Allie Williams, Hristo Dimitrov, Tamar Makin

Skill learning is the improvement in motor, cognitive or perceptual performance following practice. Yoga asana, or the physical practice of yoga, involves performing a range of postures. Correct execution of poses requires specific and precise muscular engagement and coordination across the entire body, making yoga a rich model for understanding expert learning in motor control. While yoga instructors have a general understanding of how poses should be executed, little study has been undertaken in measuring muscle engagement in yoga poses. Further, how patterns of muscle engagement set experts apart from novices remains an open question. To understand variation in expert and novice learning in yoga, we compared how muscle activation patterns differed between novices and experts across 8 muscle groups.

Our analysis is focused on poses “signature” using surface Electromyography. However,While skill expertise is generally associated with reduced variability, we will explore the hypothesis that because there are multiple solutions to achieving a pose, experts will demonstrate more variability than novices both in executing and in maintaining poses due to their superior coordination, flexibility and strength. This will provide us the opportunity to explore whether complex motor skill learning in an ecological setting follows the same fundamental principles for skill learning identified in lab settings.

By delving into complex negotiation of muscle engagement across the entire body, our findings could aid our understanding of how the brain finds a solution for a specific complex problem. Our findings will also provide greater insight into the specific muscle engagement required to correctly execute yoga poses, which lacks concrete scientific measures. Developing tools and techniques to determine and measure muscle engagement in specific poses in an ecological setting will contribute to the development of additional resources to aid in safe yoga training for practitioners at every level. Tools for measuring specific muscle engagement will allow for further development of specific strength or rehabilitation programs using yoga.