Knees and Groins

Hello, everyone. Welcome. So in today's session, we are focusing on knees. You know, in yoga, there's a lot of emphasis on balance. And one of the the angles that we can look at balance is how we utilize our limbs. A lot of times, we will end up under utilizing the upper leg and over utilizing the lower leg, which can cause some strain, unnecessary strain on the knees.

So today's session, we're going to undo that tendency. Okay? To begin, sit in Dandasna, and just separate your legs as wide as the mat. Or what feels comfortable can be about hip, you know, a little wider than hip distance, but do you have some space between them? And we're gonna go through, something kind of specific here.

So you may wanna just have a look at my leg first. Hey, you're in your seated position and then flex your foot like this so that the heel comes off the ground. And then with your heel lifted, press your knee down, press your thigh down. And from the back of your leg, reach into your heel, reach, reach, reach, and now aim to lower your heel down further ahead than it just was. Reach, reach, reach, lower it down, and do so without letting this leg bend one Iota and place it down. Now take your hand and just feel the level of engagement here.

Feel the thigh muscle working. Okay. Release. Let it go. Let's do that a couple more times. Okay? Flex your foot. Flex the right foot. Heel comes off the ground.

Now press your knee down. Press your thigh down from the back of your leg. Extend. Reach into your heel. Now aim to lower the heel down further ahead than before. Don't let the leg bend.

Don't let it bend. Don't let it bend. Me down. Thigh down. Heel goes down. Hold the engagement. Hold it. You can touch again, see what's happening, and then release.

Let go. Okay. It it may not look like much, but, it's it can be intense. It's a lot. Okay. One last time here on the right side, Flex the foot. Heel comes off. Press your knee down.

Press your thigh down. Reach through the back of the leg. Extend. Extend. Then. Don't let it bend. Don't let it bend. Lower the heel down.

Further ahead than before. Hold this level of engagement. Maintain it. And then release. Okay. Undo.

And we'll do three rounds on the second side. Okay? One thing I will add here is that if you have any discomfort in the knee, if something doesn't feel right, then That means it's not right. Back it up. If you have a tendency to hyper extend over do that knee joint, please feel free to just stick something behind the knee. Right? So if you're feeling that it's being overdone, you can even take just corner of a blanket and just just enough underneath there. So it's not meant to force the need to bend, so make sure it's not too much. But just enough so that it can't overdo its action. Okay? So you can take that if you need it.

And now let's go for the left leg here. Flex the foot. Press your knee down. Press your thigh down. Reach through the back of the leg. Extend. Extend. Extend.

Lower the heel down. Don't let it bend. Don't. It's gonna wanna bend. Don't let it bend. Reach. Lower the heel down, feel the engagement, use your hands, prove to yourself that the upper leg is working.

And then release. Let it go. Pause for a second. And now number 2. Round 2. Flex the foot. Press your knee down.

Buy down. Extend the back of the leg. Reach. Reach. Reach. Reach. Lower it down. Further down further ahead. Don't let it bend.

Don't let the leg bend. Maintain this. And then let it go. Okay. Last one.

Flex the foot. Press your knee down. Press your thigh down. Extend through the back of the leg, reach, reach, reach, and without letting your leg bend, lower the heel down. Reach forward, reach forward, heal down, knee down, thigh down.

Observe the texture of your thigh. Observe what's happening in your outer hip. And then release. Let it go. Okay.

Pause for a moment. Feel what's happening. Feel your hips, your groins, your legs, back of the leg, front of the leg, knees. Observe. Okay. So now what we've done so far is extended, right, through the back of the leg. But there's also something going on here through the back of the the upper leg that I want you to try.

So still sitting with your legs a little bit apart, have your hands beside you. And now what I want you to do is push your hands into the floor and just hover off the ground. So, like, you can lean forward a little bit and just hover. You don't have to lift high, high, high up the ground, but just get yourself off. And then once you're up here, I'll just show you on me. So I've got, you know, waist up here, buttocks here, and then just under the buttocks.

