I keep losing my balance in standing head to knee

[Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)]

#1012

Hello,
I am going into my third year of Bikram and now find my balance in this pose has gotten worse during extension of my leg, am wondering what is going on–and what could I do to offset this.

My balance tends to go off when I hold my foot up and am on the standing leg with my body bent over preparing for extending the other leg and then when the leg is extended it is more of a struggle–I can hold it some sessions for the entire time with my leg extended balancing on the other leg and wonder why it is so erratic. I try to consider the placement of my standing leg, my hip alignment and also my emotional state–in particular how in the present moment I am with my breathing and sense of calmness/lack of anxiety about the heat/length of the workout or work stuff etc– I know that with balancing stick pose after learning the proper execution of the pose I am now able to do this pose successfully and think that it is the same with standing head to knee–that my form is off–hope this answers your questions.

Hello BL

I have pasted your comments from another thread to answer your pose-specific questions! Thanks.

I can’t help but wonder if your problem stems from the way you are extending your leg. When done with the right technique this part (stage 2) should be the easiest part of Head to Knee – even much easier than stage 1. :cheese:

What so many people don’t understand is that the second stage of this pose involves straightening the back and lifting the chest as the leg extends. Obviously locking the standing leg is extremely important. It is not until stage 3 that the spine rounds over again.

If you are losing your balance as you start to extend then I have some sneaking suspicions, so if you don’t mind, I would like to ask you some questions first regarding your ‘extension process’.

When you extend your leg are you leaving your thigh where it is and lifting your heel up to the same height as your thigh?

When you extend, is your back staying rounded over? What do you do with your back?

What can you tell me about your arms? Slightly bent, very bent or straight?

What about your extending foot? Your toes?

Looking forward to your response, now that we are both on the same page. 😉 I notice you have a further query about the struggle when the leg is extended. Answering those questions for me should clarify everything, your greater pose awareness will either get rid of your problem or make the cause much clearer to tackle.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

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#2847

Posted by beauxx

Hi Gabrielle,

Thank you for your prompt response.

I will answer your 4 questions from your response.

1) I try to get my extended leg horizontal after the entire leg is extended as an after thought/visual guestimate–rather than using the thigh as a gauge for what is horizontal and bring up the lower leg, keeping it in line with the thigh gauge as best as possible to create a horizontal extended leg position.

2) My back has been bent over from balancing on one leg, holding my other legs foot to when the leg is extended fully.

3) I believe my arms are slightly bent throughout part 1 and 2.

4) I try to move the toes back in my extended leg but find given how I have been doing this posture as described above it tends to bother my achilles tendon.

Hopefully these are clear answers to your questions that will clarify what the basis is for my erratic balance in this pose–a bit more difficult to describe how one does the posture than I thought.

BL

[Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)]

#2848

Hello BL

Would you believe that I had almost finished the answer to your question and we had a power cut and I have had to start again! 😆

So, it appears that there is a blurred line between your stage 2 and your stage 3. In fact it seems that the way you have been approaching your pose (up until now 😉 ) has been rather risky. You have been extending your leg and by the looks of things it has ended up at a 30-45 degree angle to the floor before you elevate your heel into position. No doubt this is the reason you have been feeling very unstable because as your leg extends there has unwittingly been lots of strain on your back, PLUS you have been fighting (even unconsciously) the way your body is tending to fall forward. This explains why your arms have been bending to literally fight gravity.

Stage 3 is where you bend your elbows (not before). And you are only ready for that when you have managed to stand with both legs locked out and at right angles to each other. BL, this is such a common error. You are definitely not alone. Chances are you can probably look around and see others doing something quite similar. Brace yourself this requires some explanation! :cheese:

For this pose to work to your best benefit, the first, third and fourth stages are ALL with a rounded back. However the second stage the back needs to be straight. I will explain it step by step in a moment. Basically, in stage 2, you are working some great traction elements in your spine and arms and leg so that you never have to TRY to balance, the balance is created and it should feel easy and right!

To extend: Make sure your standing leg is locked out. Inhale and draw in your abdomen to protect your lower spine and as you exhale do the following actions at the same time:

a) Simultaneously, lift your chest, as you start to push your leg/heel out. As you do that your spine straightens.
b) Keep your hands pulling through the ball of your foot (grip of interlocked fingers and thumbs under foot is at the end of extended relaxed arms). As you pull, flex your toes back toward your nose, but push your heel away from you. This creates some great traction in the arms and the leg. In fact if you do this right you will still feel a satisfying stretch in the back of the leg at any stage of your extension even when your leg is bent.
c) As you do the above, lift your knee so that it NEVER goes below hip height. It is almost as if even momentarily it is raised to your chest.
d) Lifting your knee means that more importantly, your HEEL quickly reaches HIP HEIGHT and NEVER DROPS BELOW hip height. This protects your spine from risk of strain and damage.
e) Your leg extension is now safe at any moment. It is as if you are now extending your heel along a hip-height table top while pulling back on your toes.

