Supta Ardha Padmasana: A Lotus for Each Physique

In 2001, I co-taught a instructor coaching with Donna Farhi in Vancouver, BC. The 50 attendees had been skilled yoga lecturers and physique staff from everywhere in the world. Throughout the coaching we inspired trainees to query instructing methodologies that shoehorn college students right into a one-size-fits-all mannequin.

One false impression we talked about was the perceived necessity of practising what might be yoga’s most emblematic pose: Padmasana (Lotus Pose). That day we spent two hours practising the poses Donna practices to prep her physique for Lotus. Once we tried Padmasana towards the top of the category, I seen that regardless of the depth and expertise of attendees, solely three out of fifty folks may truly do it safely.

This was very stunning to me. Beforehand, I’d been beneath the impression that anybody who tried onerous sufficient and practiced proper may finally do Lotus. This can be true for some folks—Donna advised us it took her 10 years of cautious, affected person follow to ease her hip joints into Padmasana.

But it surely’s not true that anybody can type their legs into Lotus place, irrespective of how dedicated their follow. Due to a workshop I took with Paul Grilley on anatomy for yoga, I discovered that tightness in delicate tissue will not be the commonest purpose folks can’t do Padmasana. In line with Grilley, it’s all within the bones.

Why Lotus Pose May Be Out of Attain

Some our bodies won’t ever have the ability to do full Lotus. This isn’t as a result of the house owners of those our bodies are inferior yogis or that they’re not making an attempt onerous sufficient. It might be as a result of their hip joints are shaped in such a method that they don’t enable the quantity of exterior rotation required to sit down in Lotus.

There are numerous components—all throughout the realm of regular—that affect the quantity of exterior rotation in your joints. The depth, placement and orientation of your hip sockets can affect whether or not your thighs are inclined to rotate inward or outward extra simply. The form and rotation of the heads and necks of the femurs additionally have an effect on the rotation, as does the form and rotation of your shaft of the femur bones. You possibly can see some bone samples that show a number of the attainable variations that affect mobility on Grilley’s web site.

Supta Ardha Padmasana—A Lotus Pose for Each Physique

Happily, there’s no pose in yoga—together with Padmasana—that you must do so as to be a “good” yogi. Yoga has by no means been about what your physique can or can’t do.

All that mentioned, I’ve discovered that most individuals are able to and might profit from practising Supta Ardha Padmasana, Supine Half Lotus (SHL). Amongst different advantages, SHL stretches the piriformis muscle tissues, exterior rotators that cross the sacroiliac (SI) joint. When the piriformis is tense, it may possibly press on the sciatic nerve, presumably inflicting sciatica, and may contribute to sacroiliac dysfunction. Training Supta Ardha Padmasana can typically alleviate sciatic ache and might relieve extreme torque in your SI joint.

Half Lotus is historically practiced in a seated place. Nevertheless, I wish to follow it mendacity down for a number of causes. First, mendacity in your again removes the restriction of the ground beneath your legs. It permits your prime leg to cross your backside leg extra simply. Second, mendacity in your again provides you suggestions as as to if your again is in a wholesome place. Many individuals spherical their spines after they attempt to type Half Lotus from a sitting place. It’s a lot simpler to keep up a impartial backbone if you find yourself mendacity down. Lastly, having each side of your SI joint on the ground retains the joints in a impartial place.

The right way to Follow Ardha Padmasana

1. Start by mendacity on the ground on a Yoga Mat or Blanket. Bend each knees and place the soles of your toes on the ground.
2. Cross your proper ankle all the way in which throughout your left thigh in order that your ankle, not your foot, is resting on the thigh. Many individuals choose to position their proper ankle a number of inches from the knee, whereas others (like me) choose to position the ankle nearer to the left hip joint. Strive it each methods, or at factors in between, to see what feels greatest for you.
3. Thread your proper arm by means of the opening behind your proper knee and seize the again of your left leg. Wrap your left hand across the again of your left leg and interlace the fingers of each fingers. In case your fingers don’t join you possibly can join them with a belt or a yoga strap.
4. That is vital: Flex your proper ankle and hold it flexed the whole time. This retains each your knee and ankle secure.
5. Draw each legs in towards your torso, stress-free your shoulders and arms. Take deep stomach breaths, creating house on the inhalations, and settling into that house in your exhalations.
6. Take 5 to 10 deep breaths earlier than releasing your legs and letting each toes relaxation on the ground. Take a number of breaths merely mendacity in your again to really feel what modified. How are the 2 sides of the pelvis resting on the ground? Does one aspect of your physique really feel longer than the opposite? If you really feel prepared, transfer to your second aspect.
7. If at any level throughout SHL you are feeling even the tiniest discomfort in both knee, please let go of the pose. There isn’t any such factor as a “good” knee ache. Lotus might be onerous on knees—much less so if you find yourself mendacity down and practising just one leg at a time—however please do be cautious.

The Most Frequent Misalignment

Many individuals follow Padmasana with their toes, relatively than their ankles, atop reverse thighs. If the soles of your toes are dealing with upward, you might be practising this misalignment. It is a recipe for overstretched ligaments in your ankles and attainable knee destabilization. One particular person I do know sat this fashion for an hour and ended up having bilateral knee surgical procedures in consequence.

That’s the reason so many skilled practitioners had been unable to do Padmasana in Donna’s instructor coaching. We made positive that folks had been practising wholesome alignment ideas after they lastly positioned their legs in Lotus. Training Padmasana with wholesome alignment, together with your ankles flexed and sitting on prime of your thighs, is just attainable for folks whose hip joints externally rotate very simply. Many individuals can do the misaligned model of Lotus, however not that many individuals have the acute vary of movement required to do it with the ankles—not the toes—on prime of their thighs.

There’s Greater than One Technique to Follow Lotus Pose

Whereas Instagram pictures of individuals doing Lotus Pose in bikinis on sunset-lit seashores could conjure romantic concepts about its significance within the canon of yoga poses, please do not forget that it’s not for everybody. Whether or not or not your physique can do Padmasana—or some other pose—will not be a measure of both your character or price as a yoga practitioner.

Supta Ardha Padmasana, although, generally is a wholesome staple in your repertoire of asanas. It confers lots of the advantages of Padmasana, however few of its potential dangers. What issues will not be whether or not you had been born with a skeleton that may transfer in a selected method. What issues is the care, respect and mindfulness you deliver to no matter pose you might be practising in a given second.

About Charlotte Bell

Charlotte Bell found yoga in 1982 and started instructing in 1986. Charlotte is the writer of Aware Yoga, Aware Life: A Information for On a regular basis Follow and Yoga for Meditators, each revealed by Rodmell Press. Her third e book is titled Hip-Wholesome Asana: The Yoga Practitioner’s Information to Defending the Hips and Avoiding SI Joint Ache (Shambhala Publications). She writes a month-to-month column for CATALYST Journal and serves as editor for Yoga U On-line. Charlotte is a founding board member for GreenTREE Yoga, a non-profit that brings yoga to underserved populations. A lifelong musician, Charlotte performs oboe and English horn within the Salt Lake Symphony and people sextet Pink Rock Rondo, whose DVD received two Emmy awards.