists. If we really get geeky, rhomboids and latissimus dorsi also play a part in retracting the scapular in twists. 

Why It Matters: The spine is built for both stability and mobility, and rotation is one of its most expressive movements. Healthy rotational capacity improves circulation, supports joint health, balances opposing muscle groups, and expands overall range of motion. Without it, the body stiffens, breath becomes shallow, and mobility across the whole system is compromised. Spinal rotation also creates space for deeper breathing and releases muscular tension along the entire column.

A few key principles for healthy spinal rotation, worth cueing directly to students, lift before you twist, lengthen the spine upward first, twist evenly, distribute the spiral across the thoracic spine, not just the lumbar, lead with breath, exhale to rotate deeper, inhale to create more space, ease, not force, avoid yanking or cranking with the hands, elbows, or arms, let the spine rotate naturally.

Where it shows up: Seated Twist (Ardha Matsyendrasana), Revolved Triangle, Revolved Chair, and supine twists. This week, notice how lifting before you twist transforms the whole experience of rotation, whether you’re seated, standing, or lying supine.

Week 4: LATERAL Flexion – an often left out Movement

What It Is: Lateral flexion is side-bending of the spine, the ear moving toward the shoulder, the rib cage shifting laterally, think taking the shoulder to the hip, one side of the torso lengthening while the other side shortens. It’s the plane of movement most yoga practices touch least, and the one most bodies have the least awareness of.

Key Muscles: Quadratus lumborum and the internal and external obliques (working unilaterally this time) initiate and control the side bend, with the intercostal muscles lengthening and shortening between the ribs on either side.

Why It Matters: Lateral flexion is the quiet action, it doesn’t announce itself the way a backbend or a twist does, which is exactly why it tends to get neglected in practice and in daily life. Habitual asymmetries (carrying a bag on one shoulder, favoring one side at a desk, always sleeping on the same side) create imbalances between the two sides of the torso that rarely get addressed unless we deliberately train side-bending in both directions. Practicing lateral flexion improves rib mobility and breathing capacity on each side individually, not just the front and back of the ribcage, builds proprioceptive awareness in an underused plane, and helps restore symmetry to a spine that spends most of its life moving only forward, backward, and occasionally twisting. 

Where it shows up: Half Moon (Ardha Chandrasana) in its side-bending variations, Gate Pose (Parighasana), Extended Side Angle (Utthita Parsvakonasana), and Crescent Moon side-bend all train lateral flexion, each one asking you to lengthen one side body while the other side contracts to support the bend.

Simon’s RECAP AND TIPS

I personally love the actions and engagements of the spine. In particular rotation (twists) are one of my favorite and now I love spinal extension hugely although I used to really avoid deep backbends because of how “lombar compressive” they were for me. That was until I did a heart opening (back-bending) workshop with Matt in Sweden years ago. Having someone speak the same language of anatomy and biomechanics gave me the mental understanding I needed, however the breath through was the intelligent layering of poses, and the step by step explanation of “feeling” what the spine did in each, leading up to the peak pose (full Wheel no less) that allowed me to go not just further, but safer, more open, and totally unlocked access to my spine in a way that I had never been able to prior. 

Once we understand how to create space in the vertebral column, using the breath to lift and expand, rib positioning, abdominal support, and thoracic mobility, and understand the muscles doing the work (erector spinae, multifidi, deep core stabilizers, trapezius, latissimus dorsi, and more), spinal movement starts to feel expansive rather than compressive. It’s an organized distribution of movement throughout the entire column, not one segment doing all the work.

Now for the wow factor and the anatomy and physiologogy nerds out there! The spine isn’t just an architecture, it’s a switchboard. Thirty-one pairs of spinal nerves branch out from the cord between the vertebrae, and every one of them exits through a tiny gap called an intervertebral foramen, a space that changes shape with every single movement the spine makes. Flex it, and that space opens. Extend it, rotate it, side-bend it, and it opens and closes differently on each side, at each level. This means every posture we teach isn’t just shaping muscle and bone, it’s actively changing the room available for the nerves that innervate the arms, the organs, the legs, the diaphragm, essentially the entire body. The phrenic nerve that drives your breath originates as high as the cervical spine. The nerves that fire your hamstrings and control your bladder exit down in the lumbar and sacral spine. There is no muscle, no organ, and no sensation in the body that isn’t, at some point, a spinal story first.

