The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › The Hot Yoga Poses › Utkatasana › pain in legs and feet
The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › The Hot Yoga Poses › Utkatasana › pain in legs and feet
-
AuthorPosts
-
Hello! I’m new to Bikram yoga and new to this forum. I’m so happy I found my way here!
I’ve gone to 11 classes in the last 14 days, and Utkatasana is the pose I dread most. I don’t know if I’ve been doing it wrong, because I am beginning to feel pain my upper thighs and even my feet. I wonder if I’m straining my feet too much?
The discomfort lasts well into Eagle pose and even the other standing poses, actually, leading me to lose my balance easily.
Should I cut back on the frequency of the classes to rest my legs and feet? Please say no. 🙂
Hi shopgirl1030
Welcome! and thanks for the question.
Feeling that burning sensation in your thighs, I just think you are being courageous and doing it right! :cheese:
You could in fact be straining your feet by trying to grip the floor by clenching your toes and feet to stop you from falling over backward. That is of course if it is particularly happening in Part 1.
Can you tell me when exactly you feel the pain come on? (Part 1, 2 or 3, be as precise as you can.) That may give us some more clues and help me answer it accurately for you.
And no, if that is the only thing that would stop you going as often as you want, then I don’t think you need to cut back. I think it is a simple technique tweak…
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hello, Gabrielle.
The pain begins in Part 1 and lingers throughout the three parts. It affects even my attempts at Eagle Pose. My feet feel very tense and my legs are shaky. I think you’re right. My thighs have always been weak and I guess I’m overcompensating by gripping the floor too much with my feet.
Is there anything I can do to prevent this? I don’t want to dread the pose so much that I begin to sense the pain even before I actually start getting into it.
Thank you so much for the welcome, and for the helpful reply. 🙂
Hello shopgirl1030
Yoga is about creating a balance between effort and surrender.
I wonder if you have ever fallen over backwards!!! It is really not that far down. It is a great lesson in humility and focus too. I am thinking that your body wants to know what would happen if it fell over backwards and know that it is OK. Maybe you will consciously and unconsciously find some reprieve… your feet will also learn that they don’t have to hold on for dear life! :cheese:
The other thing that comes to mind is that it is possible that for the first time in a long while your feet are becoming acquainted with really supporting you. For example I was just talking about it the other day: my feet have changed a lot since doing yoga. They connect me to the earth now, whereas before they were always in shoes. They changed in appearance and I feel different being supported by them.
Dreading the pose is definitely not an ‘in the moment’ thing. I would love to hear how your mission goes toward helping you focus on the now.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Just adding my 2c here as I had very poor quadriceps strength when I started this yoga, so I remember this struggle very well!
In my view, these huge leg muscles are always going to burn a lot of energy – these 3 poses together are taxing on anyone (energy wise). So as much as you *should* do as much as you can in each pose, I also suggest that in your first 2 months (especially with your most excellent commitment and schedule!), you go for less “depth” in the 3 parts of Utkatasana and trade this for stamina & breath, both in those poses and for the remainder of class.
They are tough, hi-stamina poses, which will feel surprisingly different after a couple of months (your experience may vary of course) – and you’ll quite possibly be shocked at how shapely your thighs become, especially when flexed. Well I know I was anyway! (After years of no definition and weakness from a broken thigh-bone, it was nice to have it back).
I also notice that, if there is going to be some wobbling and shaking for new students, then this pose will be one of those that amplifies it! And in part III (if this is the case in your studio – where you squeeze knees together and descend with a straight, vertical spine), it is pretty common for the “Golgi Tendon Organ Reflex” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golgi_tendon_organ to come into play, which causes the sudden loss of control of muscles (to protect you from excessive force) & you find yourself sitting on your heels or your bottom rather rapidly!
As Gabrielle says, refocus on the moment – in theory there are supposed to be no poses that we “love” or “hate” – but I can tell you from personal experience that this is not the case! Fortunately, they change on a regular basis (I use to HATE the double leg lift in half-locust … now I love it … I shouldn’t be doing either if I’m practicing “non-attachment”!).
ooops! My two cents turned out to be a bit long … 🙂
Robert
Hello, Gabrielle and Robert.
