The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › The Hot Yoga Poses › Dandayamana Bibhaktapada Janushirasana › Head to Knee
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I have been practicing Bikram yoga for 2 1/2 years. I still cannot get my head to my knee in this pose. I take a wide stance, no, shorter stance, no. What muscles are used in this pose and what can I do to finally get my exactly forehead to my exactly knee, lol? I have asked my yoga teachers and they are no help, they just say to keep practicing. But then they say the posture doesn’t start until you get your head to your knee! Arg! Any advice would be much appreciated.
Hi tmdriver,
I’ve just posted about this same issue (see “Anatomy is destiny?” in this posture thread). I’ve had lots of backchannel discussion about this too. I’ve tried wider stance, shorter stance, etc. And like you, I can’t get my forehead to my knee. I finally realized that is unlikely to happen for me…and also realized in the process that lots of other people at my studio don’t have their “exactly forehead to their exactly knee” either.
Can you get forehead to knee in other postures? I can’t, and I happen to be of longer torso and shorter legs. So for some of us, forehead to knee may be unrealistic. But that doesn’t mean I won’t try every time.
Gabrielle may have better insight for you, but I wanted to chime in at and least say, “Yeah! That seems like it will never happen for me either!”. 🙂
-Kristin
Thank you for your quick reply. I am long waisted and wondered if that was the problem. I cannot get my forehead to my knee on any other posture either. All I can do is what I can do. Thanks.
Hi Toni and Kristin
Hallelujah!
Thanks so much for chiming in Kristin. I was hoping that you would after our numerous emails.
I mentioned to Kristin too, Toni that if you press your hands into the floor for best leverage AND hip alignment you will open up your spine more effectively. This means that you should play with that hand position, maybe they will be behind your heel – just experiment. (But do not use your shoulders! 😉 )
It is of NO USE TO YOU AT ALL to place your hands in prayer position (so I do hope you are not wasting valuable moments of your practice aiming for an elusive goal that is not offering you any value).
Have fun in your discovery
I shake my head in disbelief when I read that you all know and then try to execute ‘exactly forehead …’ The dialog is not a holy scripture even though many would have you believe that. 😆 It’s far better and holistically viable to go for best outcome based on proper physical and META-physical attitude and technique. Then it’s yoga!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Agreed, of course!
I have one final question on this….the instruction also says to bend the knee if you must. Well doing so still doesn’t get my head on the knee, so I’ve wondered if I should go ahead and straighten the leg, touch forehead to wherever it touches on the leg, THEN work forehead toward knee? It just seems that straightening the leg would at least remove one variable in this complex equation.
My instructors say keep bending the knee, and so I do. Do you have an opinion on this?
-Kristin
Hi Kristin
I would keep the leg bent. However, if we had the chance to practise together I would see what happens with both situations. I would be checking into what your body is doing and how aligned it is in both situations (particularly your hips and how rounded your back is). Without seeing you in this particular case I can’t say.
Hmmm, Skype? Photos? Maybe! 😉
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂I will see if someone at the studio would be willing to take some pictures (or even video – gasp) before class. I think seeing them would help me too, actually.
I’ve been trying the posture with my leg straight, and I like that doing so minimizes the other variables (e.g., is my knee bent the same amount as yesterday?). But I don’t know if its helping the posture at all. Forehead is on the shin, and I’m trying with everything I’ve got to move it toward the knee. It actually moves a fraction of an inch….maybe that’s all I can expect right now.
Anyway, if I can get some visuals for you I will certainly send them along. Thanks!!
– Kristin
I looked at one of the discussions in the topic reserved for the Forehead to Knee pose. I think I am in the ‘focused on getting my exactly forehead to my exactly knee’ group. I can get my nose to my knee if I bend my front leg, but that’s all so far. Pushing up from floor helps a little, but I am not yet flexible enough to comfortably get my palms all the way to the floor without bending my knee further. And then at that point, I feel like my hips are not centered anymore – or are not square if that makes more sense. Should I keep working where I am and maybe I’ll get there one day? I have long legs, is this a factor?
Hello Helen,
I am one the graduates form Gabrielle’s teacher training, I hope you don’t mind if I reply to your post 🙂
Can I just ask you what your outcome is in this pose? How do you go into it and then what are you trying to achieve once you are in it? You are absolutely right when you say that squaring the hips has a higher priority then straightening the legs.
Please answer the questions above and I will do my best to come up with something that helps you 🙂
Namaste,
Andrea
I just had a discussion on this pose the other day with someone who had gone to a posture clinic. They had to do the pose with a piece of paper between the thighs….if the paper dropped, pose not right. I’ve thought about this and realize how tightly turned around the hips would have to be to achieve this.
What do you guys think about that?
I’m still struggling in this one too, though my instructor the other day commented to me in class, “Your forehead is not as far away as you think”.
-kristin
Hi Andrea –
Thank you for responding…This forum has been so helpful…I just hope folks don’t get tired of all my inquiries. 🙂
My outcome when I currently do this pose = frustration. I think I know how good it will feel once I get it but right now I spend most of it adjusting and wondering what else I can do to get the form correct.
How I go into it: I place my feet, then inhale, arms up, make my ‘steeple’ exhale and bend forward at the hips, going as far down as I can. Then I adjust my back leg further back if needed and bend the front knee until I am not pulling the muscles in the back of that leg uncomfortably. Then I try to relax and breathe to see if I can get any further in straightening the front knee.
I suppose I am trying to achieve, if not my exactly forehead to my exactly knee, then at least straight knees and squared hips.
Does that all make sense? So hard to describe everything in words when I am not actually doing the pose…
Thanks!
