Crotch-y-hara – control of the pelvis

Part one – pelvic tilts:
Pelvic “Tilts”

You hear it every class. The yoga teacher leads a group into a pose, with the instructions, “carefully tilt your pelvis forward.” They might as well be saying “tilt your head and look confused!” A large percentage of the class has only a vague clue about what a pelvic tilt really is but they dismiss it as no big deal and approximate the pose as best as they can. This is too bad, since pelvis tilts are actually really simple to understand. Once one grasps the concept, the yoga poses become safer and more therapeutic. Your back in particular will thank you.

Landmarks:

To fully understand pelvic tilts, we first need to locate key landmarks on the pelvis. To make it really, really simple, let’s just stick with two; the “sit bones” and the “ASIS” .

The ASIS (Anterior Superior Iliac Spine): The ASIS refers to a notch in the front (anterior), upper (superior) part of the pelvis.

Palpation: Place your index fingers in your navel and run the fingers out to the side of the waist. Then draw a line down about two inches and you will feel a ridge that sticks out on the front of either side of the pelvis. That’s them.

The Sit Bones (ischial tuberosities): As the name suggests these are the part of the pelvis that come closest to the floor during sitting.

Palpation: If you don’t know these bones, have a feel. As you may guess from the name, the sit bones can be most easily felt while sitting. In seated position, place your hands palms up under your buttocks. Move your pelvis around and you will two large “knobs” on each hand. You can’t miss them. They feel like two big skateboard wheels.

Posterior and Anterior Pelvic tilts: Two basic movements of the pelvis are:
anterior (forward) pelvic tilt: here the ASIS comes closer to the upper thigh. (leaning forward with the pelvis).

Posterior (backward) pelvic tilt: here the ASIS moves further away from the upper thigh (leaning back with the pelvis).Applying knowledge of pelvic tilts is essential even for the most basic of movements, forward and backward bending.

Forward Bend (Back Body Stretch):
Why we forward bend: In a forward bend the idea is to lengthen the whole backside of the body from heels to brow.

Forward Bending with Pelvic Tilt Knowledge: The most notable muscle that people feel when forward bending is the hamstring muscles. 3 muscles that attach share the same attachment, the “sit bones”. The problem is that when a person with average flexibility does a forward bend, the hamstring attachments do not allow the pelvis to tilt forward at all. Is one is intent on getting their face as close to the shins as possible, the movement is going to come from the mid back.

There are two major problems with doing a forward bend when you hinge from the more mobile mid-back and do not tilt the pelvis forward. One is that the joints and disks of the spine undergo a lot of unhealthy stress and are susceptible to injury. Secondly, if the pelvis remains in a posterior (backward) pelvic tilt while forward bending, the length does not come into the hamstrings. To maximize the distance between the origins of the hamstring muscles (on the backs of the knees) and their insertions on the sit bones you must move the sit bones back away from the knees as you simultaneously bring the ASIS closer to the thighs. To do a forward bend intelligently, press your heels slightly, engage the inner legs and think of lifting through the crown of the head as you ‘ground’ the sit bones into the floor.

Forward Bend Tips for the Average Joe: Don’t push it. Mentally, don’t think about getting your head to your shins. Instead feel the length in the muscles that need to be lengthened. If you have hamstrings with average flexibility, just work with bent knees and concentrate on engaging the pelvic tilt. Be patient… this is the time honoured way of making safe and steady progress in your yoga practice.

Back Bend (Front Body Stretch): Why we back bend: The idea of a backbend is to lengthen a line that connects the front body from the top of the feet through the shins, the thighs, the abdominal muscles (particularly the ‘rectus femorus’ “six pack” muscle), and the chest and shoulders.
Back Bending with Pelvic Tilt Knowledge: If you look closely at Thomas Myers’ diagram of the ‘superficial front line’, you will see that the quadriceps (thigh muscles) need to be lengthened considerably to facilitate a back bend. The ‘rectus femorus’ is the longest quad muscle that runs from the knee to the Anterior Inferior Illiac Spine (just below the ASIS). When this muscle is short and stiff, the pelvis can not tilt backwards. If one performs any kind of backbend without the pelvis tilting backwards, guess where the movement will come from? The middle or lower back and most often the disks or joints there will not like the stress being placed on them.

Back Bend Tips for the Average Joe: Erase any images of a contortionist doing a deep arching back bend. This is only achievable by people with super mobile joints, ligaments, bone structures and muscles. Even with this genetic makeup, it still takes a lot of hours on the mat to do these poses.
Focus on safety and comfort. It is better to only move into a place in every backbend where you feel the thighs lengthen. Let go of how deep of an arch you make in the pose.

Also keep in mind that there are lots of great thigh openers that put little stress on the back, like lunges.

If this stuff intrigues you… sign up for one of the Deep Knowledge Workshops or the YES retreats.

ASIS either points straight-forward or to the side.
Back bends, bring ribs into extension not pelvis can be a huge cause of lower back pain.