Thank you for the reassurance. It helps to know that the difficulty is actually normal and expected (I already knew that, I guess, but it’s different hearing it from someone else). I will try to observe my body’s responses a bit more as I am going through the poses, rather than letting my anticipation of the discomfort distract me.
I really like what you said about yoga being a balance between effort and surrender. What a beautiful way of describing it. I’d never thought of yoga that way before.
Your website is so inspiring. Thank you again!
Burning and shaky muscles can also be lactic acid buildup. If that is the case, creatine capsule supplement before and after will help.
Lynda Weiss HenryIt’s strange to suddenly be saying this, but awkward pose is now one of my favorites in the balancing series. I know I shouldn’t have favorites, it’s just that I really used to hate this pose! Oh, the pain of it.
But now I honestly enjoy it more. It helped to relax into the pose instead of dreading it all the time. My teacher also kept repeating, “it’s okay to fall, it’s okay to fall” — which kind of tied in with what Gabrielle said about not gripping too hard.
I’m so happy!
Hello shopgirl1030
Oh, the simplicity of it all! What an inspiring mindset transformation. Thank you for keeping us in the loop.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂I love this site! Eight years into my Bikram practice and I still can’t do a lot of poses and I now realize on reading here that I’ve just accepted what I can’t do and don’t even try. Never in eight years have I held Standing Bow for a full minute on either side. But one thing I wanted to ask about, in Awkward, over the last six months, I’ve got screaming pain in my hip flexors, on the last two parts of it and I have no idea why. Has anyone else experienced this?
Hello BonMar
Putting my mind to this I am wondering what kind of final position you are in…
So a couple of questions: where are your hips in relation to your knees in both parts 2 and 3 in final pose? Also are your hips hurting going into it or rather once you are in and staying there?
My first thought is that in Part 2 to distribute more weight into the toes by leaning into them. And in Part 3 I feel reticent to say “remember to really squeeze your knees together” because that is very basic instruction for someone who as been doing this for 8 years. At the same time however, many times the tweak can come from refining something very basic and simple. 😉
Another reason hip flexors hurt in Part 3 is when the student lifts their heels up off the floor too high and keeps them there (unnaturally) instead of only focusing on the travel of the hips with a straight back. You probably don’t do that but it is worth a mention, to let the feet do what they will by only focusing on the squeezed knees and straight back otherwise the hips are having to work hard to recorrect your alignment and keep the back upright.
If you remove yourself from the situation and look at solving the problem of hip flexors in general then I would be focusing on hip flexor stretches. They are present in the series but you may need more than that in the form of a yin class, or go and pick up Lucas’ at home stretching guide from the Poses Section of the website.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi, Gabrielle! I’ve been engrossed in this site all weekend and have learned a ton! Elbows in my pockets, lifting up at the ankle on all standing poses, then up through the knee and inner thigh, relaxing more into the stretches – strength and surrender – I’ve had so much to think about the last few days. My yoga is so much better now from Half Moon to Final Spinal. I’ve stopped trying so hard, relaxed more, and I hardly noticed my tight hip flexors in Awkward. It wasn’t until the last set of Rabbit that I remembered you telling me to relax my shins, I was trying to so hard to suck in my belly and raise my back and then I finally noticed that my shins were actually coming off the floor. I relaxed them entirely. I guess I have been using my legs a lot! Ha! Thanks for all your help!
Hi, Gabrielle:
I wanted to report back that I didn’t make my 30-day challenge for various reasons, but by Day 25 the pain in my hip flexors was completely gone and it hasn’t returned.
Hi Bonnie
Thanks for reporting back. :cheese: You must be over the moon that your progress is so quantifiable. A little bit of effort, surrender and the right technique all mixed together make for a very satisfying practice. I am very happy for you.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂 -
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.