Yoga anatomy question page

[YogaBare]

Question for all the Yogis and Yoginis It's to do with flexibility and anatomy.

I'm pretty supple (eg. can do the splits - both ways) but I struggle with a really basic Yoga pose: Easy Pose! When I sit in it my knees come quite high up off the ground. I find it uncomfortable to sit in.

Does anyone know what muscles are engaged in this pose? What muscles in my body might be tight / weak that are preventing my knees from reaching the ground? I have a slight curve in my lower spine, which may be influencing it.... but saying that - I can do Full Lotus, which is a similar position, but obviously engages different muscles.

[EvRevFit]

Sounds like hip flexors and possibly adductors to me.

[YogaBare]

Thanks EvRevFit! That makes sense actually - I remember reading that if the psoas muscles are tight it can cause the lower back to curve!

Starting a regime of squats, forward and backward lunges whilst holding my arms up in the air. Apparently these exercises open up the hip flexors. Any other suggestions?

[Betorq]

Thanks EvRevFit! That makes sense actually - I remember reading that if the psoas muscles are tight it can cause the lower back to curve!

Starting a regime of squats, forward and backward lunges whilst holding my arms up in the air. Apparently these exercises open up the hip flexors. Any other suggestions?

Or you could spend a fair amount more time once or twice a day just sitting in the easy pose. That is how yoga is practiced, by doing it.... Not meaning to sound flippant.

Ok you could try this: get into easy pose & place 2 fair sized hardbound books on the knees, approximately the same weight unless 1 knee is significantly higher/stiffer than the other. Of course alternate the bottom/top legs... I used to do this when I first started yoga oh so many years ago. Oh, can also do the "dolphin" pose, good for flexors & inner hip joint

[YogaBare]

Or you could spend a fair amount more time once or twice a day just sitting in the easy pose. That is how yoga is practiced, by doing it.... Not meaning to sound flippant.

Ok you could try this: get into easy pose & place 2 fair sized hardbound books on the knees, approximately the same weight unless 1 knee is significantly higher/stiffer than the other. Of course alternate the bottom/top legs... I used to do this when I first started yoga oh so many years ago. Oh, can also do the "dolphin" pose, good for flexors & inner hip joint

It's weird, but I actually sit in easy pose quite a lot (sometimes for more than three hours a day) and I never open up more. I remember one teacher telling me that if you can't do a pose, it can be due to an imbalance in the muscles, and by continuing to enter into the pose in the wrong way you can actually exasperate it.

[Betorq]

It's weird, but I actually sit in easy pose quite a lot (sometimes for more than three hours a day) and I never open up more. I remember one teacher telling me that if you can't do a pose, it can be due to an imbalance in the muscles, and by continuing to enter into the pose in the wrong way you can actually exasperate it.

Get a Thai Yoga Massage or a Deep Tissue Massage from an experienced practitioner. Can open you up a LOT, pretty quickly... Or keep on keeping on w/ your present strategy of working w/ imbalanced or underdeveloped muscles... Feldenkrais is excellent also for re-setting/retraining the neural connection between body awareness & mind awareness. I dated a Feldenkrais teacher once, she was the bomb...