Musculature

In yoga, we look to change the condition of the musculature and increase the blood flow. This comes through alternately stretching and contracting the muscle fibers. Here are some suggestions he gave for asana practice.

Ideally, muscles should be in a state of resilience-contracting when they work, and relaxing when at ease. You don't release tight muscles by stretching them. Alternating between contracting and lengthening will release a tense muscle.

Avoid chronic subliminal muscular contractions, which are unconscious tensing of muscles while doing another activity such as driving or talking on the phone. Once we are aware of these patterns, we can immediately relax the contracted muscle.

Identify what you are doing habitually that is causing you discomfort and stop. Identify what you can do that will help it, and start. Stop irritating the joints and increase circulation to the damaged area. Bring awareness to the area you are working and feel the sense of lightness or heat as your circulation increases.

[A person with a fever, or who is undergoing chemotherapy or taking medication that increases the temperature should avoid heat-producing yoga.]

Full range of motion is not always the best way. See what's happening in the movement. Going to your limit in the posture may override your sense of finding out what's happening in the movement.

Practice asymmetric poses symmetrically to work both sides in a balanced way. However, you may want to pay special attention to an injured area. For example, if you are working to heal a knee or hip, start on the weaker side and repeat three times, then go to the stronger side and repeat three times, and repeat the process again on the weaker side to bring your body back into balance.

Avoid putting your body at risk. The movement should be guided by slow, conscious breathing. If you go too far, there will be some kink in the breath or it will be shortened or squeezed. The quality of the breath will tell you if you have gone too far.

If the body is limited, find ways to manipulate the posture in order to achieve the desired effect. For example, if you have knee problems, you can do chakravakasana in a chair. Create a "dhanurasana effect"  if you can't do dhanurasana (bow pose). If a seated forward bend is difficult, do standing forward bend, which allows the hips to move back.
o In general, take care of the weakest, most vulnerable part first. Always protect the neck; but, for example, if your lower back is chronic, take care of that first.

If you have disk problems, avoid twists. In backbends, be sure that your whole spine is taking the bend, not just one area.

Asana practice should work every aspect of the physical body-the joints, hips, knees, ankles, muscles and nerves. It doesn't have to be a long, sweaty workout. . Five minutes a day may be enough for someone who simply wants to manage their lower back.