Meaning of root down?

[njt2009]

Please kindly clarify the underlined phases.

“Lift your tailbone” (in down dog and forward bends).
This is a cue that’s less than ideal for several reasons: It can be destabilizing for the sacroiliac joints, may give students a general sense of feeling uprooted or ungrounded in a pose, and can be especially problematic for your more flexible students and/or those working with hamstring injuries. Similarly, ¨lift your sit bones¨ is generally not my favorite cue for a mixed-level class, either, though it´s fine for a student with super-tight hamstrings. Once a student’s legs are strong in the pose (as in toned and active on all sides), I tend to prefer the instruction, “move your thighs back” (which is a little less uprooting), followed by a cue to “root down through the tailbone” or to “root from the sit bones down through the heels,” which will help to ground the pose and stretch the backs of the legs.

 

[Rover_KE]

Please state the source and author of this quoted text.

 

[njt2009]

Ten Alignment Cues Yoga Teachers Need to Stop Giving BY Kathryn Heagberg

 

[emsr2d2]

"To root down" in yoga means to imagine that you are rooted to the floor. You almost pretend that you are a tree and imagine that there are roots going down into the earth from the soles of your feet. It makes you more stable.
Rooting down through your tailbone means that you imagine that this "rooting" goes all the way down your body, through your tailbone and down to your feet.

 

[Rover_KE]

OK, I get it now.

njt, doesn't the author provide a glossary of terms used in her book or explain them herself in the text?

 

[njt2009]

Can you explain the phase 'as in toned and active on all sides' ?

 

[njt2009]

No she did not provide any glossary of terms. I read it on web site.

 

[emsr2d2]

Once a student's legs are strong in the pose (as in toned and active on all sides),

"Toned and active on all sides" is what the writer means by the student's legs being "strong in the pose". I can't say that it's brilliantly written but the writer thought that perhaps the reader might not understand what he/she meant by "strong in the pose" so went on to give an explanation of it in brackets. When correctly in a yoga pose, all the muscles involved in the pose should be being used to an equal amount, so the muscles in each part of the student's leg should be being used evenly.

 

[njt2009]

I still do not clear about the definition of the words "toned" and "active".

 

[emsr2d2]

Normally, "toned" means that you have muscular definition - the muscles can be seen and are not covered in layers of fat! In this instance, I think the writer means that you can see the muscles clearly being flexed and being used. If all the muscles in your leg are "active" in a particular pose, you are using all your leg muscles at the same time.

To be honest, reading about/studying the theory of yoga is not much use to you. If you actually went to a yoga class and see what the instructor and students are doing, most of these phrases would make a lot more sense.