Helen
Hello Helen,
I am one the graduates form Gabrielle’s teacher training, I hope you don’t mind if I reply to your post 🙂
Can I just ask you what your outcome is in this pose? How do you go into it and then what are you trying to achieve once you are in it? You are absolutely right when you say that squaring the hips has a higher priority then straightening the legs.
Please answer the questions above and I will do my best to come up with something that helps you 🙂
Namaste,
Andrea
Ooops! My reply to Andrea posted twice…Wasn’t sure how to delete the extra…
Hi Helen
A couple of important things. You mention you are bending forward from the hips. This is actually one descent that is not at all coming from the hips. This particular pose is served by tucking the chin and then curling from the neck down to the hips through the spine.
That’s possibly your first problem. Let me know if you need more tips in this area. It does seem you are going to an exactly recital based exactly class. IMHO the script is seldom if ever going to give you the answers to your problems in any pose – and that’s why this forum even exists. Haha!
The next thing is I don’t know where you are placing your hands. Perhaps letting me know where they are in relation to your feet will give me a better idea.
Back leg has to be locked out, don’t be so concerned about the front leg being locked
That’s all for now, folks 😆
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Oh, wow…That is definitely something I am doing wrong. I will tuck my chin and round the back into the pose next time! I haven’t gone to very many classes – but have mostly used Bikram’s CD and your CDs/videos so far. And as you know, Bikram says the forehead HAS to be on the knee. The ‘Hot Yoga’ that I have attended is Moksha, not Bikram. I’m hesitant to attend a ‘true’ Bikram class because of the scripted format of official Bikram schools (with all due respect, of course). I’m OK to listen to Bikram on CD because I can modify without risking a stern correction…Haha!
Hand placement: I try to keep my hands in the steeple position in front of my front foot, like in the picture, when adjusting by pushing up from the floor, I try to place my palms flat to either side of my front foot – usually can’t get them flat, though.
You’re the bomb-diggity, Gabrielle! 🙂
Helen
Hi Helen
:cheese: thanks!
Firstly, Kristin, a comment about the paper between the legs. What will they think of next? Yet another seemingly rational one-size-fits-all comment that doesn’t relate to all bodies. (That doesn’t work with me for example and my alignment is very good. If that were the case, wouldn’t the legs have to be pretty close together? Wouldn’t you have to have a certain hip arrangement physiologically speaking?) Just work on hip alignment.
And now for you Helen, this is related. How aware are you of your hip alignment? Hands in prayer in front of the foot must only happen once your alignment is spot on. Otherwise it’s just an upside down position with no leverage or active stretch!
Placement of your hands is about getting best leverage, so go where your hands can push up the best without involving any hunching of the shoulders. That should sort it out!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Thank you again…I will try that. I am pretty aware of hip alignment, I think…I can tell when they aren’t square – I spend a lot of time adjusting that in the posture. Of course, I’m upside down so It’s hard to tell for sure. 🙂 Last time when I tried rounding into the pose it felt really awkward and I couldn’t get as far down as usual so I still ended up stretching forward a bit at the hips once I was in so that I could at least get to the point I usually can. Am I a mess or what? 🙂 This is one of those poses that I need to ask one of my Yoga teaching friends to look at with me in detail.
I’ll keep you posted!
Helen
I am still having a hard time in this pose. I have not had a chance to get with a teacher who can look at what I am doing so I get tempted to skip this one. But I keep trying. Hard part is getting my hands flat to the ground in order to push up. My knee is in the way of my chest! LOL! If I cheat over to one side I can get them there but of course, that defeats the form of the pose, I think…I try to stretch my back leg further to help get lower and then I topple over sideways. The most satisfying thing that I think I can do with this one is bang my nose on my knee in aggravation. 🙂
Hi Helen,
Have you had a chance to catch up with your Yoga Teacher friend since? I definitely think you could hugely benefit from having someone look at your alignment!
I have noticed that you mentioned getting your palms flat on the floor a lot! Following the steps you described, I actually got into this pose, with my knee against my chest and really focusing on getting my palms on the floor (trying to experience what you might be feeling…)! I noticed three important things:
1.: I had to make my stance much wider than necessary,
2.: the curve in my back disappeared and
3.: I had to shift almost all my body weight into my front leg so my palms CAN be flat on both sides of my foot.
…I would like to know whether that sounds like something that you are experiencing?Maybe revisit the steps, Gabrielle suggested you in her previous posts. I recommend that next time you get into this pose, don’t worry about putting your palms flat on the mat, you can use your finger tips to push the floor away from you. Do focus on keeping the hips square, chin on the chest, rounding the back at all times! AND distributing the body weight evenly in both legs!
I am confident we can make this pose a very enjoyable one for you 😉 In the meantime, stay curious and keep experimenting!
Keep us posted!
Namaste,
Andrea
Thank you, Andrea! That is exactly what I am experiencing. In keeping with the proper form (shorter stance, rounded back, weight distributed evenly, I am not sure I can even get my fingertips to the floor. I will keep at it. They’ll get there eventually! Thank you for taking the time to help me figure this out. I have not had a chance to get with my teacher friend but will soon.
Blessings and Namaste!
H.
It’s my pleasure Helen!
Do let us know about your progress 😉
Namaste,
Andrea
Hey all!
I did it! Ok, well, my forehead still wasn’t on my knee, but I got to the right general area with a rounded back and my legs the proper distance and weight balanced! I was able to get my fingertips to the floor and pushed up from there. It looked like my knee was maybe between my forehead and nose, so much closer than before…
I also will be scheduling time with my Yoga teacher-friend to go over my form in the poses and get some in-person feedback.
THANKS AGAIN!
Helen
YAY!! That is so wonderful to hear Helen!
Thanks for sharing it with Us! I am really happy for You ;)!!
Keep Us in the loop!
Namaste,
Andrea
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