Movement isn’t only biomechanical, it’s neurological. When we cue a student into a well-organized extension or a segmental rotation, we aren’t just engaging or lengthening tissue, we’re actively changing the neural real estate available at every level of the cord. A spine that moves through its full range in all four directions is a spine that is, quite literally, keeping every channel of communication between brain and body open and unobstructed. That’s the real depth behind “the spine is the center of the system,” it isn’t a metaphor, it’s neuroanatomy.

Chromatic Yoga is a global community. No matter where you are in the world, we hope you’ll join us this month for a deep dive into the huge possibilities in the joint actions and associated muscle engagements related to moving one of the most important parts of our body. Share/tag/collaborate your poses on Instagram. 

 Wishing you an intentional and transformative practice in the month ahead, 

~Simon Darroch

Chromatic Blogs & Through-Lines

WELCOME TO the MONTHLY THROUGH LINE

Hey Chromatic family, it’s Simon here from Chromatic Yoga. July has flown by for me and here we are in August for the Monthly Through Line.  We’re still on anatomical exploration, focusing on muscle engagements and joint actions. This month we are going to the outer edges of our body… to the EXTREMITIES, in other words our HANDS and FEET. 

For anyone who is new here, read on about what the CHROMATIC MONTHLY THROUGH LINES are, for you regulars, skip on to the juicy stuff! 

In Chromatic Yoga, we keep things straightforward. That’s why we’ve being doing this “Monthly Through Line” community initiative for over a year now. It’s designed to help you – our Chromatic Teachers – focus and intelligently design your classes to best support your students. If you’re not a Chromatic Teacher yet, and are simply here out of interest, that’s great too, as you’ll be able to apply these through-lines to gain more insight in to body biomechanics and potentially access the poses in a deeper and more intelligent way.

WHAT IS A PHYSICAL THROUGH LINE? 

• A Physical Through Line is a term we use in Chromatic Yoga that is defined by the muscle engagement (e.g. engaging the glutes in Warrior 3), or the joint action (e.g. hip extension in Warrior 3) that we focus on through the duration of the yoga class. Certified Chromatic Teachers construct their classes around a PTL (Physical Through Line) in order to create a more effective learning environment for students. As a student you can expect that each Chromatic class will include a PTL. Of course, you will do other postures and other muscle engagements within a Chromatic class, however there is a strong emphasis on the PTL.

FOUNDATIONS – OUR HANDS AND FEET

Building Stability from the Ground Up

This month we shift our attention to the two parts of the body that connect us most directly to the world around us: our hands and our feet.

Every standing posture begins with the feet. Every arm balance and inversion begins with the hands, and many transitions use both.

They are our foundation.

Yet despite their importance, we often overlook them. We stretch our hamstrings, mobilise our hips and strengthen our shoulders, while our wrists and ankles quietly do thousands of repetitions every single day without much attention.

Chromatic Yoga encourages us to develop intelligent functional sequences and practices. Strong, mobile hands and feet don’t simply prevent injury, they create better force transfer throughout the entire kinetic chain. A stronger foot creates a stronger leg. A stronger hand creates a stronger shoulder.

This month we’ll explore four fundamental joint actions and their associated muscle engagements that form the basis of almost every yoga practice:

• Week 1 – Wrist Flexion
• Week 2 – Wrist Extension
• Week 3 – Ankle Plantar Flexion
• Week 4 – Ankle Dorsiflexion

Rather than simply stretching these positions, we’ll also investigate active mobility, isometric strength, and resisted loading, helping the nervous system gain true ownership of these ranges of motion.

Week 1: wrist Flexion 

What It Is: Wrist flexion occurs when the palm moves toward the inner forearm. Make a fist, and curl your fist inward toward your inner forearm to feel your wrist flexors light up. I remember this by a visual of Popeye’s forearms and alliteration – F fingers to F forearm for F flexion. That might help you also 🙂 

Key Muscles:  Flexor Carpi Radialis, Flexor Carpi Ulnaris, Palmaris Longus, Flexor Digitorum Superficialis and Profondis .

Why It Matters: In yoga we spend enormous amounts of time loading the wrist into extension – think Downward Dog, Plank, Chaturanga, Crow and Handstand. Ironically, very few people might actively train the opposite movement of flexion.  While flexion may appear less glamorous than extension, flexion plays an very important role in balancing the musculature of the forearm, maintaining healthy tendons, and improving grip strength. And with out active flexion and engaging those muscles through the action of pressing your palm in to your mat and gripping your fingers, arm balances would most likely leave you flat on your face! 

