Safe Yoga Knees

As we get older most people start to realise that the knees are very susceptible to pain and injury. This fact is mirrored in the high number of knee operations which are performed each year. These knee problems if not caused by an accident or sports injury most often arise from a weakness in or an imbalance of the thigh muscles. The strength of the thigh muscles is very important to knee health however the muscles must be equally strong on the inside, outside and front and back of the thighs. Without this balance we are more likely to be placing excessive weight on the joint causing strain and potential damage to the cartilage, tendons and ligaments.

In standing poses the general rule is that the knee should always line up with the centre of the foot which is usually the space between the 2nd and 3rd toes. The way to test your alignment is to stand in front of a full length mirror in the Mountain Pose and slowly bend your knees to 45 degrees watching that they do not move out of alignment.

The knee joint should always be supported while standing by keeping a ‘lift’ in the thigh muscles. To understand how to lift your thigh muscles sit on the floor with your legs out in front of you. Now try to lift your heels up off the floor. You will notice your thigh muscles tensing. Keeping the thigh muscles lifted like this will help to stop degeneration of the knee joint.

To make sure the thigh muscles are strengthening evenly practice the following exercise daily:

Wall-supported Chair Pose
You will need a stable wall and a yoga block or thick book.

1. Stand with your back to a wall and your feet hip distance apart and about 20 cm away from it.
2. Press your lower back into the wall, lift your spine and slowly bend your knees as you slide your back down the wall.
3. Judge how far you can comfortably bend your knees and check that your knees are correctly aligned. You can raise back up and move your feet further away or closer to the wall if you need to so that the ankles stay under the knees while bent.
4. Now raise back up and place a block or thick book between your thighs and slide down the wall again. Press into the block with your thighs this will strengthen both the outer and inner thigh muscles.
5. Hold the pose for 5 or more breaths. As you strengthen up you will be able to slide down further and hold the pose for longer.

Yoga Feet

The importance of the humble foot cannot be underestimated. Our feet carry us around, ground us and have a mechanical and energetic relationship with the rest of the body. Misalignments of the feet may have repercussions of pain or pressure in one or more of the major joints of the body like the knees, hips, spine, shoulders or neck and according to Reflexology all the systems of the body are represented in the feet.

Standing correctly promotes comfort and takes much less energy, in my asana classes at the Australian School of Meditation and Yoga I am constantly reminding peope about their feet placement in the standing poses as they form the base of our poses.
But even in the floor poses it is important to spread the energy right down to the feet. (recently I was at a class in the Shoulderstand Pose we were encouraged to make Barbie feet, like standing in very high heeled shoes)

Foot Alignment The most efficient and safest way to stand is to bring the weight evenly to both feet, evenly between the front and the back and evenly side to side. The weight should be placed in three points of the feet – on the ball of the foot under both the big toe mound and the little toe mound and in the centre of the heel and as much as possible train yourself to stand with your feet parallel.

Lift the Toes. Practice spreading your toes, lifting them and moving them up and down. Challenge yourself by trying to lift and lower the toes individually. This exercise helps to strengthen the arches and enliven the toes.

Raise and Lower the Heels. From a standing position keep your feet parallel to each other as you raise and lower your heels. Make sure you keep your ankles straight and steady. This strengthens your arches and ankles and stretches the top of the feet.

Ankle Circles. Sitting or standing lift your foot from the ground and circle it at least 5 times in each direction. This helps to free up the ankle joint preventing arthritic conditions and enhancing energy flow from the feet to the rest of the body.














Rolling a Tennis Ball. From a standing position place a tennis ball under the sole of one foot and pressing into it slowly roll the ball back and forth and side to side. This releases tightness in the muscles and tendons of the sole of the foot and also stimulates energy points found in the sole of the foot.

Do these exercises often and you will be amazed at the subtle differences in your yoga poses.