Just under the buttock. This spot, okay, right under the buttocks. That's the area where I want you to land. Okay. So you're here. You press your hands into the floor, hover, and then aim that area that I just pointed out to touch the floor first.

Touch the floor first. Top back part of the thigh. Now vigorously press your knee down. Press your thighs down. And sit yourself back up, dundas knot.

Thighs down. This top part of the thigh absolutely press it down. Lift your chest up and then release. Pause. Okay. Couple more times. Let's see if we can get that. Okay.

Legs are a little bit apart. Hands beside you, lean a little forward, and you're gonna push down lift yourself up. Now shoot your buttocks back just a little there and aim that top part of the back thighs for the ground. Sit there first first first, and then press your knees down, thighs down, maintain that deep connection. And from the low abdomen, ascend, ascend, sit yourself back up, dandasana.

Okay. Sacrum goes in and up, back ribs in and up, and then release. Pause. K. So in your seated poses, in Dandasna, you're seated on, we have a bone in each buttock, the buttock bones, and they're round. And you wanna sit a little bit more towards the front of the buttock bone. So that's what I'm, expressing here with this approach.

Now if you're unable to manage that so that no matter how hard you try, when you land yourself down, you're still kinda landing back here. And maybe there's a bit of a roundness to your lower back there. Then what I would suggest is give yourself a little bit of height. Give yourself a little bit of height. You can take a blanket. A bolster even and sit up on a little bit of height, have a slight angle here for your legs, and then go again. Okay.

Let's all do it one more time, whether you're with height or without. Okay. Press your hands down. Lift yourself up and shoot the buttocks back, back back, land on the front part of those buttock bones, land on the front top part of the thigh. And press down. Press down. Make these groins here deep to send them and then ascend up.

Ace and up. Done Das now. Alright. And then release. Okay. So decide if for you having the height underneath you is preferable or not. Okay. And then carry on, we're gonna do one more dundas now here, and this time we'll use our hands to achieve the same things.

So in this dundas now, you're going to take your hands and shift the back of your calf muscle. Away away away away away away, away, and from the back of your knee to your buttock bone, you're gonna pull towards you. So I'm just sort of let's see how just taking this flesh, shifting it towards the heel. And then on this side, I'm just massaging it, sort of maneuvering it towards the buttock bone. So we're getting nice and open through the back of the knee. Okay? And everything we've done, each of these variations are kind of different approaches for doing the same thing. Okay? So you it's nice to try all of them.

This way you can see which one is most effective for you. Alright. So in your dandasna, and take your hands behind your right knee and use your fingers and start to maneuver the calf flesh towards the heel. Hey. It's like I'm only 5 feet tall, so I enjoy this because I think it makes my legs longer. Hey. The heel has now shifted ahead of the other one. Reach it. Reach it.

Reach it. Then take your hands towards the back of your thigh and shift from the knee towards your buttock bone. Now press that leg down and see, are you able to get more of a connection? Right? Feel where the air comes through. Feel where you're touching. Press your leg down, shin down, knee down, thigh down, and sit upright.

K. Second side, take this. Take your calf muscle. Flesh away from the knee towards the foot. Really spread it. Lengthen it and spread it, lengthen it and spread it.

And then go for the top leg as well. K. Pull it towards you and spread it towards you and spread it and then hands beside you and press both legs strongly down. Hey. Feel that width across the back of your legs. Alright. And then release.

And pause. Okay. Let's move along here. Okay. So now If you enjoyed having that height under your buttocks, please continue to work with the height under your buttocks. K. I do want you to work to get that lower back into the body into the body. Okay. And then sit in Dandasna again, and let's start with the feet together.

Okay. Now we're gonna go into a more dynamic sequence here. You've got these beautifully opened knees, straight legs, keep them stiff and straight. Okay. And then starting with the right leg, without letting it bend 1 Iota, without letting it bend at all, take your right leg to the side. Okay? Keep that leg absolutely straight. And bring it back to the center, Dundasna.