Where it shows up: Literally any time your hands are on your mat your have the opportunity to work on the muscle engagement of flexion to oppose the joint action of extension. Think Downdog, Plank, Chaturanga, Cobra, Updog, Side Plank… the joint action of the wrist is in extension, however by pressing the palm down and dragging the palm and fingers tips toward the inner forearm, the muscle engagement is wrist flexion.  

Week 2: WRIST EXTENSION 

What It Is: Bringing the back of your hand toward the top of your forearm is wrist extension. 

Key Muscles: Extensor Carpi Radialis Longus (ECRL), Extensor Carpi Radialis Brevis (ECRB), Extensor Carpi Ulnaris (ECU) 

Why It Matters: Every time we place our hands on the floor, the wrists become weight-bearing joints. Healthy wrist extension requires more than flexibility, it requires joint mobility and muscular endurance. Rather than collapsing in to the base of the palm, one of the biggest improvements we can give students is to help them distribute pressure evenly through the fingertips, knuckles and heel of the hand. 

Where it shows up: Crow, Side Plank, Handstand, Downward dog, Wild Thing.  

Week 3: ankle plantar flexion

What It Is: Simply think pointing your foot, or planting and pressing the ball of your foot down and away from you. Like when you “plant” your foot down on your mat and imagine you are pressing the ground away. In every day life, think pressing the gas peddle of your car, or the brake or clutch if you drive stick! If you are in to high heels, your ankle is definitely in plantar flexion in high heels.   

Key Muscles: Gastrocnemius, Soleus,Tibialis Posterior, Flexor Hallucis Longus, Peroneals

Why It Matters: Plantar flexion helps create propulsion during walking, jumping and running, while in yoga it contributes to stability, balance and control. 

Where it shows up: Literally any time you heels are lifted or you are pressing the ball mound of your foot away from you or down in to your mat, you are automatically in plantar flexion. So any time you rise to standing, or lean in to any standing balance postures, we’re in plantar flexion. It shows up in many transitions, think moving from Downdog to High Plank, or anytime you are stepping forward from Downdog to a lunge prep, or jumping forward to the top of your mat. The back foot is generally always in plantar flexion in a Crescent Lunge/High Lunge position, and if we are actively cueing pressing the front foot ball down mound into your mat, then we are doubling up with back and front feet plantar flexion.

Week 4: ankle dorsi flexion

What It Is: When you pull the top of your foot up toward your shin. It also happens every time the tibia (shin bone) travels forward over the foot, for example during walking, squatting, and lunging. Often also thought of as a flexibility issue, dorsiflexion is equally a matter of strength, motor control and load tolerance.   

Key Muscles: Tibialis Anterior, Extensor Hallucis Longus (EHL) [+big toe extender], Extensor Digitorum Longus (EDL) [+toes 2-5 extender], Fibularis (Peroneus) Tertius

Why It Matters: Restricted dorsiflexion can lead to compensation elsewhere in the body, including excessive pronation of the foot, knee valgus (bowing) and reduced squat depth. 

Where it shows up: Think Yogic Squat – Malasana, Chair Pose, Warrior 1 and 2, Pyramid Pose and standing transitions. 

Simon’s RECAP AND TIPS

As always with Chromatic, how you want to apply to joint actions or muscle engagements in your class starts with your intention. I always ask myself this before teaching.  

Chromatic Yoga is a global community. No matter where you are in the world, we hope you’ll join us this month for a deep dive into the possibilities of flexion. Share/tag/collaborate your poses and teachings on Instagram. 

 Wishing you an intentional and transformative practice, 

~Simon Darroch, Director of Projects and Initiatives

Chromatic Blogs & Through-Lines

WELCOME TO the MONTHLY THROUGH LINE

Hey Chromatic family, it’s Simon here from Chromatic Yoga. It’s July 2026 and for most of us (in the northern hemisphere anyway) its a roasting hot summer! In amongst the heat and the holidays, here’s this month’s Physical Through Line. We’re still in to deep anatomical exploration, keeping our focus on muscle engagements and joint actions. After spending the month of June exploring extension, we now turn our attention to its equally important and often totally forgotten-about counterpart… FLEXION

For anyone who is new here, read on about what the CHROMATIC MONTHLY THROUGH LINES are, for you regulars, skip on to the juicy stuff! 

