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George Wilson's Glove of Rather than 180 seconds Revenge 1 and Max Wei La Namaste friends, my name is Ritesh and today we will understand the so-called safest alignment of the front knee in line with the ankle or the thighs parallel to the floor. This alignment issue arises quite often in the standing posture such as warrior one, two lunges and side ankle pose. Mostly if the knee moves ahead of the ankle the teacher will remind the student to draw the knee back or walk the foot further forward. So why do the teachers make a fixed rule for this?

Well there are two different answers first the quadricep. We have four quadricep muscles on the front of the thigh all of which form a common tendon at the end of the knee that is the close to the knee which then wraps over the knee and attaches to the front of the lower leg. Now an imbalance in the quadricep strength between the medial that is the inside and lateral that is the outside of the quadricep muscle can alter the position of the patella that is your knee gap and increase tension on the inside or outside of the knee joint. A general tightness in all the quadricep muscle can also restrict knee flexion and how far it feels comfortable to flex the knee.

This is specially true when you are doing any weight bearing poses such as a side angle pose or warrior two. Where the quadriceps are eccentricly contracting to take us into the posture and contracting isometrically to hold us in the pose. If you feel pain or intense discomfort in the knee when you're doing side angles or warrior two, back out of the pose to a place where it feels okay. Just don't go as far as your quadriceps gain more strength and flexibility over time you can perhaps go a little more further and the second answer is aesthetics.

Yes, how it looks. Now having the knee over the ankle in standing portions create a right angle between the right thigh and the right calf. Keeping the right shin perpendicular to the floor it just looks right but is it. Now friends when we climb stairs or other physical fitness such as weight lifting or sports such as fencing the knee also comes forward of the ankle.

Depends sometimes students can explore taking the knee above the ankle sometimes they can take it more ahead. Certainly this position is harder to maintain. The quadriceps have to be strong to stay here but working the quad's more is not necessarily a bad thing. It simply means that students with weaker quads will be challenged to stay here.

They may need to back off due to a lack of strength but not due to excess stress. It can work to strengthen the quadriceps and create more of a stretch in the back leg muscle or while not increasing the pressure on the knee. So what is the solution? Once again we find that no one instruction will work for everybody.

Hence it's useful to offer student a range of option perhaps creating three separate levels they can choose to follow. For example level one is for beginners who have just begun their yoga journey and do not yet know the posture. For students who have some issues with the knee or inherent limitations to their ability to come into or remain in this posture or students who simply want an easier challenge on that specific day. This would be the posture.

Level two for this is for intermediate students who have been doing yoga for long enough to know the nature of the posture being offered and of their own ability to just the teachers can guide the student to go deeper into postures but being aware about the risk. This is level two. Now level three is for experienced student who are healthy, strong and flexible. Know their own limitations and can safely perform the more challenging versions by going a little bit more forward.

Teachers should be aware that the students are not overdoing it. Friends try to practice these three different levels and let me know how do you feel. It's only when you understand an anatomy well you will find easier to understand. So join my anatomy course.

So as yoga teachers we need to update or upgrade all the time. Let's come to the conclusion. It's important to remember that yoga asin is a tool to vary as it varies from person to person. Every single person who's doing yoga asin practice is experiencing what is true for their body.

Some general guidelines are useful in teaching yoga. The better question to ask is what is the most appropriate option for this student in front of me right now or for yourself if you are watching this video with respect to your own practice. Better than memorizing some alignment rules which won't apply to everyone is learning more about the body. So you can make informed decisions about your own practice and or offer informed directions to your students for each of their individual practice.

So friends do let me know your comments and suggestions on the above topic. What do you think about it let's discuss. Till then take care keep smiling. Namaste.