#000647
Anatomy of Movement
Blandine Calais-Germain
A beloved illustrated guide to how the body actually moves, written for dancers, yoga and movement teachers, bodyworkers, and therapists rather than for medical students. Blandine Calais-Germain, a French dancer turned anatomist, walks joint by joint through the musculoskeletal system — spine, pelvis, shoulder, hip, knee, foot — explaining the mechanics of each in plain language and, above all, in her clear hand-drawn diagrams. The emphasis throughout is functional: not just what a muscle is called but what happens when you bend, twist, reach, or balance, and how that knowledge can protect the body and improve movement. First published in French in 1985 as *Anatomie pour le mouvement* and issued in English by Eastland Press in 1993, it has become a standard on movement-training reading lists. Anyone who works with their body, or helps others with theirs, will find it lucid and genuinely usable.
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The author
Blandine Calais-Germain is a French anatomist, physiotherapist, and former dancer who pioneered teaching functional anatomy to movement practitioners. She founded a teaching approach and press around "anatomy for movement," and has written a series of books applying it to breathing, the pelvic floor, and stretching.
The book
Anatomy of Movement translates the musculoskeletal system into practical, movement-centered terms, organized by region and richly illustrated with the author's own drawings. First published in French in 1985 and in English by Eastland Press in 1993 (revised 2007), it bridges clinical anatomy and embodied practice.
How it reads
Exceptionally clear and still widely used. It is not a substitute for a full medical anatomy text, and a few details have been refined in the revised edition, but for understanding how joints and muscles cooperate in real movement it is hard to beat. The drawings do much of the teaching.
For more context
Continue with Calais-Germain's companion volumes on breathing and stretching, and pair with a standard anatomy atlas for reference detail.
Sources
- Type
- Book
- Author / Maker
- Blandine Calais-Germain
- Publisher
- Eastland Press
- Place of publication
- Seattle
- Year
- 1993
- ISBN
- None
- Shelf
- Science
- Location
- Colorado