In Chromatic Yoga, we keep things straightforward. That’s why we’ve being doing this “Monthly Through Line” community initiative for over a year now. It’s designed to help you – our Chromatic Teachers – focus and intelligently design your classes to best support your students. If you’re not a Chromatic Teacher yet, and are simply here out of interest, that’s great too, as you’ll be able to apply these through-lines to gain more insight in to body biomechanics and potentially access the poses in a deeper and more intelligent way.

WHAT IS A PHYSICAL THROUGH LINE? 

• A Physical Through Line is a term we use in Chromatic Yoga that is defined by the muscle engagement (e.g. engaging the glutes in Warrior 3), or the joint action (e.g. hip extension in Warrior 3) that we focus on through the duration of the yoga class. Certified Chromatic Teachers construct their classes around a PTL (Physical Through Line) in order to create a more effective learning environment for students. As a student you can expect that each Chromatic class will include a PTL. Of course, you will do other postures and other muscle engagements within a Chromatic class, however there is a strong emphasis on the PTL.

Flexion – so MORE THAN a passive movement

In yoga, flexion is often reduced to forward folds and further more passive flexion/forward folds. However nice they may feel for many, spinal flexion is far more intelligent and versatile than simply bringing your chest towards your thighs passively. In fact, there is a world of active flexion to explore that brings a huge amount of functional benefit to our bodies – think abs (generic) and hip flexors. Shoulder flexion allows us to reach overhead. Hip flexion powers every squat and step. Knee flexion absorbs force and creates locomotion. Spinal flexion helps us distribute load and move with adaptability...

In reality, it’s one of the body’s most fundamental movement strategies. Every time we pick something up from the floor, bend over to tie our trainers, climb a hill, hug someone, squat down, reach up to an overhead cupboard, or absorb force during landing, flexion is playing a role.

Biomechanically, flexion decreases the angle between two body segments, but in practice it represents far more than a joint action. Flexion allows us to generate force, absorb load, create stability, and move efficiently through our environment.

Like extension, flexion rarely happens in isolation. Different joints contribute in different amounts depending on the movement, and understanding those relationships allows us to teach movement with greater precision.

This month we’ll explore how FLEXION expresses itself through the SPINE, SHOULDER, HIP and KNEE, discovering that sometimes the ability to move well isn’t about creating more space, it’s about knowing when and how to close it.

Week 1: Spinal Flexion – More Than a Forward Fold

What It Is: Spinal flexion is the action of rounding the spine, bringing the head, shoulders, and rib cage closer to the pelvis. 

Key Muscles:  Rectus abdominus, external and internal obliques when both side contract equally together.

Why It Matters: While we often think of this as “forward folding,” true spinal flexion involves segmental movement, especially in the cervical, thoracic and lumbar regions. It’s essential for developing core strength, awareness, and safe transitions. And simply in life when we bend over to tie our shoes. It also plays a huge role breath control as it influences diaphragm excursion and rib mobility. Just as we spoke last month about the importance of extension in our current desk based or predominantly sedentary biased lifestyle, active spinal flexion is fundamental where the muscles required for flexion are weak, underused and typically short.  

Where it shows up: Balasana Childs Pose, Ananda Balasana Happy Baby, Cat, Uttanasana Standing Forward Fold, Bakasana Crow Pose, Pachimottanasana Seated Forward Fold.

Week 2: Shoulder Flexion – Reaching with Intelligence

What It Is: Shoulder flexion happens when you lift your arms forward and overhead, as in Urdhva Hastasana or Downward Dog. It’s a major component of sun salutations, inversions, and any pose that involves overhead reach. Flexion at the shoulder is often limited by tightness or misalignment in the thoracic spine or lats, so awareness and support are key.

Key Muscles: Gluteus medius/minimus, tensor fasciae latae, sartorius

Why It Matters: Reaching overhead is one of the most undertrained but essential human motions. True shoulder flexion requires coordination of scapular, thoracic spine and ribcage positioning, therefore in reality, it is not an isolated joint action, but a multi segment joint pattern. 

Where it shows up: Downdog, Low Lunge, High Lunge, Handstand..

Week 3: Hip Flexion – Finding Freedom at the Front

What It Is: When the thigh moves toward the torso, like raising the leg or a knee in Tadasana (open chain) or kicking the thighs toward the ribs in Uttanasana forward fold (closed chain). It’s the basis for countless yoga poses, from Warrior III (standing leg) to Boat Pose, and also essential for seated postures and transitions. 

