A monthly newsletter that explores all things Yoga – from adjusting your asana to discussing philosophy – and how to make all of it your own.

Happy November!

Hello Reader,

I used to work for a massage therapist, and he always called this time of year "shoulder season" – when we start hunching in against the cold, ducking our heads from the winds, and generally tensing up. (Could be holiday stress anticipation? Hmm...)

No matter what has you turtling those shoulders up by your ears, I hope you make some time to ease down as well. Maybe that's cozying up by a fire with a good book; maybe it's spending time with loved ones; maybe it's going to a yoga class and sweating it out. However you unwind, do it mindfully, as we're gearing up for the race towards the new year, and all that entails.

For me, part of that race is the race to complete the much-promised philosophy course. The pieces are coming together, but despite my best efforts, it might not drop until the new year. This is the first place you'll hear about it, so stay tuned, and in the meantime, here's a fun puzzle for you:

Answer at the bottom!

Prenatal Yoga Continues!

If you're pregnant (or know someone who is), I strongly recommend checking out prenatal yoga. Prenatal yoga teaches you to trust your body, which is essential throughout pregnancy and heading into birth. Movement supports mama and baby's health, before, during, and after delivery, and many students say they find the breathwork or yoga movements essential tools for getting through.

This class is offered Saturdays, 11:15am-12:30pm, at The Yoga Tree in Fremont!

Anatomy Spotlight: Shoulder Girdle
vs Shoulder Joint

Did you know your shoulder joint only has about 30º of movement? Yet we can move our arms in a 360º arc… 🤔 This mobility is due to the shoulder girdle working with the shoulder joint.

The ball and socket joint we think of at the shoulder is the glenohumeral (GH) joint – the place where the “ball” of the upper arm bone (humerus) meets the “socket”, or glenoid fossa, a flat surface located on the shoulder blade. It’s held together with various soft tissues, like cartilage, ligaments, and the rotator cuff muscles.

Meanwhile, the shoulder girdle circles the ribcage, and is made up of the collarbone and scapula. It has seventeen muscles securing it to the arm and torso, and its mobility is where the majority of our range of motion comes from.

Try reaching without moving your shoulder blades. How far can you get, really?

Pose Breakdown: Shoulder Blades
In Chaturanga Prep

Because the scapulae, collarbones, GH joints, and all their supporting muscles interact with amazing complexity, there is great opportunity for injury in Chaturanga. I firmly believe that this is an advanced pose that we can’t instinctively breeze through; lots of practice goes into balancing our core engagement with the shoulder girdle to prevent soft tissues getting pinched between the GH joint and the girdle. Taking time to learn your ‘yoga push up’ form, from Tabletop to Low Plank, will pay off over time.

Let’s start with one actionable step – recruiting shoulder blades in Chaturanga Prep.

Practice setup: Tabletop, hands wide enough for carrying angle, fingers turned out, biceps rotating forward so upper arms are parallel, elbows over wrists (briefly).

As torso lowers in space, collarbones stay reaching forward (see image, blue), and low ribs pull in (yellow). Shoulder blades need to connect in towards your ribs both on your back (securing onto ribcage, shown in yellow) and around the sides (wrapping in and around, shown in black, helping make more space, yellow arrows). Hands root (purple) and pull back against earth as crown of head reaches forward. Elbows pull inward to stay parallel, and they bend back (green). (If you’ve heard 90º, know it’s an arbitrary measurement; go to your comfort depth.)

Philosophy: Kleshas - Rāga & Dveṣa

In The Yoga Sutras, five kleshas are noted as causes of suffering – misperceptions that plague us. Raga is the third klesha, and dvesha is the fourth: attachment and aversion, respectively.

To get to the heart of these kleshas, we must remember that they are sourced in the root of misunderstanding. When we desire or avoid something outside of us, believing that it causes pleasure or pain, our core mistake is that a specific “thing” has the power to create anything in us. Our reactions to objects, situations, or people are results of our interpretation of the thing, not the thing itself. We can strive to become more neutral.

Don’t collapse neutrality with a gray, boring, emotionless life, however. Yoga wants us to move towards joy - we simply have to remember that the experience of happiness is internally generated, not the result of outside, ever-changing circumstances.

Answer: B) Tense up shoulder muscles and soften jaw

Thanks for joining me!

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