The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › The Hot Yoga Poses › Suptavajrasana › Is it quad flexibility or something else?
The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › The Hot Yoga Poses › Suptavajrasana › Is it quad flexibility or something else?
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Gabrielle,
I just watched your pose clinic re: fixed firm pose and it was, as usual, awesome.I am trying to figure out what is causing me to have trouble getting my butt down in this pose, in half tortoise and in child’s pose (other yoga). For two years, I went to Vinyasa, Ashtanga, etc. type yoga and during that time I could never get my bottom down to touch my heels while in child’s pose. I made it my goal in the second year to get there. My instructor said that I just needed to work on my hamstring flexibility. Well, I never got there.
Now I have been doing Bikram for a year and I thought that, if I could do this pose regularly, then I would be able to get my butt down on my heels for half tortoise – nope, hasn’t happened.
I was getting my butt down to the floor pretty easily in fixed firm until a few months ago when one of the instructors pointed out that I was flaring my feet out instead of having them in a straight line beside my hips. Well, I corrected that and it is a little harder to get down. Is it ok that I set my feet up, hunch down a little (like you showed in the pose clinic) and wiggle around a bit to get my butt down between my feet and onto the floor? I do straighten back up once I get it down to the floor before I go back. It just takes a little persuasion to get to the starting point.
I do have a lot of muscle on my legs and think that it might just be getting in the way. Maybe it is inflexible quads. You mentioned several possibilities as to why one would have difficulty getting his/her bottom down to the floor in the pose clinic. How might I be able to determine what my issue is? If it is inflexible quads, do you have any suggestions as to how I could loosen them up?
I am pretty flexible everywhere else. This is driving me kinda nuts. Any ideas.
Namaste,
CindyI do believe it is a hip issue. good luck it will come
Hi Cindy
Those damned feet! And those even more annoying observant instructors. :cheese: I am happy you received some good instruction.
The way you know whether you should be back there at all is the weightiness of your butt on the floor. In order to really project your spine in that lovely arch, you have to have those solid bridge abutments on the floor. The more solid they are the more open your spinal extension will be.
What happens to your butt when you are back in this pose? Is it light or heavy on the floor? Has your lower back maybe flattened out a bit because the contact was very strong to begin with?
I do straighten back up once I get it down to the floor before I go back.
May I please have some clarification on the meaning of this sentence. Just want to be sure I know what you mean. 😉
Have you simply tried moving your knees far apart to get your hips seating more firmly?
What is the sensation in your quadriceps that has you considering they are not lengthened sufficiently? It could be that you do have tight hips (as Amy mentions) and some Yin classes will help you get some length in your ligaments (as well as muscles).
Going back when things aren’t ‘perfect’ is sometimes advised to test the waters. Some people are simply not built (or are triathletes for example and won’t get much more out of their bodies while they continue to train and compete) to go fully and deeply into every pose. (*surprise, surprise). I am wondering if it would benefit you since you are still encountering the same issue, to try sitting up with knees further apart (even really wide) and see what happens with your hips. If they don’t feel more solidly positioned then stay upright for a few weeks or even more.
Whew! So many things to think about.
Thank you for your lovely feedback on the Private Members’ Pose Clinic.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Gabrielle,
I didn’t really tell you the whole story. I have a longtime hamstring injury (it’s been about 2 1/2 years) that I am continuing to try to heal. This has cut back on my hamstring flexibility big time. It hadn’t really occurred to me that my hamstrings could keep me from getting my butt down in half-tortoise or challenge me in fixed firm, but I can see now how that might be true.
Yesterday I asked my instructor to press down on my lower back during half-tortoise so that I could feel the source of the tightness. It is definitely in the glutes. That makes sense since I haven’t been able to really stretch my hamstrings (and correspondingly the glutes) for a long time. I also noticed that, when she pressed down on my back, my body pulled back so far that my chin was only about an inch from my knees. Does this mean that my spine is not straight enough? I do have long legs in proportion to my body. Oh well, maybe some day I’ll work my butt down to my heels, or maybe I won’t.
With regards to Fixed Firm: I can get my butt solidly on the floor if I work at it in the setup. To do so I have to hunch forward a bit and wriggle back and forth to get it to the floor. I also pull down on my ankles a little (not hard and there isn’t any discomfort). Also, I tried spreading my knees pretty wide and that helps. Once I get down, I straighten up and then arch back until my shoulders are on the floor. Once in the pose I have no problem planting my shoulder blades and hips and arching into a bridge. I think that this approach may be a little unorthodox, but is it ok?
All that said, I think that my hamstrings may ultimately be causing the issue. I started Bikram a year ago to attempt to heal them. It is primarily the left hamstring and it is painful at the very top where it connects just below the buttocks. I believe that the injury was caused by overstretching in Vinyasa yoga. Internet research said that this is becoming a common injury in yoga and that the only way to heal it was to stop stretching it. I started Bikram because I felt that I could continue doing yoga, but it was slow enough that I could control the level of hamstring stretching better.
Well, they were ok for awhile, and then not, and then ok again, and then not… Right now I am doing a 60 day challenge. I am going to see if this helps to work through the issue. If I still have a problem at the end of June, I’m planning to contact a physical therapist to try to figure this out.
Sorry for the long post. Thank you for helping me figure this out.
Namaste,
CindyHi Cindy
It is really strange but we may have something similar going on. Three and a half months ago I had a little accident that tweaked my left hamstrings (at my daughter’s birthday party no less!). I thought the yoga would fix it. It didn’t. I tried everything. I tried lots of Bikram and I tried Yin. Yin and yang in different combinations.
At the end of 3 months of nothing happening (and let me add I have NEVER had a problem with my hamstrings ever) I decided to go to a physiotherapist. As a result I have been doing some exercises to fix this. I have attended 3 sessions and am about to go to my fourth. It is definitely getting better. I won’t go into the diagnosis right here (we can talk by PM or email) but it seems that 1 year is a long time to be doing the same thing expecting the yoga to fix it when there could be something else happening there.
It could be that some actions in your practice, even things you are doing as part of practicing solid technique are actually exacerbating your problem. In my opinion it is worth checking it out with a competent practitioner.
There is always more to these stories isn’t there? 😉
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂 -
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