Key Muscles: Hip flexors (iliopsoas, rectus femoris, sartorius), with core support.

Why It Matters: Powers forward folds, hip lifts, and leg raises, creates length in the back body while protecting the lumbar if balanced with posterior tilt. With the general person having weak and or tight hip flexors from prolonged sitting, working with active and passive hip flexion helps bring functional benefit to their body. 

Where it shows up: Feel it in High Lunge (back leg pulling foward), Boat Pose, and Standing Knee-to-Chest, UHP A and Standing Splits, supine leg lifts. Explore controlled flexion without gripping the front body..

Week 4: Knee Flexion – Creating FUNCTIONAL Movement

What It Is: Flexion of the knee bends the leg, drawing the heel toward the buttocks.

Key Muscles: all the hamstrings (biceps femoris, semitendinosus, semimembranosus), whilst gastrocnemius, popliteus, gracilis and sartorius are important assisting muscles

Why It Matters: Knee flexion builds mobility and strength in the hamstrings and therefore contributes to the posterior chain, allowing safe deepening in forward folds, squats, and binds, as well as controlled transitions. In Yoga we stretch the hamstrings a lot, activating it in various poses helps create strength in the length, something that is so often missed. 

Where it shows up: 3 legged down with the lifted knee flexed, Skandasana, the back leg in King Pigeon, Twisted Monkey/Lizard with back knee flexed, Supported Bridge Settubandhasana pulling the heels toward the buttocks/shoulders. 

Check out this video created especially for you by Rebecca Doring, president of the Board of Chromatic Yoga, giving you a week by week break down of each of this months actions, as well as pose suggestions, biomechanical and anatomical insights.  

Simon’s RECAP AND TIPS

One of my favourite aspects of teaching flexion is that it encourages us to move beyond the idea that every forward fold should simply be “deeper.” Instead, ask yourself: Where is the flexion actually happening? How can I intelligently apply the action or engagement to add value, education and awareness to the students body and mind, and aid in a transformative experience.  

As Chromatic teachers, we have an opportunity to teach and educate joint actions or muscle engagements rather than simply instructing poses.

Take Uttanasana. Throw out a passive forward fold and ask, is today’s intention active spinal flexion using the abdominal muscles, while maintaining relatively less hip flexion? Or perhaps today’s objective is to bias hip flexion while encouraging students to minimise movement through the spine. The posture stays the same, but the lesson completely changes.

The same is true throughout the month. In Child’s Pose you might investigate active spinal flexion by cueing students to gently press the hands into the floor until they feel the abdominals engage. In Dolphin or Headstand, shoulder flexion becomes an opportunity to explore the relationship between the rib cage and scapulae. In Malasana, hip flexion becomes less about depth and more about creating action and engagement through organised movement.

Chromatic Yoga is a global community. No matter where you are in the world, we hope you’ll join us this month for a deep dive into the possibilities of flexion. Share/tag/collaborate your poses on Instagram. 

 Wishing you an intentional and transformative practice, 

~Simon Darroch, Director of Projects and Initiatives

Chromatic Blogs & Through-Lines

WELCOME TO the MONTHLY THROUGH LINE

Ciaoooo Chromatic family, it’s Simon and I’m excited to be back here with you for this month’s Through Line.

A big thanks to Patrick for picking up the baton and expertly preparing the past two monthly through-line blogs. And if you haven’t yet checked out last month’s blog on the ELEMENTS, specifically the kineseo-elemental lines in Chromatic Yoga, it’s definitely worth having a gander at that.

So I’m back with you after having had the pleasure and honor of hosting and assisting Rebecca Doring in teaching the very first Chromatic Level 1 certification held outside of the US. The training took place in the beautiful Valpolicella region of Italy, and what an amazing group it was! On that note, if you’re interested in diving deeper into Chromatic trainings, be sure to check out the Chromatic Instagram page for information on upcoming trainings running from June onwards including a totally new course offering for teachers on Functional Adjustments.

Back to the Through Line: this month, we’re swinging back into deep anatomical exploration, bringing our focus once again to muscle engagements and joint actions. Our theme for the month is…

Extension – The Architecture of Expansion

In Yoga, extension is often only mistaken for “backbending.” But extension is far more intelligent, nuanced, and essential than simply throwing the body backward in space. It’s not just what the entire length of the spine does, but the legs (hips and knee), the arms and shoulders as well.  

