Your knees, where your thigh bone meets your shin bones, serve as your body's shock absorbers. Misalignment, tight muscles or ligaments, overuse and limited hip mobility are just a few reasons you may have knee pain.
By stretching and strengthening the hips, thighs and calf muscles, you can ease pressure on your knees. As you practice, pay attention to the direction of your kneecaps so they align toward the direction of your second and third toes.
Step 1
Focus on your feet in tadasana, mountain pose. Stand with your feet hip-width apart and parallel to the outsides of your yoga mat. Relax your arms at your sides. Stretch out your toes as you press into the four corners of your feet --- big toe mounds, inner heels, little toe mounds, outer heels --- and keep your inner arches lifted. Relax your toes, keeping them as wide as you can. Make sure your kneecaps face straight forward. Use this same alignment for all other poses.
Step 2
Inhale, raise your arms overhead, with your shoulders relaxed. Exhale, bend forward into uttanasana, standing forward bend. Bend your knees to avoid hyper-extension. With the four corners of your feet firmly on the floor, place your hands on the outside of your upper shins. Press your shins in toward each other as you draw your inner thighs back and apart to widen your seat. Think "shins in, thighs out" to release knee pressure. Root your tailbone down and extend your spine long toward the top of your head. Focus on five full breaths.
Step 3
Inhale, come up to stand as you lift your arms overhead and keep your shoulders relaxed downward. Exhale, reach your seat back and down, as if you are going to sit in an imaginary chair for utkatasana, chair pose. Keep your thighs parallel to the floor and make sure your knees point straight toward your middle toes. Hold for five full breaths for a good quadriceps stretch.
Step 4
Sit on a folded blanket and bring the insides of your feet together with your knees wide apart for the hip-opening baddha konasana, bound-angle pose. Press the four corners of your feet together and keep your arches lifted, as you did on the floor in tadasana. Root your sit bones down, draw your navel inward and lengthen your spine upward with your shoulders relaxed. Bend forward with your spine straight and your shoulders back. Focus on your breath for 10 cycles.
Step 5
Finish with savasana, final resting pose, to relax your body and mind and allow them to receive the benefits of your practice. Lie on your back with your arms out to your sides, palms facing upward and fingers naturally curled, and your legs slightly apart. Focus on your breath for five to 10 minutes.
Tips and Warnings
- For an added stretch in the back of your legs, place the balls of your feet on a rolled-up blanket and your heels on the floor before doing uttanasana.
- If you have a knee injury, consult with your health practitioner before doing specific yoga poses.
Things You'll Need
- Loose, comfortable pants and top
- Yoga mat
- Yoga blanket
References
- YogaWiz.com: Yoga for Knees
- Yogatic: Yoga for Knees
- "Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health"; B.K.S. Iyengar; 2001
