Jason Brown (E-RYT500) is a New York City yoga teacher who has taught extensively since 1998. As a student and teacher of yoga, Jason kept getting injured in his practice. His injuries included shoulder and knee injuries and a herniated disc. Once his SI joint popped and became stuck in a supine twist. At the same time his students kept asking him anatomy related questions and he often felt ill-equipped in the answers that he gave. He thought a better knowledge of anatomy and physiology would greatly benefit him and his students. From this Jason’s 108-hr Anatomy Studies for Yoga Teachers was born.
The Yoga Alliance only requires 10 contact hours of anatomy for the 200 hour yoga teacher designation. In order to increase his knowledge base, Jason went through massage therapy training in New York, which is the most strict in licensing massage therapists. He studied at the Swedish Institute of Massage where he received over 1,200 hours of training in anatomy. After the training, about 4 years ago, he started Anatomy Studies for Yoga Teachers. This 108 hour training, broken down into 3 parts, provides students with an in-depth study of anatomy and how it relates to common yoga poses.
- Part I: Bones, Joints and Common Injuries: Students will gain an understanding of basic kinesiology concepts, the names and locations of all major bones, soft tissue anatomy, the major joints, and common injuries that occur at knee, ankle, wrist, shoulder and
- Part II: Muscles and Their Anatomy: This part of the course teaches anatomy and physiology of all muscle tissue; the location,
- Part III: Anatomy of Yoga Asana: This part of the course is much more experiential and application of musculo-skeletal anatomy and kinesiology to the study of asana will be discussed. Some topics that are covered in this part of the course are the benefits of poses, safety considerations and common alignment issues.
Part I and II are structured academically, with lectures, assigned reading, quizzes and a final exam. Part III is a one week intensive that is structured like a yoga workshop.
Jason believes that yoga teachers need in-depth anatomy studies for many reasons that can be related to their own practice and the safety of their students. Understanding anatomy will give the teacher the ability to prevent injuries. It also enables better queuing and sequencing when a teacher recognizes what muscles need to be flexible or integrated to do a certain pose. Teachers will be able to provide better hands 0n assists because they will be able to see their students’ bodies more clearly and they will not ask students to do what they can’t.
Jason is starting another session of his Anatomy Studies for Yoga Teachers course with Part I on September 27 at Zenyasa Yoga. If you do not live in or near New York City, Part I and II both have a home study option. This approach is self- paced and can be started anytime. Part III, however, cannot be studied at home and in order to complete the course, attendance at the one week intensive in New York City is required.