Extension is hugely powerful and provides the body with it’s capacity to create reach, propulsion, support, and spaciousness. It is how we stand upright against gravity, how we generate locomotion, how we rise from the floor, climb stairs, accelerate into movement, and orient ourselves toward the world around us. It is also fundamentally important for longevity and vitality as we get older. 

And yet modern life rarely asks us to access extension well.

We spend much of our time folded forward – seated, typing, driving, scrolling, collapsing into flexion-dominant patterns that gradually narrow our available movement options. Over time, many bodies begin to lose not only mobility into extension, but also strength, coordination, and confidence there.

Across the next four weeks, we’ll investigate how extension expresses itself through the spine, shoulder, hip, and knee – and how refining these actions can dramatically influence posture, balance, gait (stride,walking, running etc) mechanics, transitions, and overall movement efficiency both on and off the mat. 

Check out the gem of a video at the bottom of the page from Rebecca Doring giving you a week by week break down of the actions of Extension, as well as pose suggestions, biomechanical and anatomical insights.

Here we go!

Week 1: SPINE – Beyond the backbend

We begin at the center of the system: the spine.

As we know the spine is divided in to 5 sections – cervical, thoracic, lombar, sacrum and coccyx. Extension of the spine is when all or any of these individual sections arches. Just to get the idea clear in your mind think poses like Cow facing pose, Cobra, Upward Facing Dog. I find that the category of backbends – spinal extension – is a love-hate relationship. Many students and practitioners may shy away or even be fearful as a result of feeling compression in the lower back, feeling “stuck”,  or thinking that spinal extension is reduced to dramatic yoga postures like Wheel, Bow or Camel. Whereas others thrive in the expression of backbends. Personally learning how to approach backbends from a Chromatic lens totally opened up backbends for me and removed the discomfort I had regarding them. 

Once we learn how to create space in the vertebral column, using the breath to lift and expand, rib positioning, abdominal support, and thoracic mobility, understand the role of the muscles involved – erector spinae, multifidi, deep core support, trapezius, latissimus dorsi (and more!) we realize extension can feel soooo expansive rather than compressive. It is an organized distribution of movement throughout the vertebral column. 

Think length and lift. 

Learning how to safely back bend transfers over to daily life and is especially important in long term longevity and vitality. Every time you lift your chest, orient your gaze forward, look up, stand upright, or resist collapsing under load, spinal extensors are at work. 

The goal isn’t necessarily a deeper backbend. It’s building body awareness and intelligence to create a more responsive, articulate and functional spine.

Week 2 : SHOULDER – explore the hidden range of motion

Most movement practices emphasize what happens in front of the body: reaching forward, lifting overhead, pulling downward. But shoulder extension asks us to move into the often-forgotten territory behind us.

Extension of the arm occurs when the arm moves back – posteriorly – relative to the torso – simply put, any time we take the arms back in poses like Locust, Reverse Plank, any bound variations like Humble Warrior, airplane arms and many transitional weight-bearing shapes.

Shoulder extension demands more than mobility. It requires coordination between the shoulder joint, scapular movement, thoracic positioning, and chest expansion. Without that coordination, the body often compensates through rib flaring, forward head posture, or shoulder compression.

Developing shoulder extension can improve postural balance, strengthen the posterior shoulder complex, and create more freedom in binds, inversions, and backbending patterns. Main muscle movers are the rear/posterior deltoids, triceps and latissmus dorsi. 

Week 3: HIP – the engine of human movement 

If there is one extension pattern that defines human locomotion, it is hip extension.

This  is the action of taking the leg and thigh back either literally in space (open chain), think lifting your foot and pulling the leg back as if you were preparing to kick a ball; or whilst standing on your leg, attempting to kick the leg back whilst it is fixed (closed chain). For example, every step we take requires the ability to drive the femur behind the pelvis while coordinating stability through the trunk and standing leg.

In a Yoga context, the lifted leg in Dancers Pose, Airplane, Chapasana or Warrior 3. 

Due to desk based work, prolonged sitting tends to reduce both access to hip extension and the body’s ability to load into it, and activate the prime muscle movers and associated muscles of the hamstrings and gluteus efficiently.

What happens when the glutes fail to contribute effectively? Why does the lumbar spine often compensate? How do hamstrings, adductors, hip flexors, and pelvic orientation influence the quality of extension?

Using standing postures, balances, lunges, supine and prone work, opens up a world of potential poses, actions and engagements showing how hip extension shows up on the mat, and contributes to propulsion, grounding, and force transfer through the entire body both on and then off the mat.

