Play it safe with hands-free Lotus
Build hamstring strength and gain more flexibility
Lotus. An iconic yoga pose that everyone’s seen, few practitioners do, and almost no one teaches. When it is covered in group-yoga settings Lotus comes with so many cautions and caveats, one wonders whether its benefits outweigh the risks to your knees, hips, ankles and ego.
Hands-Free Lotus is a fun and low-risk way to prepare the legs for Lotus. It builds strength in the hamstrings and the external rotators of the hip, and it may even offer some gains in flexibility.
1. Sit tall with your legs outstretched and your hands resting on the ground behind you to support the torso in a slight backwards lean.
2. Without using your hands, attempt to bring the right leg into Half Lotus by swinging the pinky-side of your right foot onto your left upper thigh, as close to the hip crease as possible.
3. Keeping the ankle strong, reach your right knee towards the earth — again, without using your hands.
4. Release the right side and repeat the process with the left.
5. If Half Lotus feels accessible, try doing Full Lotus without using your hands. You may need to do some heroic wiggling to get the second leg into position. And don’t forget to do both sides. Lotus Liability Lotus Pose requires immense mobility at the hip joint — 115 degrees of external rotation. While some people are naturally flexible in this direction of move- ment, many practitioners experience a limitation in the form of tight muscles, tight ligaments or a bony limitation deep in the hip joint. In the absence of the requisite hip mobility, the only way to get the foot onto the opposite thigh is to buy the movement from the knee by bending it sideways. This is problematic as this action can pinch the inner knee cartilage, potentially tearing the medial meniscus, and overstretch the outer knee ligament. Hands Free Lotus safely strengthens the external rotators of the hip and reciprocally inhibits the internal rotators that may be limiting movement. YuMee Chung is a recovering lawyer who teaches yoga in Toronto. She is on the faculty of a number of yoga teacher training programs and leads international yoga retreats. Learn more about her at padmani.com