Leslie Kaminoff is a yoga educator inspired by the tradition of T.K.V. Desikachar, with thirty two years’ experience in the fields of yoga and breath anatomy. Leslie’s book Yoga Anatomy, (co-authored with Amy Matthews), has been a top-selling yoga book on Amazon ever since its release in 2007.
Leslie is the founder of The Breathing Project, a NYC educational non-profit where he teaches his highly respected courses in Yoga Anatomy.
Leslie’s teaching is now available to a worldwide audience online at yogaanatomy.net.
Last week’s video got quite a lot of attention on YouTube – over 12,500 views as of this writing. This week’s follow-up includes an apology to William J. Broad, the author of the NYT article and the book “The Science of Yoga”, which was sent to me by the publishers this week.
In last week’s video, I had taken Broad to task for under-reporting the “normal” range of motion of the cervical spine in axial rotation as 50º. In fact, that is the same number I give in the 2nd edition of Yoga Anatomy! Oops. Egg on my “neck”.
In retrospect, I believe I used outdated numbers in the book and I’m in the process of researching how to revise that page (34). Here’s one of the research articles I’m referencing that gives a good overview of just how variable these range of motion (ROM) measurements can be. For example, compare the lowest ROM—for a male in his nineties—at 26º. The greatest ROM was a teenage female with a whopping 94º! So, what’s normal?
I’m about halfway through Broad’s book now, and I’m pleased to report that it’s a great read. I will have a full review when I’m done but even at this point I can safely say I’m going to recommend every serious student of yoga read it.
