Importance of correct posture alignment in yoga — Part1
A good posture helps one mitigate a lot of health disorders, including damage to the spine and several lifestyle issues as well.
Most of us do not care about, how well we are sitting or standing. We heard people saying “Sit up straight!”, “Don’t Slouch”. We do not realise the consequences of a wrong posture and how it can lead to serious risk factors.
Even though alignment plays an important role in a healthy yoga session, it is a topic that isn’t always understood or agreed upon.
Good Alignment lets you move all your body parts in tandem with each other.
Bad Alignment leaves the more rigid and static muscles idle. Doing so often leads to improper posture. And, ultimately results in pain.
One of the aims of any yoga session is to strengthen the weaker muscles and loosen up the stiff muscles. If for any reason the natural flow of the body is restricted, whether intentionally or not, it can result in pain or injury. Therefore, proper alignment is vital for getting your muscles to work optimally at the right level of relaxation.
Since everyone’s body proportions are different, there‘s no definitive alignment posture. This means that no two people can do an asana in the very exact same way. But, you can achieve the correct alignment by testing your posture against your Plumb line (An imaginary straight line from the top of the head to the floor). Perfect posture means our ears, shoulders, hips, knees and ankles stack up along this line
Why Correct Alignment Matters in Yoga?
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- It Reduces Your Risk of Injury — When it comes to your spine, correct alignment decreases the amount of stress placed on the ligaments that hold it together. Similarly, alignment reduces the abnormal wear and tear of joints in your body. Thus, helping you avoid conditions such as arthritis later on.
- Biomechanical Efficiency — From a biomechanical perspective, properly aligned muscles and joints optimize your available power. This means you’re able to achieve maximum results in a shorter period of time.
- Lets You Conserve Energy — With good alignment, you also work smarter, rather than harder. In doing so, you’re able to utilize your body’s energy efficiently. This lets you conserve more energy since you don’t have to compensate for being out of line.
- Reduce Fatigue — Yoga practice can be quite challenging, especially if you’re just starting out. This is mainly due to fatigue that comes with training. However, you can considerably reduce this level of fatigue by performing the yoga poses correctly
- Build Strength — Yoga is just like any other exercise, be it cycling or swimming. Having good alignment keeps your joints in their proper positions. This produces optimal muscle performance which translates to power. In addition, it helps prevent your spine, joints, and muscles from getting into awkward angles and positions
- Better Energy Flow — Energy flow is not only vital for your physical health, but it also has a positive impact on your mental as well as spiritual health. By allowing energy to move through your body, it puts energy where your body needs it most.
- Better Appearance — Besides yoga sessions, correct alignment also helps you be aware of your posture in your everyday life. This ultimately goes a long way in enhancing a good physical posture and appearance.
Source — https://www.yogaforce.com/why-alignment-is-important-in-yoga/
Therefore, Yoga should always be performed under the guidance only.
One should not follow or learn yoga asana from any non validated source.
Checkout the mobile application which can detect yoga asana and guide you to perform yoga correctly
https://medium.com/@prabhat.rai1707/part-2-detect-yoga-posture-from-app-f568d4788928
