“It is through the alignment of the body that I discovered the alignment of my mind, self and intelligence.” – BKS Iyengar

Anatomy Atlas

Before leaving work last night, I thumbed the shiny pages of my trusty anatomy atlas, which I use to communicate to patients sometimes about bodily bits and pieces. One of my favourite pages is undoubtedly the one which shows the spinal column, with its constituent bones separated and illustrated in lovely detail (see below).

Visuals, I find, can be so helpful when trying to understand what is happening within our bodies.

Backbone

I suppose each ridge, hole, and contour isn’t essential to know. But the totality of the spine when these pieces come together is a work of art worth considering, visualising and feeling for oneself.

Look at this extraordinary structure placed in functional context in the blue man below, illuminated in orange down his back. Yours might look a little like that, too, probably with some individual variations.

When someone tells you to “sit up tall!” have you ever wondered how your spine responds to this instruction? If you’re not familiar with the anatomy, you might imagine it as a straight line of bones stacked evenly like bricks. You might even think that’s what you’re trying to achieve when you lengthen your spine, especially if you’re following cues in yoga that tell you to keep a straight spine or flat back position.

However, the reality is that your spine lies slightly behind the centre of your body and is gently, beautifully curved.

Despite the strength of each individual bone, the composite structure of your spine isn’t rigid. Its architecture is fluid, perfectly designed to bend and flex in rhythm with your body and the undulations of your breath.

Align the Spine

With so many bony landmarks referenced in yoga, I’ve another picture for you - the colourful annotation might give additional insight.

Can you see the natural curves of the back? See the gentle inward curves of the neck and lumbar. And a more typical outward rounding of the thoracic spine. At the base is the shield-like sacrum - the broad bone and the keystone structure where the spine meets the pelvis - the root of the entire column

These instructions may sound familiar, “Lengthen the tailbone,” “Quiet the lumbar arch,” or “Hit the thoracic IN!”?

(If you’re hearing my voice right now, I’m getting more animated by the minute, haha)

Yogis are obsessed with the spine. These instructions adjust your bony landmarks to create an alignment of your spine. In fact, every movement you make - head, shoulders, knees and toes - can have an impact on your spine.

In Asana, we take full advantage of the spine’s ability to move in all directions and encourage it to do so. You might mix forward and back extensions, side bending, twisting, or a combination of all in a single class. As we work, we build strength and flexibility around our backbone, whose health, balance and quality radiates and informs our entire body.

Spinal Conduit to...

Have you ever noticed how your spine orientates itself differently after a practice of 360 movement? For example, you might feel that something's shifted when you sit for meditation after asana. Or when you lie down for Savasana, the spine seems to settle at rest, breath by breath - integrating. How about when you stand up after you’ve rolled up your mat - feeling a little taller, perhaps?

It’s as though after a little unsticking, the living spine unfurls from dormancy, nourished and refreshed.

For yogis, this unsticking process isn’t simply beneficial for our tissues and posture. The spine holds particular significance in the yogic tradition. Yogis believe an energetic pathway is closely linked with the spine called the Sushumna nadi (or the Central Channel), the primary and most significant conduit of prana and the highway of the subtle body.

Aligning the spine along its graceful length allows us to sense and feel better, both the tangible and the imagined. Unknown layers and deeper pathways to freedom, ordinarily difficult to access through worldly senses, quietly become possible.

However small or subtle, what might be happening here after we take care to align this spine of ours?

Is energy moving? Is potential? What might be awakening within?

Let’s practise.