Product Details

• Actors: Paul Grilley
• Directors: Mark Holmes and Ian Albert
• Format: NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Studio: Pranamaya, Inc
• DVD Release Date: November 25, 2003
• Run Time: 230 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000A1GEUE
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,699 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

An invaluable resource for both yoga students and teachers, this comprehensive DVD includes nearly 4 hours of in-depth lectures, demonstrations and comparisons of human skeletal anatomy as it relates to yoga practice. Using a wide range of yoga students, acclaimed teacher Paul Grilley explains the key concepts of compression, tension, proportion and orientation. These concepts help us to understand why no two people will ever experience the same yoga posture in the same way. Paul's light-hearted yet provocative approach will challenge many misconceptions about yoga while providing the foundation for the development of a truly personal yoga practice. This DVD is encoded for all regions.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

87 of 89 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Skeletal Anatomy DVD on the Market, August 29, 2005

By 

Stuart Rice "Education Executive, Yoga Advent... (Tempe, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Anatomy for Yoga with Paul Grilley (DVD)

Paul Grilley has made a name (sometimes infamously) for himself in the Yoga community with this informative DVD on anatomy and Yoga. Grilley is a proponent of "Yin Yoga," an approach to practice that focuses on long, passive stretches as a way to gently mold the muscular, ligamentous, and fascial tissue into a more pliable state. His anatomy DVD comes out of that conception of the human body, which will fascinate some and irk others.

The main component of the DVD is a lucid exploration of anatomy through two major themes: compression and tension. Tension is something that most of us are familiar with: relative tightness or tone of a muscle. Most yoga practices focus on "tensile" stretching, which seeks to lengthen and stretch the belly of the muscle to create greater flexibility. Because of this, according to Grilley, most Yoga practitioners ignore the "compression" aspects of a practice. Compression occurs when two surfaces (bones, soft tissue, body mass, etc) "hit" in such a way that more movement is not possible. Compression, Grilley argues, has more of an impact in practice than we would normally think, leading to frustration as we try to go "deeper" into poses, thinking that the restraint is muscular. Occasionally, Grilley says, this is really boney or structural blockages, and this is something we will not be able to get around.

The DVD journeys joint by joint through the body, with Grilley providing a number of excellent examples through audience members . Each person demonstrates either an extraordinary amount of mobility or an equal extraordinary lack of it. Both are fascinating, especially as the models take some classic "problem" poses, such as Urdhva Danurasana (Wheel), Adho Mukha Svasasana (Downward Facing Dog), and Virabhadrasana B (Warrior II). Yoga instructors will find their jaws hanging in amazement as seemly intractable problems with students become instantaneously more clear: it's not the muscles, it's the bones! Any yoga instructor worth their salt will watch this DVD and immediately apply its principles to the ways they approach asana practice, and such thorny areas as hands-on adjustments in particular poses.

A part that may irk some teachers is his presentation of hypermobility in certain joints (elbows and knees) as being natural, and one that should be exploited. One can almost hear that agonized yells of exercise science graduates, for whom the idea if nearly heretical, if not downright dangerous. However, Grilley's thoughts on the issue are sound: why shouldn't people explore, in their own practice, their range of motion, regardless if hyper or hypomobile. I do not think that Grilley is suggesting that people should lose their ability to control these joints through muscular ability, which is the primary concern of exercise science. Instead, he is focusing on the capacity as no more or naturally than "average" mobility or hypomobility.

Grilley's excellent presentation, humor, and use of real-live models demonstrating hyper- and hypomobile ranges of motion make this one of the most immediately practical tools on the market. This is an essential part of any practicing Yogis library, and indispensable for teachers.

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential information for any yogi..., September 22, 2005

By 

Lisa M. Shepler "On the path to enlightenment..." (Midwest, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Anatomy for Yoga with Paul Grilley (DVD)

Paul Grilley has given me an entirely new outlook on yoga and why someone like me (who is fairly flexible to begin with) cannot do lotus pose easily...while my husband who (along with other muscles)has the tightest hamstrings on the planet, can do it with ease. It's all in your bones! If you are a teacher, serious yoga practitioner, or just would like to understand why you and some of your yogi counterparts differ so dramatically in the appearance of your postures...you must own a copy of this dvd.
We have to stop beating ourselves up for not looking a certain way during our yoga practice, and start tuning into ourselves, and the sensations achieved rather than aesthetics.
Have confidence in exploring your own full range of motion, while always being aware of the 2 major limitations explored on this dvd...is it tension (muscular) or compression (skeletal). Tuning into these sensations can make all the difference, and allow you to explore modifications, or alternate postures altogether.
Paul Grilley is a very thorough presenter, and very easy to listen to and learn from.
They say you usually retain 10-15% of what you hear in a lecture, I retained at least 90% of what I heard in Paul's demonstrations.
I highly recommend this dvd for yoga practitioners of all levels.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Should be required viewing for all yoga teacher, November 19, 2005

By 

Vernon Keeler "Vernon Keeler" (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anatomy for Yoga with Paul Grilley (DVD)

Solid, clearly presented anatomical breakdown of yoga postures, free of dogma and jargon, yet respectful of yoga (and Taoist) philosophies and the concepts of yin and yang qualities in relation to the yoga practice.

Most importantly Grilley separates limitations in range of motion into two kinds: Muscular tension (changeable with practice) and skeletal compression...i.e. one bone meeting another and stopping motion at that point (fixed).

Key poses are performed by students with a wide range of body types and bone structure in order to demonstrate how this comes into play in postures involving pivotal joints (shoulders, neck, pelvis, spine, etc.)

Overall, Grilley's theories about working within the unique body to create a suitable personal practice present yoga (rightly) as inclusive and liberating as opposed to fixed, systematic and binding.