Rather than simply “squeezing the glutes,” we’ll investigate how to create hip extension that feels integrated, stable, and sustainable.

Week 4: KNEE – structural support for the knee

Knee extension may seem simple – just straighten the leg. But as with most joint actions, the deeper story is far more interesting. 

Efficient knee extension depends on a finely coordinated relationship between the various muscles of the quadriceps, hamstrings, calf complex, pelvis, and foot. It influences standing posture, gait mechanics, shock absorption, balance, and energy transfer throughout the body.

This week, we’ll encourage you to look closely at what it actually means to “straighten” the knee and how it shows up in different poses. It shows up in Tadasana, and in any standing balance in the leg on the mat – think Half Moon, Standing Hand to Big Toe, Warrior 3 and so on – as well as Triangle, and, get this Side Plank!  Important note is that the knee should never be locked or hyperextended – extension is a controlled engagement of the quadriceps. 

The are 4 main muscles of the quadriceps – you can go research them for yourself now as an exercise or stay tuned for them coming up later – and each of them can be isolated depending on the pose you are working. For example Chair pose solicits different quadricep activation compared to Goddess Pose, Skandasana or an active Malasana. Where pressure is applied in the foot also has a ripple effect on the quadriceps. Try it in your body to feel the difference.  

my personal closing thoughts AND TIPS for CHROMATIC TEACHERS:

Extension has always been one of my favourite Through Lines to teach because it offers almost endless opportunities for exploration, intelligent sequencing and impacting our students. I personally love teaching the muscle peak engagements as my intention is building not just flexible bodies but muscularly functionally strong and aware bodies – and there is no better category of movement in my opinion that does that.

While we’ve separated extension into the spine, shoulders, hips, and knees throughout the month, the reality is that these actions rarely exist in isolation. The more you look for extension, the more you’ll start seeing it everywhere.

One of the things I’d encourage you to play with as this month progresses is layering. Rather than viewing poses as belonging to a single category, explore how multiple extension actions can coexist within the same shape. In Upward Facing Dog, for example, we can investigate spinal extension, hip extension, knee extension and shoulder extension. Suddenly, one posture becomes a rich laboratory for investigation. There are many other poses where this applies. 

You can also get creative by changing orientation and exploring extension through different relationships to gravity. Chapasana provides a wonderful example, combining spinal extension, shoulder extension, hip extension, and an active kicking action of the foot into the hand. Bridge Pose offers another interesting lens: what happens when extension is explored from a supine position? What changes when you flip extension onto its side through Half Bow variations? Can you find elements of extension hidden inside seemingly simple shapes? Turn Tadasana around and have a look. 😉

Within the shoulder extension realm, when considering poses, remember to take in to consideration not just the arms going back, but how and in what final position do the arms – and shoulders – land so you can consider what other mechanical components of the arm-shoulder-scapula interplay need to be taken in to account. 

As Chromatic teachers, I’d also encourage you to start exploring open-chain and closed-chain expressions of extension. How does a student’s experience differ when they are actively producing force versus simply moving into or out of a shape? What changes when extension becomes a driver of force or strength, stability, balance, and locomotion?

Don’t overlook knee extension as it plays a significant role in standing balance, transitions, and efficient movement. Every time a student rises from the floor, steps into a lunge, stands up into High Lunge or Warrior II, or moves from a lower to a higher position, knee extension is helping make that happen. Developing awareness and strength here often pays dividends throughout the entire practice. 

Most importantly, stay curious. The goal isn’t simply to teach extension. It’s to use extension as a lens through which to better understand movement itself, and how it applies to the asana practice and our bodies.

One of our biggest goals as the Chromatic Board is to expand the Chromatic Yoga global community and make it a thriving bubbling hub of collaboration and knowledge sharing for us all. No matter where you are in the world, we hope you’ll join us this June for a deep dive into the vast possibilities of Extension available in your body. Remember to tag the Chromatic page when you post on the ‘gram! 

Wishing you an intentional and transformational practice, and month ahead…

~Simon Darroch Chromatic Yoga 

Chromatic Blogs & Through-Lines

WELCOME TO MONTHLY THROUGH LINES

Hello Chromatic family,

Patrick Heffernan here – I’m writing to you this month from the wild, beach-fringed jungles of the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica, where I’ve been practicing with Matt Giordano, the founder of Chromatic Yoga. After months of deep anatomical exploration, we’re making a bold shift for May. Instead of our usual focus on muscle lines and joint mechanics alone, we’re opening the doors to something more elemental, more alive: the Elements themselves.

