Body · Reading
Joints and movement
Synovial joints, and the six movements every pose is made of.
Awaiting subject reviewWritten from our source material and not yet checked by a teacher of this practice. Read it as reference, and learn the practice from someone who teaches it.
Structural anatomy
Where two bones meet, there is a joint. The freely moving ones are synovial joints: the bone ends are capped with cartilage and enclosed in a capsule of lubricating fluid.
The hip and shoulder are ball-and-socket joints, the most mobile kind. The knee and elbow are hinges. Knowing which joint is moving, and in which direction, makes alignment cues easier to follow.
Diagram
The six movements
Flexion closes the angle of a joint, as in a forward fold. Extension opens it, as in a backbend. Abduction moves a limb away from the midline; adduction draws it back. Rotation turns a bone around its own length. Circumduction combines them into a circle, as in ankle rotations.
Related
Practices
Sources and tradition
- YOG Union App Content Map, 2 November 2026, pp. 11–12, anatomy cards