Ah, the quintessential yoga pose. This posture is also the bane of many a yogi’s knees! This month we will focus on the special attention and preparation this posture requires.
Padmasana is about tightly binding the lower body to create a sort of prana lock. If you cannot get into the posture fully you can still gain benefit from coming into crossed legs. However, since it is such an important posture, we will work on ways to access the posture more fully.
Padmasana requires a special kind of hip flexibility. First, one needs to fully flex the knee, then be able to lift it high towards the shoulder. Then the lateral hip rotators are stretched as the leg crosses mid-line. The final phase is the knee pointing either down or resting on the floor depending on your relationship to the floor. What is most important is that the posture should be entered with the knee and leg drawn up toward the chest first, rather than grabbing the foot and placing it, as is the common way. That latter method will injure over time even the healthiest of knees.
We will explore the many ways to play with and prepare for this posture during the monthly intensives and all during the month. In a month filled with flowers, this seems like the perfect time to work on Lotus!