Earth. Water. Fire. Air.

These are not just poetic ideas—they are the living energies that have shaped yoga for thousands of years and that pulse through every Chromatic practice. Each week of May we will embody one element completely, letting its unique quality color our movement, our breath, and our awareness. The result is a month that feels less like “technique class” and more like a living conversation with the forces that make us human.

Here’s how the elements reveal themselves in our practice:

Week One: Earth – Grounding, Foundation, Stability

The Earth element is exactly what it sounds like: solid, steady, and profoundly supportive. It is the quality that lets us feel held by the ground beneath us so we can rise without fear.

In Chromatic Yoga we call this the Earth Line. It lives in the hips, knees, ankles, toes, and lower spine. Its signature actions are posterior pelvic tilt, hip extension, external rotation, knee flexion, and strong grounding through the feet. Think of the deep, quiet strength you feel in Uttanasana with a strong posterior tilt, Warrior III, King Pigeon, or Flying Pigeon. The muscles that power this line—gluteus maximus, hamstrings, piriformis, adductors, gastrocnemius, soleus, and the deep toe flexors—create a sense of rootedness that travels all the way up the spine.

When we practice Earth, we remember: stability is not stiffness; it is the unshakable base from which everything else can grow.

Week Two: Water – Flow, Adaptability, and Emotional Wisdom

Water is never rigid. It moves, shapes itself to whatever contains it, and carries emotion like a river carries life. This element is deeply connected to the sacral chakra—our center of creativity, fluidity, and feeling.

The Water Line in Chromatic Yoga mirrors this perfectly. It shares some of the same lower-body joints as Earth, but the actions flip: anterior pelvic tilt, hip flexion, internal rotation, adduction and abduction, knee extension, ankle dorsiflexion and eversion. Forward folds (standing, wide-legged, seated), Eagle Pose, Crow variations, Side Crow, and Boat Pose all ask us to surrender, adapt, and flow. The key muscles—hip flexors, quadriceps, adductors, gluteus medius/minimus, tibialis anterior, and the toe extensors—teach us graceful strength through movement rather than force.

Water week reminds us that true power often looks like softness. When emotion arises on the mat, we don’t resist it—we let it move through us like a wave.

Week Three: Fire – Action, Transformation, Heat, and Intensity

Fire is the great transformer. It burns away what no longer serves us and forges something new. It brings heat, focus, and the spark of change.

This is the Fire Line—a dynamic upper-body and core expression that also engages the spine, hips, shoulders, elbows, wrists, and fingers. The primary actions are spinal flexion and rotation, scapular protraction, shoulder flexion and horizontal adduction, elbow extension, and forearm pronation. Arm balances, revolved postures, deep core work, Side Plank, and Boat Pose become our playground. Muscles like serratus anterior, pectoralis major, anterior deltoids, rectus abdominis, obliques, and the hip flexors light up the center of the body and create that unmistakable internal heat.

Fire week is where we stop playing small. We lean into intensity, embrace the burn, and let transformation happen—sometimes uncomfortably, always powerfully.

Week Four: Air – Lightness, Expansion, and Freedom

Air is the lightest element—ethereal, spacious, and uplifting. It invites us to expand, to open the heart, and to feel unburdened.

The Air Line celebrates spinal extension, scapular retraction, shoulder extension and external rotation, elbow flexion, and the beautiful backbend shapes we all crave. Half Camel, full Camel, Bow, Dancer, Wild Thing, Scorpion, and Revolved Bound Half Moon are signature poses. The muscles that create this lift—spinal extensors, quadratus lumborum, rhomboids, trapezius, posterior deltoids, infraspinatus, teres minor, gluteus maximus, hamstrings, and biceps—literally pull us upward and outward.

Air week is pure joy. After three weeks of grounding, flowing, and burning, we finally soar.

Throughout May we will move through these four elemental qualities not as separate chapters but as one continuous story. You’ll feel the Earth steady you so the Water can flow. The Fire will transform what needs to change, and the Air will lift you into new possibility.

Chromatic teachers globally are teaching these themes live throughout the month. Join a class in person or online and let the elements move through you.

The elements are already inside you. This May, we simply remember.

With grounded feet, flowing heart, fiery spirit, and open sky,

Patrick Heffernan Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, May 2026 Chromatic Yoga

Chromatic Blogs & Through-Lines