EY Asana II: Safe Movements

Joint Safety

Knee Joint

1. In all standing poses maintain a micro bend (Avoid hyper extending or locking the knees). When the joints are locked or hyper extended the ligaments become lax.

2. Create a lift in the knees by engaging the quadriceps, while balancing a muscular engagement in the hamstrings. Feel both the quads and hamstrings pulling up toward the hip for knee support.

3. Rule of thumb is to align the center of the knee with the 2nd or 3rd toe.

4. If you experience any pain when on the knee cap (Table Top, Low Lunge) place a folded towel or blanket under the knee.

5. In bent knee standing poses always be sure knee is directly over or behind the knee. Avoid the knee moving forward of the ankle.

6. When knee is bent, bring your body weight more into the heel.

7. When knee is straight, bring your body weight more into the front/ball of the foot and toes.

8. When in deep knee flexion option to use props, especially if you experience pain. Poses like Virasana/Hero use a block or Childs Pose put a rolled blanket behind the knees.

9. Be mindful of transitions, like warrior I to warrior II if done without mindful slow transition it can cause shearing… when the femur bone twists yet the tibia bone does not twist which over time can stress the knee joint.

Wrist Joint

1. Distributing your body weight evenly through the palm of your hand and the fingers helps greatly in taking weight off the wrist and supporting the wrists. Spreading the fingers into a spider grip and pressing into the knuckles helps greatly.

2. If you feel stress in wrists  you can bring the hands into a fist or tea cup… bringing weight into fingertips and elevating the fingers and wrists.

3. Align the crease of the wrist with the front edge (Long or short depending on the pose) of your mat.

4. Keeping the upper and lower arm at a 90 angle in chaturanga, where you keep the elbow directly above the wrists as you lower. Also bringing the upper arms in toward the body.

5. Align outer shoulder joint with the center of the wrist.

6. Use forearms or a chair for down dog or chaturanga taking the weight off the wrists by using your forearm rather than your hands.

Down Dog- Dolphin using forearms

Up Dog- Sphinx using forearms

General Rules

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Forward folds

Arms on hips, angel wings or close into the body… never out in front because that puts stress on the lower back.

In forward folds you can roll into and out of your forward fold or you can hinge at the hips to come into the forward fold. It is recommended to move into the hinge completely then round the spine and bring the chest and head into body to enjoy the deep inward opportunity of this pose.

Coming out on a hinge you want to lift the head first, beginning to look up, then hinge upward to standing position. Rolling up you begin to stack one vertebra at a time from the lumbar, thoracic and cervical vertebra. It is a gentle raising of the spinal column that lifts the body to standing. They are both equally beneficial options and you may want to change it up from time to time to experience both sensations.

Warrior Poses

Use support; a wall, chair, block, blanket, strap

Knee over ankle

Balancing poses

Use support; a wall, chair, block

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