141 | Smarter Yoga Principles with Action Hiro

Do you practice yoga? Practice yoga and still have pain? Stretching out aches and pains? Mesmerized by all the yogic shapes? Hiro discusses his method of bridging science and anatomy with the spirituality of Yoga. Hiro paves the path of his journey from Ashtanga Yoga to his current Body Smart Yoga method. He shares his story with pain arising after years of the Ashtanga practice and how he changed his pain game by introducing active stretching, engagement, and strength to his practice. Throughout the episode, Hiro discusses how mobility and different types of engaged stretching can allow safe access into different postures, can rid your pain, and how strength is not just built in the gym. He addresses the trending wave of focus on aesthetics and shapes in yoga, and how that distracts from respecting anatomical differences. Using the example of pigeon pose, Hiro dives into the urge of needing to stretch unstable, weak, and tight muscles and how that may be non-optimal as increased stretching shifts into targetting passive structures (joints and ligaments) in the body. Through this example, Hiro highlights the importance of integration of flexibility and strength, and how this practice of mobility can help hyper and hypo-mobility individuals. Finally, Hiro shares his programs and challenges that outline the drills, exercises, and knowledge that got him out of pain. Let’s take a deep dive into practicing yoga without pain! Free Week of the Jen Health Membership: Looking for a movement community that gives you the plan specific to your body? Need accountability and a plan that is specific to your restrictions?! Come grab a free week of our Jen Health Membership! You'll have access to 12 plans that were all currated by Doc Jen, Dr of Physical Therapy. We make sure you get set up with the plan that will be best for your goals and the rest is laid out for you to follow! Come check it out today! You can even get a discount on your first month using code OPTIMAL at checkout! What You Will Learn In This Interview with Hiro 3:45  – Is Yoga Spiritual or Science? 6:00 – Is Yoga all about aesthetics? 7:30 – Why may Yoga be bringing up your pain points again? 9:55  – How to address anatomical differences when approaching the general public 12:15 – Is Yoga about making the shapes? 15:05  – Should you be forcing pigeon pose & how to perform it safely 23:21  – The importance of integration, strength, and mobility 27:30 – When did Body Smart Yoga evolve? 35:10 –  Why does Body Smart Yoga help hypermobility? 38:37 – Perks of Hiro's Hip Program 41:49 –  What Hiro's challenge entails 44:13 – How to learn more with Hiro About Hiro Hiro Landazuri always knew he wanted to heal others from a young age. He began teaching yoga in 2007 while pursuing a dual master's degree in medical pharmacology and cardiopulmonary surgery. Body Smart Yoga is meant to empower his students to find a deeper awareness of their physical and emotional bodies through detailed self-assessment and injury prevention.  Items mentioned: Hiro’s Website Hiro’s Hip Program Hiro’s Instagram To learn more about Hiro and view full show notes, please visit the full website here: https://jen.health/podcast/141 Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Optimal Body Podcast. If you haven’t done so already, please take a minute to subscribe and leave a quick rating and review of the show!