Functional Awareness and Yoga

"Functional Awareness & Yoga applies the Romitas' training exercises to the study and practice of yoga across myriad venues from the elementary school classroom to studio classes. Continuing a mission of uniting anatomy and artistry, the book provides thoroughly practical techniques to improve movement understanding and discover efficiency in action. By exploring physical and mental aspects of yoga, readers will learn to understand inadvertent consequences of movement patterns and to develop new ways of moving with exercises. Mapping movement activities out as a daily practice in mindfulness, chapters offer readers accessible and practical advice for how to change habits, improve movement efficiency, and improve balance to strengthen physical asana (poses). Though some yoga training considers anatomical function and alignment, such training rarely considers the impact of habitual use on the body that leads to chronic pain or injury. Each chapter therefore focuses on the necessarily reflective nature of the practice, utilizing the '4Rs': Recognize habit, Release unnecessary tension, Recruit new muscle action, Restore toward balance. Chapters also suggest modes of practice during daily tasks to re-educate common movement patterns and to facilitate greater ease and balance on and off the mat. One such suggestion asks readers to pay close attention to their feet. Are they in shoes or socks? Do they have contact with the floor? Does knowing that the foot has 26 articulating bones change the way we sense movement while walking? Similarly, readers are asked to close their eyes, imagine being on line at the grocery, and noting their body's default posture. Through these exercises, awareness of movement becomes a daily habit that can improve one's yoga practice"--