Okay. 3 more times with this right leg out to the side. Press the knee down, thigh down, absolutely straight, bring it back. Now you're gonna keep going with this, but what I want you to, work on is avoid this. Right? So you're avoiding leaning back as you take the leg to the side, but can you still keep that shape sacrum in and up. You're still seated towards the front of those buttock bones and as best as you can, leg to the side and back. To the side and back.

Go for it. Couple rounds. To the side and back. Side. Back. Side.

Back and then pause. Okay? Don't hate me. Alright. 2nd side, Here we go. Forward, slightly forward on the buddy phone. And you can go back to the technique we just used. Right?

Hands on the floor. Lift yourself up. Reach back. Land on the front of the buttock bones. Push down. Push down.

Sit yourself back up. Maintain this shape in the back, and now left leg to the side and back. Avoid leaning back. Stay on the front of those buttock thoughts. To the side and back to the side and back. Go.

Keep going. Couple more rounds. Don't let that leg bent. Knee down, thigh down. Absolutely straight. One more.

And back. Okay. And then pause. Rest here. Give the legs a break. Feel what's happening in your hips, your groins, and your legs, hamstrings, front thighs.

Notice what's happening. Okay. Now to carry on with this sequence, we go next both legs. Okay. It's important to have a sense of humor. It's important to be able to laugh at yourself. This may be one of those opportunities. Alright. So we go from Dandasna, Ova Vista, Kanasna, Ova Vista, dandasna and back.

Okay? Now there may be some leaning forward and back. But again, the principle is the same. Can you as best as possible keep that sacrum going? In and up, back ribs in and up and seated on the front of the buttock bones to the best of your ability. K. Couple more times from here, Ova Vista Kanasna and back.

To the side and back to the side and back the last line to the side and back. Okay. And then release and rest. Okay. Now if you have not had an of this and you would like to practice more, then you can level up even more by adding a brick into your setup. Gonna make it more challenging. By doing more challenging, maybe a little more fun, more interesting, by adding some height and you can you can start.

You can see what height you wanna work with, but same thing. Take the leg over, bring it back. That's simple enough. You go for higher brick and back, higher brick and back sacraman, back ribs in, and do a few more rounds like this. Okay? So go ahead. Try a couple right side left side. And just see if you can challenge yourself by adding a little height.

K. You can go for both legs to the side and back. Is tough one. Tough one for me. Okay. And then release. K? Pause for a moment.

Give those legs a rest. Again, notice where are you alert? Which part of the body is speaking to you, where are you active, and how many times maybe have you done, Dundasna, but not felt active in this way. Really? Oh, I find that that thought process always very interesting. Alright. We're gonna go next into another dynamic sequence, and we're gonna explore different leg positions. So ways of bending the leg.

And these are just super common in the yoga asanas in the seated poses often that we go through. Okay? So you can shift your bricks off to the side. And for this setup, sit up on a little bit of height. Okay? So I've got a folded blanket here, and I've intentionally folded it so that it's got width Okay. It's almost like, I think of it like a mini bolster. Okay. The shape of it. And then also have your bolster.

Hey. Have the bolster behind you? Like so? And then have a seat. Okay? Sit in your with your legs in Dundasna.

And then take the bolster behind you and just sort of prop it up against you. So it's almost like the bolster's upright. Okay. Now, again, separate your legs a little bit and come to the front of those buttock bones, right, lift up a little, find the front of the buttock bones, sit back down. You can even have, if you're forward on your mat, you can have your legs almost as wide as the mat. Okay. Press your hands into the bolster.

Lift your chest up and be here. Dundasana. Now starting with your right leg, follow the angle of this leg, right, legs apart, follow the angle of this leg, dandasana. Excuse me, Marie Chiasna, and then Dundasna. Okay. So the idea here is don't use your hands. You're not using your hands to lift your leg up.

Just your your mind, Maurizna, Dundasna, plant the foot, press the three points of the foot strongly down, buttock bone strongly down, dandasna. Again, Marie Chiasna. Dundasna. Couple more times. Marieichiasna.

