Part 1. Overview of Course and Anatomical Terms

1. Create a document and only answer the questions that your lead teacher assigned to you.

   1. Explain why it is important and useful to know what anatomical position is.

   2. Explain the limitations of describing movement from anatomical position.

   3. Why is it useful to know the anatomical terms for directions and basic movements?

   4. Why is it often more difficult to describe movements in yoga using anatomical terms than it is to describe movements from anatomical position?

Part 2. Connective Tissue and the Muscular System

Create a document and only answer the questions that your lead teacher assigned to you.

1. Give a couple examples of how your yoga practice may have affected your connective tissue?

2. Why is connective tissue important to yoga?

3. What makes connective tissue flexible or strong?

4. Describe how ligaments and tendons are constructed.

5. Name the location and describe the function of each type of fascia.

6. Describe the structure of a muscle fiber.

7. Describe the structure of muscle.

8. Describe how a muscle functions.

9. Explain how the structure of a citrus fruit could be used to describe the structure of a muscle. What does each part of the citrus fruit represent?

10. Describe the process that happens at a cellular level when a muscle contracts.

11. Describe some of the reasons that you might experience muscle cramps.

Part 3. The Skeletal System

Create a document and only answer the questions that your lead teacher assigned to you.

1. Explain the 'principle of tensegrity' using an example?

2. Describe how the layers of connective tissue are arranged to create the structure of a bone.

3. Describe how the three types of bone cells are involved in allowing bones to respond to stresses placed on them by changing structure/thickness and shape/density?

4. Give an example of where synarthrosis occurs in the body.

5. Describe how our body could be considered an example of the principle of tensegrity?

6. Use the 'principle of tensegrity' to explain what happens when fascia gets stuck.

7. Describe how osteoblasts and osteoclasts work to maintain calcium homeostasis.

Part 4. The Nervous System

Create a document and only answer the questions that your lead teacher assigned to you.

1. Define and give an example of the 'Principle of Opposing Muscles'.

2. Explain the general purpose of Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) technique.

3. Discuss how the nervous system could be said to be the "embodiment of the body-mind connection". Where does body end and mind begin?

4. What are the functions of nerves which are found throughout the body?

5. Explain how the knee-jerk reaction is an example of how sensory neurons interact with motor neurons.

6. Describe the anatomy of a neuron.

Part 5. The Digestive System

Create a document and only answer the questions that your lead teacher assigned to you.

1. Describe what happens in the mouth to start the process of digestion.

2. List the major structures involved in the digestive process.

Part 6. The Endocrine System

Create a document and only answer the questions that your lead teacher assigned to you.

1. Explain why the pituitary gland is often called the master gland.

2. List some examples of hormones that are part of the endocrine system.

Part 7. The Cardiovascular System

Create a document and only answer the questions that your lead teacher assigned to you.

1. Explain what is meant by heart rate variability.

2. Describe the path of blood through the chambers of the heart starting from the right atrium.

3. List the components of blood and describe what jobs each of the components of blood does.

Part 8. The Respiratory System and Breathing

Create a document and only answer the questions that your lead teacher assigned to you.

1. Where does the diaphragm attach?

2. What happens anatomically in “belly breathing”?

3. Describe the path that air takes from entering the nose or mouth until it enters the lungs.

4. Describe the system of structures that make up the bronchial tree.

5. Describe the process of gas exchange that happens in the alveoli.

6. Name the parts of the brain that control involuntary respiration and describe what they do.

7. How might you describe what it is like to have control over your bandhas?

8. Describe the connection between breath and bandha.

9. What does contracting the PC muscles or activating the physical aspect of mula bandha do
   both physically and energetically?

10. What happens anatomically when we breathe while lifting the pelvic floor muscles and
    gently pulling the abdomen in?

Part 9. The Foot and Ankle

Create a document and only answer the questions that your lead teacher assigned to you.

1. Why are there so many bones and joints in the foot and lower limb area compared to other areas of the body?

2. Describe the two primary ways that the foot is adaptable.

3. Give an example from daily life or yoga of what could happen if our foundation (the feet) was in some way compromised.

