Adduction takes place when a limb moves nearer to the midline and abduction takes place when a limb moves away from the midline. If we take Chair pose, the legs are squeezing towards the midline (practice with a block between your thighs) so this is adduction.
Understanding Sideways Movements
On your mission to become a better yoga teacher, you may have begun the study of anatomy. Essential to the study of how the body moves in the poses, and how the muscles work to move the joints and support the bones, is the use of the language of movement. Just as Sanskrit beautifully and efficiently names the poses, the traditional anatomical terminology concisely describes movement.
Involving the Hips
A lot of abduction and adduction also takes place at the hip joints in yoga poses. Applying our definition from above, when you squeeze your legs together toward the midline, you're adducting your hips. A classic example is Vrksasana(Tree Pose), when you keep the sole of your foot "glued" to your inner thigh by pressing the inner thigh and sole into each other. In inversions, you're also actively adducting your hips to keep your legs from separating due to the downward pull of gravity. The hip adductors, the large group of muscles in each inner thigh, perform the pull into adduction. If you lie flat on your back with your legs out straight, about a foot apart, you can feel the adductors contract as you slide your legs in and then squeeze them together.
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