Heel lifting in this pose

[anjali.iyer]

#2239

hi Gabrielle,
I am wondering if I am doing this pose right. I am able to keep my legs straight, tuck my chin into my throat and round down to interlock my fingers under the ball of my foot. After a long inhale, I exhale deeply to make my forehead touch my knee, arch my heel away from me and my toes towards me, and bend my arms so that elbows to touch the floor. I still don’t understand how I have to get the heel to lift off the floor. How much of the leg is supposed to be off the floor? Is it the strength of the pull that is to lift the leg off? Or the elbows on the floor? How high does the heel have to be? Would appreciate any inputs on this. Thanks!

[Andrea.*F.]

#9148

Hello Anjali,

I am a new member of the Hot Yoga Doctor Team, I hope you don’t mind if I get back to you on that one =)

I understand that you follow these steps to get into Janushirasana:

1)Keep one leg straight, the other bent,tuck the chin
2)Round down to interlace fingers underneath the ball of the foot
3)Long inhale, deep exhale, forehead to the knee
4)Flexing the foot, elbows to the floor

Did I miss something? =)
I hope not!
Before I suggest anything specific, can you please confirm that the steps above are done in that exact order?

Thank you!
Looking forward to hearing from you!

Namaste,

Andrea

[anjali.iyer]

#9149

hi Andrea,
Thanks for the revert. Yes, thats basically how i do it. I also tuck in my chin when I round down to touch the forehead to my knee.
When I am rounding down onto my right leg, I eventually manage to get the heel to lift by like a few inches. Is there more to this?
Best,
anjali

[Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)]

#9174

Hi Anjali

It appears you could be approaching the pose doing the right things in slightly the wrong order and missing out on much of the action of this pose during the entry (on the way to the ‘pose’). And in doing so you could be missing out on something that you will find to be rather satisfying!

Tuck your chin, look into your chest and round down to get your forehead on your knee. In MOST cases your forehead will be on your knee before or as you get your hands under you feet. Your hands should not get to your feet in order to get your head to your knee. It’s actually the other way around.

So try instead to tuck the chin and NOT look at your foot (which I have a hunch you may be doing, on entry) and bend up the leg as much as you need to with your foot still flexed in order to get your fingers interlocked just below those tootsies.

Let me know how you go

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

[sobahgurusy]

#9886

Hi Gabrielle,

This pose is tricky for me. Despite I did this sequence, I still have trouble to rest my elbows to the floor? Thanks in advance for the answer.

Fatma

[Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)]

#10033

Hi Fatma

the elbows on the floor is less important than engaging the mechanism for the pose. Bending your elbows may be enough. Can you describe what you’re doing? We can try to work out if you’re doing it to get the best benefits.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

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