Tissues are simply aggregations of cells in our body that have a similar purpose and arrangement. Obviously tissues are found everywhere
throughout the body and have many functions. Generally though there are four main kinds of tissues. These are:
- Epithelia tissue (skin, linings of our organs, etc.)
- Nervous tissue
- Muscle tissue
- Connective tissue (CT)
Yoga most obviously affects these last two, although it actually affects the whole body. Every time we move
we are engaging muscle to create the movement, and each movement stretches, twists, or compresses all the
tissues in the area affected by the movement as well as areas farther away. For our investigation of how
yoga affects and benefits the physical body we will look more closely at these last two types of tissues
- Muscles - including fascia
- Connective Tissue - including collagen (the principal
component of CT) and ground substance (the fluid component)
Before we head into a closer examination of our muscles and connective tissues, it is helpful to understand one more facet of our
physical body. Let's spend a moment understanding what stops us from being more flexible. What limits our flexibility?
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