Knee shifting during poses

Hi Stacy

That’s a shame that you feel that your knees are feeling worse for wear at the moment. I think there are some things that you can do to consolidate the strength and good use in your knees. You of course will have to monitor these things.

First thing that you will find obvious to avoid at least for now and until your knees improve are the twisting poses.

The obvious ones are those that you mention in your post: Suptavajrasana and Tadasana (Fixed Firm and Tree)

Of course you don’t want to just do nothing so here are the things you can do in their place:
[strong]
Suptavajrasana:[/strong] Sit in a classic kneeling position with knees, heels and toes aligned. Sit up straight and just rest your hands on your knees or thighs with relaxed shoulders (down and back). Do let me know if you are unable to rest in this position and I will give more details.

I do have photos of this and other mistakes and problems and how to fix them in Hot Yoga MasterClass. So if you happen to know somebody with the manual then take a look at page 238.

For first set just sit there. IF you feel like it, (and only if you feel that you don’t get this stretch anywhere else, because you may indeed get this stretch in Camel) you can lean back on your hands (situated behind you on the floor) but ONLY IF you can keep your bottom on your feet. However I would suggest spend a couple of weeks just sitting upright for both sets in this knee-restorative position.

[strong]Tadasana:[/strong] Don’t bring your foot onto your opposite hip. While we’re at it, don’t do Toe Stand either.

Have you seen the other type of tree pose where people bring their foot to the inside of the standing thigh? You can definitely try that. Don’t put pressure against the standing knee itself. Either go below or above the knee. Work on your alignment of your symmetrically open hips. Work on lifting up from the standing foot so that you avoid pronating (collapsing) your ankle.

[strong]Check into the following poses too.[/strong] You didn’t mention these but I ask you to be very mindful in your next classes and do a couple of experiments.

Eagle: I would possibly NOT hook the toes around the back of the standing calf muscle. Test the knee out with this pose.

I would like to know if you have a straight back AND straight legs in Sep Leg Intense Stretch or whether your back is rounded.

Final Twist: Is everything ok here? At the moment it could be an idea to test the feeling of extending the leg out in front of you (at 12 o’clock) until your knees feel better. As I am saying above, it may not be necessary.

Let me know if there are other poses that pose (!) other niggling issues. 😉

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Stacy

A few more questions for you:

1 > Would you please explain exactly what you mean when you say you are “compensating into my hip on the single leg postures”? A few ideas: Are you leaning into that standing leg and hip to take the weight off the hip? Are you bending the leg? Something else to compensate? Do you avoid locking your knee?
2 > Are you practising at home only? Or do you also practise at a studio?
3 > How many times do you practise per week?
4 > Are you talking about both the separate leg postures – the intense stretch one and the head to knee one? When is that pose or those poses giving you that vulnerable feeling? Ie what are you doing at that moment? For your intense stretch pose are you locking out your legs, or are they bent, or are they straight and not locked, while you are trying to get your head to the floor? For the head to knee pose do you have your hands in prayer in front of your foot or not?

Stacy, it’s been less than a week since I gave you a couple of ideas for your practice. Please continue as suggested to give your knees a chance to recuperate.

With Final Twist you can extend the lower leg out in front of you. Then bend up the other leg with the foot flat on the floor to the outside of that lower leg. If you feel anything untoward in your upper knee, just slide the foot an inch or 2 further away from your hips. Grab the outside of your straight leg with a long arm, wherever your arm reaches to (not necessarily the knee itself).

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