4. How does the structure of the ankle affect function of the ankle?

5. Describe how weight is spread throughout the foot as you take a step.

6. Describe how the arches of the foot can be said to have qualities of mula and uddiyana.

7. Since the foot is our foundation, the balance of these qualities of mula and uddiyana can be transferred up into the rest of the body. Give an example of how this might show up in yoga asana.

8. Describe how each of the three following components: bones, connective tissue, and muscles, contributes to creating and maintaining arches in the foot.

9. Describe the structure and function of the posterior component of the foreleg.

10. Describe the structure and function of the anterior compartment of the foreleg.

Part 10. The Knee Joint

Explain how Indian cultural context for yoga asana practice influences the expectation for openness in the hips.

1. Give an example of how the condition of a joint above or below the knee (tension, weakness, knee injury, or other converging history) could affect the knee joint.

2. How does the shape of the femur and the angle at which it attaches to the tibia and pelvis impact movement?

3. How does the structure of patella contribute to the function of the knee?

4. What are two other actions that happen at the knee joint besides the two primary movements of flexion and extension?

5. What is the function of the two collateral ligaments?

6. What is the general function of the two cruciate ligaments?

7. Where does the ACL attach?

8. Where does the PCL attach?

9. Describe how the structure of the menisci make the various movements at the knee possible.

10. How do the hamstrings and quadriceps interact to balance forces impacting the knee joint?

Part 11. The Hip Joint

Create a document and only answer the questions that your lead teacher assigned to you.

1. Approximately where is our center of gravity located?

2. Describe structurally how the pelvic bones are connected together.

3. Describe what happens in an anterior and posterior tilt of the pelvis.

4. Why might using the terms origin and insertion for muscles that attach to the pelvis not be as helpful to describe pelvic movement, especially when one is out of anatomical position?

5. What is hip hiking?

6. Name the ligaments that attach to the SI joint and describe where they attach.

7. How much movement is possible at the SI joint in the average person?

8. Describe the movement of nutation and counter nutation at the SI joint and explain what causes it.

Part 13. The Spine

Create a document and only answer the questions that your lead teacher assigned to you.

1. Describe in general the parts of the spine and how they are connected

2. Describe how the structural components of the spine show an example of tensegrity in the body.

3. Where are the primary curves found in the spine and how are the formed?

4. Where are the secondary curves found in the spine and how are they formed?

5. What are the movements of the lumbar spine and what are the structural differences of the spine in this region compared to other regions of the spine that make this movement possible?

6. In most people, how many vertebrae are located in each region of the spine?

7. What are the movements of the thoracic spine and what are the structural differences of the spine in this region compared to other regions of the spine that make this movement possible?

8. What are the movements of the cervical spine and what are the structural differences of the spine in this region compared to other regions of the spine that make this movement possible?

9. What is the location and function of quadratus lumborum (QL) muscles?

10. What are the functions of the muscles that make up the abdominal cavity?

11. Explain why the presence of fluid makes the vertebral discs stronger than they otherwise would be.

Discussion Questions Module 14

Create a document and only answer the questions that your lead teacher assigned to you.

1. Describe where the 4 muscles that make up the rotator cuff attach.

2. What things make the latissimus dorsi (with assistance by the serratus anterior) a muscle that could be considered “the psoas of the upper body”?

3. Describe the movement initiated by supraspinatus?

4. Describe the movement initiated by infraspinatus?

5. Where is the pectoralis major located and what movements does it do?

6. Where is the latissimus muscle located and what movements does it do?

7. Where is teres major located and what movements does it do?

8. Where are the deltoids located and what movements do they do?

9. How does the trapezius move the scapula?

10. Where is serratus anterior located and how does it move the scapula?

Part 15. The Hand, Wrist, and Elbow

Create a document and only answer the questions that your lead teacher assigned to you.

1. Describe the two main differences between movement possible in the kinetic chain of the upper extremities versus the kinetic chain of the lower extremities.

2. Where are the metacarpophalangeal joints?

3. Name 3 flexors of the forearm and describe what they do.

4. Where do the flexors of the forearm attach?

5. Where do the extensors of the forearm attach?

6. Describe how the position of hand in either pronation or supination impacts the position of the elbow and the shoulder.

7. Describe how the position of the shoulder and scapula are related with the arms positioned overhead.