Doneasna. Okay. Second side, same thing. Dundasana leg, knee down, thigh down, and Marie Chiasna. Follow the angle. So you can see my foot is just slightly turned out. And then extend the leg.

Maurizna, Dandasna. Maurizna, Dandasna, And, again, you're looking to not be shifting the weight all too much. Maurizna Dandasna. Maurizna, stamped the foot down. Dundasana.

Marie Chiasna. Marie Chiasna. Dundasna. Last one, Marie Chiasna. Dundasna. Okay. Pause. Okay. If you've fallen towards the back of those buttock bones, then again, adjust yourself and center yourself.

Okay? We're gonna build on this sequence. Go back to the right leg. Marie Chiasna. Now from Marie Chiasna, roll onto the outer edge of your foot. Roll, roll badakanasana sharply press the outer edge of the foot down, x externally rotate that thigh. Turn it back to Marie Chiasna.

Dandasna. K? Couple more times that same side. Maurizna, roll and sharply press. It's not just, you know, roll roll. But really press the outer edge of the foot. Sharp. Sharp.

Press rotate your right thigh out deep in the hip socket. And then back to Marie Chiasna, pound your foot into the floor and then extend the leg. Marie Chiasna. Bada Kanasna, Marie Chiasna, Dandasna. Okay. Second side, straighten the leg, kneecop down, thigh down, and marichiasna.

Pressurize your foot into the ground. Now from here, roll, roll onto the outer edge of your foot, sharply press, externally rotate the thigh, turn it out, And then back to Marie Chiasna, Dandasna, couple more rounds. Marie Chiasna, bought a canasana sharply press, turn the thigh out, sharply press the edge of the foot, and then back to Maricciasana, Dandasna. Again, Mariciasna, Bada Kanasna, Mariciasna. Last time, Mariciasna.

Bada Kanasna, Mauriciasna, Don Dasna. Okay. Russ for a moment. Again, if you've slid a little forward, just adjust yourself, center yourself on those buttock bones, And now we've got one more Asana to add here into the mix, or actually maybe 2 Okay. You'll stay with me. Stay with me. Start with your right leg.

Maurichiasna. Babakanasna. K? Marie Chias then. Now here, you may need to use your hands. Take your hand. Hold your ankle.

And then come into. So the foot is now up on the blanket and then immediately lift up head goes up mid buttock into the body, purvotanasa. Lower yourself back down. Hold your ankle. Maurichiasna.

Dandasna. Okay? Left side here. Mauriciasna. Morici Asna, hold the ankle, virasna immediately lift up, poor Vodanasna, buttock up, stretch the front of the thigh, lower yourself back down, hold the ankle, come out through Marie Chiasna. Done, Dazna. Couple more times.

Right side, Mariciaasna. Badaka Nasna. And even though we're going faster, still find those points, those nuances, buttock up, don't be casual. Right? So as we're working through the different positions. There's still a sharpness, intentional action, right, with each movement. Left side, Marichiasna, badakanasna, Marichiasna, Virasna, pour voter Nasna action, lower down, come out through Maricciasna.

Done Dasna. Last time. Marichiasna, Baratasna, Marichiasna, Virasna, Pravatanasna, come back, the way you went in. K? Last time, second side, go through it. Virasna, Porvotanasna, lower down, Mauriciasna, Danasna, and then join your legs and be here for a moment. Alright.

Okay. So now we're gonna move move onward here. The bolster can be put off to the side. We'll put that off to the side. And then here, if you, again, if you enjoy sitting up on height, then by all means. You can continue to sit up on that blanket.

Otherwise, you can be on the ground. Okay? And here, what I want you to do is you'll separate your legs into an upavista canasana position. And then bend your right leg and externally rotate the leg come into a half sitasana position. So you've got one straight leg, and here You've turned the leg at the hip, and I'm I'm really on the top of my foot here. Sidasna. Okay? We've already done Bada Kanasana. That's one leg action. This is a little bit of, even deeper into the hip here.

Okay. Turn come to the top of the foot if available, okay, if available. Alright. Now on your straight leg, let's go back to what we started with here. Flex the foot. Press your knee down.

