Dr Karen Kirkness holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in Medical Sciences from Hull York Medical School. Her research is based on complexity science applications in the medical curriculum, especially how anatomy pedagogy informs health professions education outcomes. Dr Kirkness teaches embryology and anatomy with a focus on kineasthetic learning methods.
Karen is a committed movement educator passionate about facilitating healthy outcomes through guided self-practice with a focus on constraints-led spiral motion. Her work as a movement researcher in the Spiral Syllabus looks at rotational biomechanics in terms of the Five Filaments, the spiral motion rubric that Dr. Kirkness coined in her book, Spiral Bound: Integrated Anatomy for Yoga. Karen is the founder of Meadowlark Yoga in Edinburgh, Scotland, and holds an MFA & MSc in Human Anatomy from the University of Edinburgh.
Karen Kirkness: Five Filaments in Practice
Spirality in nature is everywhere we look, and resides in every movement we make. Nature’sdance through the music and mathematics of form leave patterns in nature that providenatural constraints, and in life we find it arising in complexity. Spiral constraints inform andinfuse every movement we make through filamentous tissue. Join Karen in a practicalworkshop exploring…
Karen Kirkness: Constrain to Set Free: Fascia and Complexity
Spirality in nature is everywhere we look, and resides in every movement we make. To be spiral is to curl, to resonate with vibration, to converge and expand with the breath. Spirals are found universally, leaving a twirling pattern in biologic tissue, pea tendrils, the horns of ruminant animals, weather formations and the motion of…
Spirality, chirality and movement
This is the introduction to a webinar taught by Karen Kirkness and Celina Hwang. View the webinar here. Curvature and rotation are features so deeply embedded within our natural structure, it is easy to overlook the significance. Spirality, a biological strategy, is hidden in the obvious. Helical structure underpins all carbon-based life; from the micro…
Monthly Members’ Webinar – Written in the Tissues: a movement practice inspired by embryonic folding
Practical details Date: 21 April 2022Time: 20.00 – 21.00 * Please note change from normal time.Presenters: Karen Kirkness and Celina HwangTitle: Written in the Tissues: a movement practice inspired by embryonic folding A combination of 30 minutes of theory and 20 minutes of movement exploring the embryological actions of lateral & longitudinal folding to help attendees gain a dual…
Seasonal Webinar – Revealing the Heart
Special Seasonal Webinar In December 2021 we offered what is normally our monthly, members’ webinar, to everyone. The heart was our absolute focus in this 75-minute, free webinar, open to all; our gift to you at this seasonal time of love and joy. Practical details Date: Thursday 16th December Time: 20.00 UK time. Check…
Spiral Bound – chapter 1 – Across anatomy
Spiral Bound explores the potential for yoga as a healing modality by examining the body’s anatomical structure as it has evolved embryonically. With a light touch approach, Karen Kirkness weaves together threads of development to see how our morphological constraints arise in the earliest moments of life, and how this rotation lays the spiral groundwork for…