The Origin of Misalignment in Yoga Postures – Common Kinetic Chains

How do we deal with physical limitations holding us back in our yoga practice? One approach is to push through them – keep training until you’ve overcome the limitation.

Kinetic Chains: How to Safely Address Limitations in Our Yoga Practice

However, this is not the best approach to safely making progress in our yoga practice, according to Clinical Kinesiologist and yoga therapist Dr. Gill Solberg. Training is not enough. The brain has its own ways. If there is a limitation in the body, the brain takes the movement where it is easier to make the movement. This is what we understand by kinetic chains – the brain will always take the movement to the place of least resistance. This happens unconsciously and it is counterproductive to the alignment we seek in the postures.

In this video excerpt, Dr. Solberg goes through some of the most common kinetic chains yoga students encounter in their practice, and why they can hurt instead of help if not properly addressed. This is a 20-minute video excerpt from Dr. Solberg’s online course: Yoga for Posture Improvement – The Kinesiology of Alignment and Biomechanics of Healthy Aging.  Also see below for a free download with Dr. Solberg in which he discusses these concepts in greater details.

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