Hot Yoga Forum

Tree Pose to Toe Stand/Kicking in Standing Head to Knee

2010-05-07T07:10:30Z

Hi Gabrielle,

I have a couple of questions regarding 2 postures.

1) Tree Pose - On another thread you said the below -

‘in my studio we teach that you only let go of the second hand if, and only if the heel of your foot is directly under your belly-button at the body’s midline.’ (I suppose you meant where you had it like in the tree pose photo gallery? you made it look easy.)

Which unfortunately I am not able to reach yet :(

so does it also mean that unless I got my foot there, I am not able to let go of my second hand?

And if I can’t let go of my second hand yet, does it also mean that I am not able to proceed to Toe Stand?

And if one of my legs manage to achieve this first can I proceed with that one side first or do I wait till I could get both legs there?

2)Standing Head to Knee -

You mentioned that unless we can hold the first part of this posture for 60 secs, we shouldn’t be kicking up the legs at all?

Again, what if I can hold one leg for 60 secs but not the other yet? do I kick up the leg of the side that I can or do I wait for the other leg to catch/build up first and kicking them up together?

Love, love to hear your thoughts.

Thank you very much

Namaste!

binny

Inner Thigh Pain

2010-02-02T14:46:52Z

Gabrielle,

I have recently gotten started back up to going to Bikram classes more regularly. I have been trying to do a 30 or 60 day challenge, but my work is just not allowing that to happen. I have decided to redefine my personal challenge to be that I will go to yoga every day that I CAN go, but to accept that I will likely not make it every day. This change in perspective is making a world of difference in my peace of mind.

I digress though, the reason for my question is that I suddenly have a new ouchy that is causing me some trouble in Tree Pose, kind of in Triangle and in Janushirasana. I am having some pain at the very top of my inner thigh while in these poses. At first I thought that it was my hip flexor, but it is a little more interior than that. The first time that I noticed this was a twinge when going into triangle. Now it doesn’t bother me much in triangle as long as I go into it slowly. However, today I had enough pain while in tree pose and Janushirasana that I couldn’t drop the knee of the bent leg. After class I found that it hurts quite a bit now to cross my ankle over my knee to put on shoes, etc.

What would you suggest that I do to ensure that this doesn’t get worse and, better yet, make it go away?

thanks!
Cindy

opening the hips??

2009-03-27T18:48:44Z

Any suggestions from anyone on how to open my hips more for standing tree and toe pose?? My knee will not stay without holding it for standing tree and the toe stand is a mess with my knee slipping off my leg, the sweat doesn’t help!!! help!!!

How do I keep my feet from rolling outwards while I’m trying to balance?

2008-04-11T09:12:57Z

Hi there! I have been doing Hot Yoga for about 6 weeks now, and I think that my hips are finally starting to open up a bit (I am able to at least place my foot above my knee in this pose now - even though I can’t keep it up!) My question now is about the fact that my feet seem to want to roll out towards their outer edges when I’m trying to balance… Can you suggest anything to help me be able to keep my whole foot grounded?

I love this forum Gabrielle!

Maybe my hips will never be able to do this?

2008-03-14T11:07:06Z

I have only been doing Moksha Hot Yoga for 2 weeks now, and I am ABSOLUTELY loving everything about it - but I am wondering about my hips… Is it possibly that my hips are just not capable of becoming as flexible as necessary to do certain poses? I’m particularly thinking of tree pose - my hips are so tight - I can place the sole of my foot on my calf but that’s as far as I can go, and I’ve seen really no improvement over the last few weeks - I’ve tried pressing my knee out so that my hips will loosen, but it just doesn’t work… I have a lot of tightness in my glute (on the right especially), and in my lower back area, and I see a physiotherapist who has given me exercices to work on my core and pernium, but is it possible that I’m just never going to have the kind of flexibility I want in my hips? P.S. I have been doing hot yoga 4 times per week…

My foot slips when I bring my second hand into prayer position.

2008-03-06T06:21:25Z

How do you keep your foot up at your costume during tree pose? Mine continuously slips out and I can’t figure out what to tighten to keep it in place to bring both hands into prayer.
Posted by Emily on 01/21 at 01:55 PM

Hello Emily

Thanks for your question.

Tree pose is a lovely tall pose that helps lengthen the spine, opens the hips, lengthen the leg adductors. It does this by the position of the leg. But the arm that holds up that leg also plays a pivotal role.

When you hold your foot from behind you lift it up. In doing so your elbow should be bending backwards (and not out to the side). Your shoulder moves down and back away from the ear. If you are doing all this right then your biceps muscles are being utilized. Your lifted knee can move back against the pull of the hand and create a beautiful opening across the pelvis and through the leg.

When you let go of the foot and bring your hand up into 2 handed prayer position then you lose this traction. Although your eventual aim is to have both hands in prayer, if your foot doesn’t stay up by itself then you may be letting go of your foot too early.

In my studio we teach that you only let go of the second hand if, and only if the heel of your foot is directly under your belly-button at the body’s midline.

So in answer to your question, I really recommend enjoying creating the traction by continuing your Tree pose with only one hand in prayer position.

3 things to take note of:
1) make sure you tuck the tailbone under to lengthen your lower spine (don’t arch your spine - students often do this to try to keep their foot up)
2) don’t allow your heel to go any further than your thigh bone (or femur)
3)keep holding your foot up with your hand if your heel is not at the midline (use the leverage to create the best opening that you can)

Let me know if this doesn’t answer your question!
Gabrielle