1. Which one of the following muscles provides the most important limitations to sitting in the three classic cross-legged sitting postures (the auspicious, accomplished, and lotus postures)?
a) hamstrings
b) adductors
c) ankle extensors (soleus and gastrocnemius)
d) trapezius
e) gluteus maximus.

The answer is b; unless an injury is complicating matters, tension is taken off a and c, d is for the upper extremity, and e is not generally a problem.

2. Which one of the following muscles provides the most important limitations to forward bending poses with the thighs adducted and knees straight?
a) ankle extensors (soleus and gastrocnemius)
b) latissimus dorsi
c) hamstrings
d) rectus abdominis
e) quadriceps femoris.

The best answer is c; a can limit forward bends, but only if you try vigorously to flex the ankles; b is for the upper extremity; d and e don’t limit forward bending, they actually help forward bending synergistically.

3. Which is a reasonable attitude toward commenting to students on the policy of locking their knees in standing forward bends?
a) they should never lock their knees
b) they should always lock their knees
c) they can lock their knees, but only if they maintain some tension in their hamstring muscles
d) they can lock their knees, but only if they remove their attention from them completely
e) they should always keep their knees slightly flexed, if only a few degrees.

My answer is c, although there will be occasional partisans who will argue for a and e; everyone in this field realizes the inadvisability of b and d.

4. The myotatic stretch reflex is activated most prominently by which one of the following stimuli?
a) slow, leisurely stretches
b) extreme tension
c) passive stretch cautiously administered by a partner
d) a noxious stimulus such as a pinch to the skin
e) running down a flight of stairs three steps at a time.

The answer is e; a, b, and c are ineffective for stimulating this reflex, and d relates to flexion reflexes (chapter 1).

5. What is the main reason that beginners should not drop their heads far to the rear while doing standing backbends?
a) they might have a spell of fainting
b) they might hurt themselves by extending their necks that much
c) it places too much tension on the sternocleidomastoid muscles
d) it places too much tension on the scalene muscles on the front of the neck
e) it places too much tension on the cervical intervertebral disks.

The best answer I believe is a; b through e will not generally be a problem unless one has a pre-existing injury.

6. What is the physiological reason that even healthy beginners should be wary of vigorous bellows breathing or kapalabhati before they get accustomed to those practices?
a) it might increase blood oxygen too much
b) it might decrease blood carbon dioxide too much
c) it brings too much blood to the brain and spinal cord
d) it's too stressful on the lungs
e) it's too stressful on the heart.

The best answer is b; a is not generally a problem (chapter 2); c is dead wrong, and in fact the practices may cause the opposite problem (also chapter 2); d and e are not a problem for anyone who is in reasonably good health and who approaches the exercises systematically.

7. Regarding "bending from the hips" rather than "bending from the waist" in forward bends, which one of the following is wrong?
a) in the absence of good hip flexibility, bending forward at the waist as a priority may place excess stress on the joints and ligaments of the lower back
b) the hip joints are synovial ball-and-socket joints ideally adapted to forward bending
c) bending at the waist as a first priority produces excess nutation at the sacroiliac joints
d) bending from the hips rotates the head of the femur in the acetabulum of the hip bone
e) bending at the waist compresses the fronts of the intervertebral disks between the chest and the sacrum.

Don’t forget, the "correct" answer is the incorrect answer, and the only one of these five that is wrong is c. The others are all fine. C is wrong because bending at the waist favors counternutation rather than nutation, and bending from the hips favors nutation (chapter 6). Expert multiple choice test takers, incidentally, who are otherwise uncertain, will have no problem with this question, because even if they do not understand nutation and counternutation, they are likely to recognize that the other choices all seem suspiciously bland and correct.

8. Regarding twisting postures, which one of the following is incorrect?
a) twists generally produce compression of structures located axially to the twist
b) gravity is often the main issue to be considered in performance of twisting postures
c) spinal twists feature moderate shearing effects of intervertebral disks between adjacent vertebral bodies in the lumbar region
d) standing twists always include synovial rotations at the hip joints
e) sites at which twisting can occur in addition to bending (neck, hip joints, and knees) are frequent problem areas for aches and pains.

This is a good question, if I do say so myself, because sharp test-takers are likely to outsmart themselves. The correct and deceptively simple answer (the incorrect one) is b (chapter 7). A, c, d, and e are all factually correct.

9. Which one of the following practices specifically minimizes the expiratory reserve volume?
a) bellows breathing
b) even breathing
c) kapalabhati
d) relaxed abdominal breathing in a supine posture
e) agni sara

The answer is e (chapters 2 and 3), and you either know it or you don’t.

10. Which one of the following postures or practices does not result in the abdominal and pelvic organs being pulled notably toward the head at the end of exhalation?
a) standing backbend
b) uddiyana bandha
c) headstand
d) shoulderstand
e) corpse posture.

The answer is a; b lifts the organs, for c and d, gravity drops the organs toward the floor (and head), and for e, gravity also moderately pulls the organs toward the head.