Physics and Yoga

While the study of Physics may sound a million miles away from yoga, they actually have a very close relationship. From energy to forces, Physics plays a part in all areas of yoga practice. This talk explores some of the ways that Physics influences our practice of yoga. Keeping in mind the invisible forces around us can transform our experience of our practice.Join me at https://www.eqyoga.co.ukTranscriptVicky (00:00:03) - Hello, I'm Vicky from Equanimity Yoga and welcome to my talk about yoga and physics.Vicky (00:00:10) - While the study of physics may sound like it's a million miles away from yoga, actually they have a very close relationship from things like energy to forces. Physics can play a part in all areas of our yoga practice. Now, when teaching classes, I quite like to bring the idea that our actions aren't happening in a vacuum. There are invisible forces, waves, and vibrations all around us. A lovely example of this is Newton's third law of motion. It states that for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. You may be aware of it. While this may, at first glance seem to have nothing to do with yoga, it can be applied to very familiar yoga postures. When we take cat/cow pose and choose mindfully to push our hands, our shins and the tops of our feet into the ground, the earth pushes back onto those parts of our body with the same force. This is the opposite and equal reaction that Newton spoke of. We can let the feeling of this force travel up our limbs and use it to maximize the flexion or forward bend cat stretch of our spine. So we are literally drawing forces from the earth to help us in our movements.Vicky (00:01:39) - Another area that we can bring physics into is the atmospheric pressure of the earth that we unknowingly use in yoga. So our pranayama or breath work often involves a mindful inhale and exhale, but if we work with shining skull breath, otherwise known as Kapalabhati focuses on the exhale only. So how can we not need to inhale during this breath? The answer lies in the atmospheric pressure that is all around us. When we have exhaled, the diaphragm moves down and our intercostal muscles between the ribs move out. That means the chest volume increases and the pressure decreases, and subsequently, as boils law states, the pressure of a gas tends to decrease as the volume of the container increases.Vicky (00:02:38) - Now air likes to move from high to low pressure. Therefore, what happens is our inhale happens automatically. The atmosphere is actually breathing for us. Now, this could be the reason that many people find breath retention. So holding your breath more challenging after an exhale than an inhale, as the air wants to find its way back in to equalize the pressure. Staying with the idea of breath. Have you ever noticed that kind of buzzing energy vibration during or immediately after our practice of brary or be breath, sound travels by vibrating from the source of the sound and bumping into the air. Molecules around these then bump into their neighbours, and the pattern continues making sound waves or sound energy. When sound energy travels through the air and reaches our eardrum, that vibrates too, allowing us to hear sound. When this happens, we may also feel that buzzing sense of energy vibration too.Vicky (00:03:53) - Now, let's consider gravity for a moment. It's not something we may usually be aware of, but when we understand the effects gravity can have on our practice, it can transform how we experience it. The force of gravity is everywhere. It keeps the planet's orbiting around the sun and also keeps objects and us from floating around uncontrollably by pulling objects towards one another, developing awareness that there's a force that holds us safely to the earth, can allow tadasana or mountain pose to feel like our feet are being firmly held on the mat or the earth. This also works for savasana. As we lay down, we can purposely surrender all the weight to the force of gravity and know that we will be safely held by the earth. This can give poses a real sense of grounding. We can also consider our center of gravity, which is thought to be the point where gravity acts on the body.Vicky (00:05:00) - The taller we are, the higher our center of gravity. When we adopt poses such as garland pose, often called yodi squat, we lower our center of gravity. Our center of gravity increases balance and stability in the body if it is lower. Any poses where we have bent knees or take our weight lower to the ground should feel more stable. This is another way we can make the force of gravity work with our bodies to take our practice to another level. We can also defy gravity by taking inversions where our head is taken below our heart and hips imposes such as downward facing dogVicky (00:05:43) - we're using our strength to push the hips and body away from the force of gravity. This can mean that we need to work quite hard to maintain the pose for any length...