In my previous post (sorry e-mail subscribers, I've had technical issues), I touched on the concept of muscular engagement, but left you with a cliff-hanger as to why I think it’s so important. Well, you needn’t hang on to the cliff any longer! Below are two key reasons:
1. Getting stronger and more flexible.
The obvious benefit to muscular engagement (“flexing your muscles”) is standard: getting stronger. That’s why people go to the gym/do exercise… and then, naturally, end up with tight muscles. So, they go to a yoga class, use enough energy to move their skeleton into a given position, and let the glorified stretching do its magic. And this is great – it’s part of what makes postural yoga such fantastic cross-training for any activity.
However, I think that as a solitary activity, the glorified stretching can be even more glorious.
Yes – muscular engagement can increase strength, and
Yes – yoga postures can increase flexibility,
But when combined, muscularly engaged yoga postures can provide both of these benefits not only simultaneously, but also synergistically.
Prasarita Padottanasana - Wide Legged Forward Fold
For example, for a past version of myself, any forward fold, particularly wide-legged forward fold (Prasarita Padottanasana, shown above), seemed simply unattainable no matter how much I practiced. Even hinging my body to 90 degrees seemed utterly impossible. I tried turning to more yin yoga, and asked every teacher after class for advice (“just keep practicing” they’d say), all to no avail. After years, I figured my body just couldn’t bend that way anymore. However, shortly after being introduced to muscular engagement and embracing it within my practice, I was able to find growth!
What causes this effect?
This is where my scientific musings come into play. As I understand it, and based on my background in biochemistry and biomechanics, I believe that coupling muscular engagement with postural yoga provides the signals (i.e. the physical tension/torsion/sheer forces) that:
1. Activate the regular cellular mechanisms toward each of strengthening and increasing flexibility;
2. Activate separate and new response pathways that effectively yield more pronounced effects in both areas; and,
3. Affect more muscle groups than would be normally affected, yielding a more pronounced effect.
These reasons are not exhaustive, and I also don’t have any specific empirical evidence to support this concept directly nor do I believe such evidence necessarily exists. More on that below… but first:
2. Protecting Your Joints
Engaging your muscles can also help protect and stabilize your joints.
You see, your muscles are directly linked to your bones by way of your tendons. Although each of these structures serves a distinct role, there is no physical separation between them, it's more of a gradient; i.e. the cells that encompass each organ essentially blend together until the next organ’s cells are distinguished (basically). As such, engaging your muscles directly affects your tendons, which helps to stabilize the bones encompassing your joints.
So you see, muscular engagement in yoga is a great idea! You should give it a try :)
Oversimplified Science
I’d just like to take a moment to address the scientific concepts in this post, and in this blog in general. The blog series is intended to be practical and concise. As such, while I may introduce broad scientific ideas based on: my bio-science/bio-engineering educational background, my understanding of anatomy/physiology and yoga, and my personal research and observations, I do not intend to delve deeply into any such explanatory concepts that I may provide, nor provide citations nor experimental evidence. All of that lies beyond the scope of this venture. There will always be infinitely more to say/clarify about any broad scientific concept I may introduce, and very often, there won’t necessarily be a definitive empirical answer.
With that, thanks again for checking the blog out. I’ll try to get the next post out more quickly. Hope you’ve enjoyed!
Namaste,
Leah