How is “alignment” related to “yoga”?
If you consider a physical body of a human as a system, the components can be referred to as the head, chest, abdominal and pelvic cavities and limbs. To align these components, the position of each needs to be determined with respect to a reference point which is known as the origin of the coordinate system. This reference point varies from person to person because of the unique structure of the human body and different habitual patterns. In the contemporary yoga styles, which are emphasising on personalised yoga (considering variation between the bodies and degree of freedoms of the joints), alignment means a careful adjustment of the relative positioning between the back of the skull and upper spine, chin and the upper torso, torso and the lower spine, etc. This allows the lymph and oxygenated blood to freely flow across the body and reach all the cells even those located in the furtherer distances from the center of body such as toes and finger tips as if all the body components were integrated to a single point and well-centred.