TheHotYogaDoctor

Hi Gabrielle and everyone,

I am returning to Bikram after a few weeks off because my knees needed a rest (femoral patello syndrome) and I am finding that getting in and out of savasana on the floor is aggravating my knees.  Does anyone else find this and have any suggestions?

When getting out of savasana I usually do the sit up, then keeping my knees together I turn to one side and get onto both hands and knees (like a cat) and then slowly get into the pose.  When getting out of a pose I try to slide off my ankles onto my bum and then turn and scoot into position before laying down. I have also thought of getting back on my hands and knees and crawling backwards and then turning over.

I know this seems like such a simple thing but it is a detail that I feel is not talked about much and I want to protect my knees as much as possible.

I also use a yogitoes instead of towels because I feel they protect my knees more.

Thanks for all your help.

Hi Carolyn

It may be that for a couple of poses you could be introducing too much unnecessary movement. Often the teacher will tell you to “come up and kneel at the top of the towel”. This means that not only must you get on all fours and crawl up to the top of the mat, but when you are finished you have to crawl backwards or come back to the center of the mat again before lying down. I am pretty sure you can (almost if not completely) avoid the pain that this is causing.

Try this: do your sit-up and turn around. Wherever your knees are, do the pose there. Then when you are finished the pose, sit back down, roll onto one hip, turn around where your bum is and extend your legs where they are and then lie down. Job’s done!

You shouldn’t have much work on your knees at all.

Namaste
Gabrielle

Thank you for this simple but effective suggestion! What a difference! Not having to crawl up and down my mat has made my knees very happy!