your organs want a massage, so take a yoga class | yoga chicago | groupon
TRANSCRIPT
3/6/14 5:08 PMYour Organs Want a Massage, So Take a Yoga Class | Yoga Chicago | Groupon
Page 1 of 4http://www.groupon.com/articles/your-organs-want-a-massage-so-take-a-yoga-class-sb
Food & Drink Style & Beauty Arts & Leisure
GR OUPON GUIDE TO CH ICAGO
| | | | | |
Home ! Chicago ! Style & Beauty ! Your Organs Want a Massage, So Take a Yoga Class
Your Organs Want a Massage, So Take a Yoga Class0LikeLike ShareShare 0 TweetTweet 0BY: NATHALIE LAGERFELD | 3.6.2014 |
Yoga isn’t just about stretching your muscles. Moksha Yoga teacher Shanna Linn explains how it
affects the rest of your anatomy—yes, even your spleen.
When Shanna Linn was training as a yoga teacher 15 years ago, one of her mentors suggested she
take an anatomy class. “We all said, oh, yeah, that sort of makes sense,” Linn recalls.
But the anatomy classes that Linn could find covered few topics relevant to yoga practice. A class
at Northwestern University, for example, dwelled on the evolution of primate versus human
hands. The anatomy program at the Chicago School of Massage Therapy didn’t help much either.
“[Massage therapy] is a profession that I deeply value, but it did not tell you what you needed to
know for a yoga practice, which is very, very active,” says Linn, who has since earned a
professional massage certification. “You walk out of massage school, and you have no idea what
muscles you use to go up and down steps.”
HEALTH & FITNESS DEALS
CorePower Yoga
$69 for One Month of Unlimited Yoga Cl...
$69 $195
"Multiple Locations
Bikram Yoga River North
$29 for 10 Bikram Yoga Classes or One ...
$29 $150
"Bikram Yoga River North
All Deals Local Goods Getaways Reserve Freebies Women Lead
# $ " Chicago, IL SIGN IN SIGN UP% CART
3/6/14 5:08 PMYour Organs Want a Massage, So Take a Yoga Class | Yoga Chicago | Groupon
Page 2 of 4http://www.groupon.com/articles/your-organs-want-a-massage-so-take-a-yoga-class-sb
Unable to find a class that would complement her yoga training, Linn set out to create her own.
The most recent session of her Anatomy for Yoga Teachers course wraps up next week at Moksha
Yoga Center’s West Bucktown location (2528 W. Armitage Ave.). Here, she shares a few insights
from her course to help beginner yogis better understand the practice’s effect on their bodies.
Connective Tissue: Your Body’s Stretchable Strapping Tape
When you’re in a position often—say, hunched over a computer at work—your body tries to
“help you” by laying down connective tissue that holds you there “like strapping tape,” Linn says.
When too much of it builds up, it constrains the whole body, like a suit that has shrunk in the
wash.
Yoga restores range of motion by shaking up the positions we’re in day-to-day. This helps stretch
connective tissues that have shortened over time due to lack of use.
Joints: Know Your Limits
As you test the limits of your body’s range of motion, it’s important to keep in mind what your
body is incapable of doing as well. Being aware of the different types of joints in the body can help
out with this, Linn says.
For instance, one of the most misunderstood joints is the spine. In sinovial joints like the knee
and elbow, the bones don’t actually touch; the small space between them is filled with fluid that
helps them move smoothly and freely. By contrast, the vertebrae in the spine are only slightly
mobile—Linn asks her students to imagine “a broomstick that’s been cut apart and glued back
together.” Too much twisting can put pressure on that glue, causing slipped or herniated disks.
This is especially true of the lower back, which can’t twist at all.
It would be great if we were all capable of deep, human-pretzel-like twists. But it’s important to
pay attention to pain signals from the body, and limit motion when necessary. “If you think about
a cat or dog, they will typically not [move] beyond their tolerance,” Linn says. “For us, because we
can do decision-based behavior, we can override the logic […] of our own body.”
Internal Organs: Even Spleens Like a Massage
Most structures in our bodies evolved when humans were four-legged creatures, and had to
adapt when our ape ancestors started to walk upright. The spine, for instance, isn’t really
designed to support the torso’s full weight; in a four-legged animal, it hangs horizontally and acts
like “a suspension bridge,” able to swing freely from side to side.
Our two-legged lifestyle has had an impact on our internal organs as well. The vertical stacking of
human organs—which Linn compares to “10 sandbags and four water balloons”—keeps them
more sedentary than they should be. “Organs love to be massaged and jostled in little ways,” she
says. “They don’t want to be stuck on top of each other and never moving.” Twisting yoga poses
can help solve this problem by literally wringing out the internal organs like washcloths. Besides
feeling good, the pressure also helps squeeze out built-up toxins.
Lungs: Better Breath, Calmer Mind
Not all anatomy lessons revolve around muscle diagrams and model skeletons. Some of the most
3/6/14 5:08 PMYour Organs Want a Massage, So Take a Yoga Class | Yoga Chicago | Groupon
Page 3 of 4http://www.groupon.com/articles/your-organs-want-a-massage-so-take-a-yoga-class-sb
The Upside to Endless Winter?Marni’s Dyed Furs Are Sti...
Decorate Like Don Draperand the Dalai Lama
On the Red Carpet, Navy Is theNew Black
0LikeLike ShareShare 0 TweetTweet 0
important concepts in Linn’s class have to do with an invisible subject: air.
“Breath is the connection to the nervous system,” she says. “Change the way you’re breathing,
change your mind.” Because our bodies have no capability to store oxygen, we feel the effects of
even a tiny increase in our supply. Just a few minutes of deeper, more conscious breathing can
bring increased calm and focus. That calm, in turn, helps release muscular tension, increasing
range of motion so students can move into deeper poses. It’s a chain reaction powerful enough
to make or break a yoga practice.
Mental clarity, after all, is the ultimate goal. “We do the body part to get us comfortable enough
that we can sit, and then we do the breath work so […] the mind becomes still,” Linn says. That
stillness—not bending yourself into a perfect circle—is the point of going to yoga class.
RELATED READS
HEALTH & FITNESS DEALS See all Health & Fitness deals
Nature Yoga
10 or 15 Classes at Nature Yoga (Up to...
$29 $140
"Wicker Park
1 On 1 Health Fitness
Yoga, Bootcamp, and Personal-Training ...
$20 $40
"Pilsen
Moksha Yoga Center
5 or 10 Yoga Classes or One Month of U...
$55 $150
"Multiple Locations
* !
Company
About Groupon
Jobs
Blog
Press
Investor Relations
Work with Groupon
Run a Groupon Deal
Accept Groupon Payments
Developers / API
Affiliate Program
Help Your Community
More
Customer Support
FAQ
Coupons
Favin the Maven
Follow Us
& ' ( )Get the Groupon
Mobile App !
#Works
Get New Customers and