Spiral Bound: Integrated Anatomy for Yoga

by Karen Kirkness

Overview

Spiral Bound explores the potential for yoga as a healing modality by examining the body's anatomical structure as it has evolved embryonically. With a light touch approach, Karen weaves together threads of development to see how our morphological constraints arise in the earliest moments of life and how this rotation lays the spiral groundwork for rotational kinematics that encompass all tissue. This book sets out to link theory with practice, all at a conversational level richly illustrated with full-color photographs and drawings that bring the biomotion to life for practitioners and teachers of yoga. This book for anyone seeking to simplify the parts-list pedagogy of classical anatomy with contemporary research in fascia literature for an integrated approach especially suitable to postural yoga.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781912085040
Publisher:	Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Publication date:	09/30/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	69 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Karen Kirkness MFA, MSc, E-RYT 500, is an artist and yoga anatomy investigator holding two masters degrees, one in fine art and the other a master of science in human anatomy. Karen's drawing and conceptual work revolve around body culture and somaesthetics.


American by birth and now based in Edinburgh, Scotland, Karen founded her own yoga studio, Meadowlark Yoga, in 2005. Karen started practicing yoga while studying arts&sciences for her bachelor's degree at the University of Central Florida, in 1999. She studied Ashtanga yoga with the late Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore in 2003 and continues researching the power of inter-lineage yoga through daily personal practice.


Karen is fascinated with how art and architecture inform science. She is passionate about play, flexible working hours, and the adaptation of not-for-profit social enterprise. After over 15 years of yoga practice, Karen spent a year in the dissection lab learning about human anatomy at the University of Edinburgh. Her fascination with subtle body concepts comes together with art and anatomy to make her workshops fun, informative, and inspiring.


Karen guest-teaches workshops and trainings internationally, including the trainings at her home studio, and the 40 Hour Cadaveric Anatomy for Yoga course in partnership with the University of Edinburgh. She served as yoga presenter on the Neuro Yoga panel exploring the relationship between conventional neuroscience and yoga practice as part of several science festivals in Scotland. She is a member of the Anatomical Society and has presented in recent years at the International Symposium of Clinical and Applied Anatomists (ISCAA).


Get in touch with Karen's work through her website karenkirkness.com.

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Thomas S Braem, MS, BA (Northwestern Health Sciences University)
Description: This book covers some points about embryology and postulates that embryology influences movement. The author believes that all movement is "spiral" and that spiral movement patterns are the same for all humans and, to some degree, all vertebrates. She believes that spiral movement patterns are composed of closed kinematic chains that differ from classical biomechanical levers and model an interconnectedness throughout the body. I do not see any unique structural elements.
Purpose: The purpose of the book seems to be to help readers understand how the anatomy of the body influences movement, specifically movements involved in the practice of yoga. This is an interesting objective, and one that has been explored in several other books such as Yoga: Fascia, Anatomy and Movement (Handspring Publishing, 2015) by Joanne Avison who is one of several authors mentioned in the preface/introduction. I am unsure if any of the books that have explored this objective have fully succeeded. The book meets some of the objective, but seems to "bog down" and selectively choose material that supports the author's position while ignoring information that does not.
Audience: The book's intended audience is yoga practitioners, movement professionals, and anyone curious about how gross and subtle anatomy come together. I think the book might meet the need of a select subpopulation within the targeted audience. The author states that the following are valuable assets for readers: "familiarity with the subtle body, some experience of yoga, basic anatomy background, and general curiosity about the interconnected-ness of patterns in nature." At times, the book seems to require more than each of these "general" or "basic" backgrounds. The credentials and experience of the author do seem credible.
Features: The book explores some aspects of embryology in detail and bypasses others. There is a focus on how embryology influences patterns of movement. The idea that all movement patterns are "spiral" in nature is a central theme of the book, as well as the idea that spiral movement patterns are the same for all humans and, to some degree, all vertebrates. Another central theme of the book is how these spiral movements and their compositional "closed kinematic chains" are evidenced in yoga. The features utilized, such as illustrations, photos, diagrams, and a glossary, are not unique but are well executed and sufficient in number. The author does seem to selectively utilize information that supports her position - such as saying that all movement is spiral in nature but then only focusing on joints where rotational movement is allowed (shoulder, hip) and conveniently skipping joints (humero-ulnar, interphalangeal) where it is not. Sections of the book delve into depth on anatomy that is well beyond the intended audience with a "basic anatomy background" or yoga concepts and poses that are beyond those with "some experience of yoga."
Assessment: This book has parts that will be useful to some of the intended audience. As a whole, however, it falls short of providing information that would be useful to all those for whom it is intended. This is a similar shortcoming of other books in this area, such as Yoga: Fascia, Anatomy, and Movement, Avison (Handspring Publishing, 2015).

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