Category: Head To Knee Pose

POTM: Head to Knee Pose/ Janushirasana

12/1/2017

This posture comes toward the very end of every Bikram yoga class, paired with Stretching Pose/ Paschimottanasana. Together the two postures provide a lovely final stretch for the hamstrings, shoulders and back while improving circulation to the internal abdominal organs.

How to do:

Sit facing the front mirror with your right leg out cornerwise
Bend your left leg so your heel is up by your groin and sole of your left foot creates some pressure on the inner right thigh- your two legs should form a 90-degree angle like an "L"
Bring your arms over your head and turn at the waist to your right
Grab your right foot (you may need to bend the knee) and interlock your 10 fingers a couple inches below the toes
Pull your toes toward your face to try and flex the foot and get your heel off the floor
Tuck your chin to your chest like rabbit pose, suck your stomach in and put your forehead on your knee (again, you may need to bend the knee)
Bend your elbows down next to your calves
Bring your left elbow and left shoulder down a bit more until both shoulders are level with the floor
At the end, bring your head a little closer to your stomach and push your knee down one more time (got a cramp in the abdominal muscles? good news, you're on the right track!)
Release your foot and repeat to the left side

Tips:

When you switch your legs from the right to left sides, put your hands on the floor for support- then bring your arms over your head again once you've put the legs in position. This helps prevents strain on the lower back during the transition.
Your body is really warm and relatively limber by this point in class, and you may be a bit tired from all your efforts! Pay very close attention to your form, alignment and breath so as not to overstretch or "tweak" your back.

Among the many specific benefits of Head to Knee pose are:

Boosted circulation to liver, pancreas, and spleen and kidneys
Better circulation to bowels to improve digestion and relieve chronic diarrhea
Improved concentration and mental endurance
Ehanced flexibility of ankles, knees, hip joints
Stretching of the sciatic nerve to help relieve or prevent sciatica
Stretching of deltoids, trapezius, and hamstrings, especially erector femoris
Forward flexion of lower spine, especially last 5 vertebrae
Toning of biceps and quadriceps

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Independence Day: Celebrating Pain-Free Living Thanks to Bikram Yoga

7/5/2017

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These photos were taken on Independence Day. First (the ones where my forehead is nowhere near my knee!) are what my Head to Knee and Standing Separate Leg Head to Knee poses looked like about 1 year ago, when my lower back was in continuous muscle spasm from lifting my baby the wrong way one too many times. The second photos in each pair are what my postures look like now- and also what they looked like just 5 days after my back injury.

I remember the date because I had to miss my good friends' wedding- I could not bear the pain of sitting in the car to get there. I could not pick up my daughter to hold her if she cried. For several days, I lost my independence. I could not cook my food, do my laundry, pick up a bag, open a door, or even stand for over a minute without severe pain.

What could I do? I could come to yoga.

And I did. I came to yoga every day for 5 days. I did very very gentle stretching. In many postures this meant I could only do the very first step or two in setting up the posture. I did not do any sit-ups. Even in the backward bending postures- and I think this part gets overlooked sometimes- I did not "kill myself," as is normally encouraged when practicing with a spine that's feeling a-ok. I got myself to the place where I could tolerate the pain, and I held it and worked my breath. My Cobra pose for example, where the instructions are to get the upper body off the floor until only the belly button is touching? I got my chin off the floor a little. Yeah. And that was my posture. It hurt! But I could breathe.

And when I let it go, I felt a wash of relaxation across my back, like my back was exhaling.

I wanted to share these images with you because I hope they will drive home the point our teachers are always making in class: when you're in pain you need to do less of a posture, you need to take it easy, sometimes you even need to skip a posture- and all of that is perfect. Especially for those of us who started this yoga without a specific physical limitation or pain, it can be difficult to translate what "doing less" means when we find ourselves practicing with an injury. These photos (the first in each pair) are an example of what it looks like to "do less."

Notice that I didn't change a thing about the form or technique of the pose- I simply started slow and did step 1, then (maybe) step 2, etc, and stopped as soon as I needed to in the sequence. I did not concern myself with how my posture looked or felt before my injury, I just focused on what I could do right then. Since I've practiced through injury before, I knew this was the way.

This yoga is meant for healing as well as for prevention of injury- depending on our goal, we need to practice in an appropriate way.

I always see injuries as a gift and an opportunity to learn. Because practicing to heal injury means honing the invaluable skill of understanding and attending to my body's signals. Too much pain? Back off. Feels all right? Go for it, little by little. Too exhausted to go on? Lie down as long as you need to and enjoy the benefits of the hot, humid room. This skill can only serve me and it will never ever hurt me.

If you are hurting, there is only one thing you must do to start healing: come to class! Bikram yoga works amazingly for not only chronic conditions but acute injuries as well. Do not stay home and wait until you feel better- coming to yoga will help you feel better.

Using Bikram yoga for healing means coming more often and doing less.

For me, one of the hardest parts of being in debilitating pain was the loss of independence. I needed others to help me do things I wanted to do for myself. So I took the one thing I could do and the one thing I knew I had to do, and I changed everything around. That's my story, but it isn't unique. It is no more than cause and effect, action and reaction. The results can be replicated by you.

If you simply commit to caring for yourself during injury by practicing in a therapeutic way, Bikram yoga is sure to help you restore the independence of pain-free (or at the very least, pain-reduced!) living. And that is something worth celebrating!

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POTM: Head to Knee Pose/ Janushirasana

Independence Day: Celebrating Pain-Free Living Thanks to Bikram Yoga

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