It's the process of one movement triggering another movement in the body, such as the ripple effect when throwing a pebble into a pond. The same thing happens in the body when we take a movement in one part of the body, and that movement extends and expands throughout the body. However, this exaggerates when there's a limitation in one part of the body, and the brain will take the movement to another part of the body. This limitation could be due to tight hips, shoulder range of motion, hyperkyphosis, scoliosis, spinal fusion...

Why does this matter? It matters if these habitual chain reactions go on for years or decades, and eventually lead to chronic pain or postural issues.

Before I discovered a more mindful and alignment based approach to yoga, I was doing all sorts of yoga, and pretty well. I had practiced Ashtanga yoga for years, would do bird of paradise, wheel... yikes! I'm glad that I learned about what my chain reactions would lead to in my body. My biggest physical limitation is my fusion, and when I was practicing any x,y,z yoga pose, I was not taking into account that I was overburdening my unfused vertebrae. A goal of my practice is to feel good in my body, AND do what I can to prevent future surgeries.

Notice how you feel when you sit on the floor or reach your arms alongside your ears, for example. The outsider may say that your pose looks good, but ask yourself how it feels in your entire body.