Anatomy, Kinesiology, and Safe Practice
What this domain tests
Anatomy, Kinesiology, and Safe Practice checks your ability to name joint actions, identify muscle roles, apply movement planes, screen for contraindications, and modify poses without diagnosing. Expect questions on flexion/extension, abduction/adduction, rotation, dorsiflexion/plantarflexion, agonist–antagonist pairs, stretch tolerance, and safety for common conditions.
Core rules
- Movement occurs in sagittal (flexion/extension), frontal (abduction/adduction, lateral flexion), and transverse (rotation) planes.
- Name the joint action and the muscle action separately: a hamstring stretch in a forward fold involves hip flexion and knee extension, with the hamstrings lengthening eccentrically under load.
- Stabilize before mobilizing: cue core and scapular control before end-range shoulder or hip work.
- Screen and modify: avoid loaded spinal flexion and twisting in osteoporosis; avoid prolonged inversions and breath retention with uncontrolled hypertension; pad wrists in weight-bearing if extension is painful; keep the neck supported in supine and inverted poses.
- Refer pain, numbness, dizziness, or joint instability out of class; that is outside yoga-teacher scope.
Worked example
A student with osteoporosis enters a standing forward fold. Reasoning: the pose combines spinal flexion with gravity and may increase vertebral compression risk. The teacher offers a chair-supported hinge with a neutral spine, hands on thighs, and cues hip hinging rather than rounding; if the student wants deeper work, a supine hamstring stretch with a strap keeps the spine supported. The modification addresses the anatomy, not the student's flexibility.
Traps
Confusing joint action with muscle action; calling any stretch "lengthening" without naming the joint angle; locking knees to appear flexible; forcing end-range in weight-bearing shoulders; ignoring dizziness or numbness as "part of the practice"; teaching inversions as advanced without screening.