Press your thigh down from the back of your leg. Extend into the heel. Reach, reach, reach, reach, lower it down further ahead than before. Don't let this leg bend. Me down. Thigh down. Okay. Now maintain that on the left side.

And then inhale, lift up, exhale, turn yourself to the right. And with your left hand, just stretch the thigh here from your groin towards your knee, but don't touch your knee. Just this inner leg here and push Push. Now to walk your right hand further back and turn yourself to the right. Now as you extend your left arm, right, as you're standing that arm to press the leg down, can you keep your mind in that straight leg? Okay.

Turn yourself to the right, but can you straighten your left leg more as you do that? K? Does that make sense? You're turning to the right, but you're pushing off that leg Anch her down into your left knee more and then release undo yourself. K. Then carefully come back through Maricciasna. Extend your leg to straight. Okay. Separate the leg again.

Upa Vista. And here, gonna bend the leg, reach from underneath, and turn at the hip, turn at the hip, open your leg up here, and land on the top of your foot, top of your shin. Okay. Now straighten your right leg as we've done before. Flex the foot.

Press your knee down. Press your thigh down. Reach through the back of your leg. Extend extend extend. Lower it down.

Do not let it bend. Don't let it bend. Okay. Now lift up. Exhale. Turn yourself to the left.

And with your right hand, lengthen your inner thigh towards your inner knee, walk that back arm as far back as you can. Turn yourself to the left. Now push off with your push your push off your left leg. Right? Use your hand, push off your about your left leg. And anchored down through your right knee, right thigh. So even though you're turning to the left in a sense, it's a technique for straightening your right leg even more, even more. And then release.

Come back to the center. And then coming out through Maricciasna, extend the leg to straight. You can bring this leg in too and then pause here and breathe. Alright. Okay.

From here, let's take. Okay? And you have the wall here. Let's use it. You can place your thumb and index finger into the wall for a little bit extra support. Okay?

So the wedge of the thumb and index finger into the wall, and you just wanna make sure here that you have the distance between your wrists is as at least as wide as you. Okay? Like this. You can come to all fours. Now rotate your upper arms out. Tuck those toes under. And then lift your knees and hips up.

Adjust the weight of your feet towards the back of your toe mounds. And now push off the wall, lift your hips up. And as if you could sit your buttocks up on the wall behind you, at the very top. Up and back. Reach back. Reach back. Okay.

It'll keep your hips lifted. But then descend your heels and see if you can replicate that sensation through the back of your legs that you had in Dundasana. K. Push the wall, reach your hips up and back, and then move your thighs back more and more. Particularly that top part of your thigh that we focus on in your dundasna. Let go through the back of your neck and breathe.

Hey. You're welcome to stay to hold this position for a little bit of time for duration. Or if you feel the need, you can also bend your knees, rest, and go for repetitions. Okay. And then release, bend your knees, and come into. Just be here.

Have a soft bend in your elbows. So that the upper back is broad. Press your feet down, ankles down, shins down, and from your hips reach back, and slightly down, and then elbows wide face soft, breathe. Okay. And then slowly bring yourself back up to a seated position.

Okay. We're gonna go next for Shavasna with these hoe hopefully refreshed legs. Legs that feel refreshed, knees, nice, and open, hips, and groins. So you can just lay yourself out. Hey. Lay down.

Back body flat. Always like to take my hands underneath my my pelvis here and just lengthen the back waist. Are you still with natural curves in your back and then slowly extend your legs? 1 by 1. And then release. Okay. You can let your legs go to the side.

Roll the shoulders under and then let your arms also fall away. Okay. Let go completely. And just be here. Hey. As your arms descend, find that lift that sense of vibrancy that comes to your chest. And as your legs descend, look for that softness and openness that comes to the abdomen.

Let go of any tension in your face. Be soft there as well. And now just breathe inhale and exhale. K. That brings us to the end of today's session, but please feel free to enjoy your Shavasna for as long as you feel serves you today. K. Thank you so much.