Here is a check list:
@Your back is now straight
@Your arms are extended and relaxed
@Your chest is up and chin stays lifted
@Your heel is at hip height
@Your leg is extending. Note that as you continue to pull your toes back and extend your heel forward against straight arms (not bent and not active) that conditions are ideal for any level of progress. Your back is safe no matter how bent your leg is. If a student can’t get their foot far enough forward and up to have their heel at hip height as they extend then they should be staying is stage 1.

You mentioned something about your Achilles tendon. It would be great if you could work on the above and get back to me. Because I have a feeling that this other issue may be ironed out in the process.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

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#2849

Posted by beauxx

Hi Gabrielle,

I have now been to 2 classes where I tried out your checklist of changes to improve my balance in this pose and it has improved dramatically. I have been doing this pose for
some time incorrectly and now have to change this habit which I sense my brain is
integrating–being challenged by the new commands to my nervous system–but do feel
much less physical resistance with a straighter back and arms and extended foot pulled back. I do not foresee my back every being vertical(should it be?) with my leg extended unless I grow my arms longer! With my back much straigther than before, head up, arms 95% straight, extended foot pulled back the posture feels much more efficient-less fighting/resistance to hold it for the entire time and I look forward to moving to part 3 and 4 once I have put more time into the proper way of executing part two! Thank you again–I also see the risk factor is much higher with a bent back.

Namaste BL

[Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)]

#2850

Woo hoo! :cheese:
That is great news. 2 years of incorrect technique ironed out in 2 classes.

As for your back. It will just be straight. Imagine that your straight arms and straight back form 2 sides of a triangle. The third side of the triangle is formed by your extending leg. On the way to being straight the third side has a bend in it! 😉 The endpoint of the second stage of this pose is a triangle and your back will be around 30 degrees from vertical.

Now that your trust is growing you can start to release the tension in those arms and instead use that dynamic tension in your extending leg against your lifting and lengthening back. It will be as though you are hanging off your foot!

Once you get to full extension stay for quite a number of classes without attempting to go to stage 3. Really lock out BOTH legs and focus on that upper heel extension. The backs of your legs stretch beautifully this way.

But more importantly you can really work on the envelope of balance here. Learn what it is like to move your heel about in all directions and still keep your balance. You will really be grateful that when you proceed to those last parts of the pose (you know, when your focus is constantly changing and you are ‘upside down’) that you will have only the physical actions to perform without complicating it by having to relearn your balance.

Have fun
Gabrielle 🙂

[fobarrett]

#3758

I just found this thread…about three days late for me. Short story is that I’m fairly new to Bikram and am trying hard (too hard perhaps) to progress where I can–I’m one of those people who doesn’t fold easily, so most everything comes slowly. So I tried to push my leg folded w/ rounded back mildly strained my lower back…I’m banished for 10 days of Motrin and Meditation. So many details…
Sigh…
Stretch

[Tee42]

#3784

Stretch, I’m sorry about your injury. I hope you heal quickly.

Gabrielle, I have to thank you for your form pointers in this thread. I’ve been struggling with this one despite reading about the form it requires in a couple of different places. I still can’t tell you exactly what I was doing wrong but today when I approached it according to your description it was so much better. I didn’t move beyond the second stage because I was just enjoying being rock steady enough to nail the balance and hold onto it. The rest will come with time.

[bette27]

#3930

Hi Gabrielle and everybody else! 🙂

I just posted about my success with Camel pose due to you. Now I want to share my success with Standing head to knee pose.
I too was having trouble with balance, my standing leg would weeble and wobble and although sometimes I could force my leg out, I knew something wasn’t right.

I read the advice you gave about having a straight back when the leg comes out, but I also used the tip on properly “locking out” the knee in the standing leg. When I went to class last night, I incorporated what I learned on this forum and it worked! What I find most amazing is that it didn’t seem to require as much exertion as before. Not to make it sound as if it were easy, but it seemed I was able to focus the energy to the right muscles due to the proper form.

This forum has helped me so much, I mean, I corrected mistakes I was making in three different postures and improved a couple of others that I didn’t really have problems with!

Many thanks!

[Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)]

#3946

Hi Tracey

I humbly thank you for your lovely feedback. It is exciting to hear that you have made terrific progress in a specific and measurable way.

Funny how doing the poses incorrectly can be so draining on your energy.

Making those changes really demonstrates ‘going with the flow’. The challenge is always there yet somehow it is far more satisfying.

Keep telling us your great news.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

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