ps. Blessings for you speedy recovery for your surgery.You've gotta love someone who gets right to the heart of it, don't you?
pps. With your experience. what poses do you think are most harmful to knees?
Without question, lotus pose, padmasana, is the pose most harmful to the knees, if you attempt to practice it regularly.Lotus pose, and those that are similar to it, require open hips, specifically that the femurs rotate externally (laterally) in the hip sockets.
Because they practice it all the time, ballerinas are really good and lateral rotation of the femurs.The thighs are hard to grab when you attempt to manually turn the thigh bones in the lotus pose.
So, by hook or by crook we grab the feet and lower legs and we wrestle with them until we pull ourselves mercilessly into the pose.
Then, we attempt to look cool and calm as we sit and pretend to meditate. Ouch.
This is not the recipe for samadhi. It's a recipe for overstretched lateral collateral ligaments and the surgery that follows.
Roger Cole wrote an article published in Yoga Journal that I can't recommend enough. You can find it here. But you may have to register with the Yoga Journal site to view it. Be sure you click on the graphics to see the large and up-close view of a strained lateral collateral ligament and the crushed medial mesicus that goes with it.
Here's a big BUT: I see bunches of students every week who never try padmasana. They don't even think about it. So...they can't hurt their knees with a pose they don't do.
There is a pose they do all they time that could cause a different sort of damage.
I'll write about it next time.
Don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!
Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org
p.s., The Sanskrit Word of the Day from my previous Daily Yoga Tip was ananda. Ananda means bliss. I think some of the anesthesia medicine I was given during my surgery Wednesday really plugged into my bliss receptors! I haven't been in such a good mood in a long time!
p.p.s., Today's Sanskrit Word of the Day is kona. I'll tell you what it means next time.
p.p.p.s., I wrote about knees and poses that are related to padmasana back in June, 2005. The Daily Yoga Tip is called "Wild Fire, Burning Desire." You can read it here.
p.p.p.p.s., Our Experience Paradise yoga vacation in Yelapa, Mexico is coming up in February, 2007. Watch for more details in future Daily Yoga Tips.
Copyright 2006. All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.
Kevin Perry
Mo Yoga LLC
1305 Elmerine Ave
Jefferson City, MO 65101
(573) 680-6737
