Improving the saddle pose

Ok here is another eureka moment of ahhhh. I notice that there are actually 2 versions of the saddle pose. You can either do it on your heels or between your heels. I have been doing it between my heels and sometimes my knees complain about it. I find it better to do it while sitting on my heels with the block under the buttocks. I still lean back on a stack of pillows because I can't lean back well enough. I am aiming for a pain free yin yoga stretch. I want my knees and joints to be happy.

Inner knee pain and yin yoga

Last night I experienced a moment of ahhhhh....remember how I have been having knee pain I suspected it was one of the poses I was doing wrong. Well I watched Bernie Clarke's video on how to do the swan pose which is also known as the pigeons pose in hatha yoga and learnt how to do a modified version of it. I learnt I should not rotate the front leg too much so I used the safest method by sitting directly on my heel. i didn't rotate my front leg at all. I also used 2 blocks on each side to place my hands on because I can't seem to balance properly without them. I sat and held the pose for 5 minutes on each side without pain. When I came out of the pose I felt a relieve feeling. Today I woke up without any pain at all. I feel a sense of freedom as I walk. It's a eureka moment for me. I finally found the source of my knee pain. I must be tight at my hips, hamstrings and maybe back. Gosh I sit in the office all day so that could be the contributing factor. I am soooo looking forward to practicing it again. Do you think I will be able to get a bit more flexible and start rotating my front leg in a few months? I know I will have to practice diligently and that will be one of my targets. Wish me luck.

Yin Yoga For Anxiety, Stress and Dizziness

I love the practice of yin yoga because it is very relaxing and therapeutic but I'm having trouble leaning forward when I'm dizzy. :-( I'll skip that part and do the rest.

The Saddle Pose with Knee Issues

One of the reasons why I want to be able to achieve the full saddle pose is to cure my digestion problems. In another school of yoga, this is known as vajrasana or something along that line.

Doing the saddle pose is painful. Maybe I am bony because I can feel my ankles and legs digging into the floor. So to solve that problem I do the saddle pose on the bed.

Then comes another problem. My knee screams at me. I have to pile up a stack of pillows and cushions behind me and rest my back on the pile. If I still feel knee pain, I have to raise the stack higher until I feel no more strain or pain. Great! I can now stay in this pose for 5 minutes! I have been practicing this for a few weeks now. No pain during the pose.

But there is another problem after that. Whenever I come out from that pose, my ankles feel stiff and painful. I have to slowly flex my feet to get the blood circulating again.

To go an extra step further, I tip toe around the room for one minute and then walk on my heels with my toes pointing up for another minute. My feet feel so much better after that.

To end it off I then do the tree pose for a minute in each leg. The tree pose has its own set of benefits. It trains your reflexes to balance yourself and break your fall faster. There is a saying that our reflexes tend to slow down as we age so the tree pose helps prevent this. The tree pose is also a good grounding exercise if you are into chakra stuff.

And now back to saddle pose. I always have this fear I might hurt my back. I am not sure if we can break our backs if we bend back too much. My pillows and cushions are there to assure me but still...sometimes the scary thought crosses my mind.

It's also been a few days since I modified my caterpillar pose or forward bend. I didn't practice last night as I was too tired. Not much progress there yet. Will I ever achieve my target? I don't know. What the gurus say about yin yoga, I can only confirm months or years later.

Tight hamstrings, a short lower back and the caterpillar pose

I have been trying forward bends for as far as I remember. Years with no results....I tend to lean back because my lower back may be tight and as I lean forwards, I get a back strain from arching the back. My hamstrings are also tight. I watched Bernie Clark's video on the caterpillar last weekend and have decided to change some things. Since a few days ago I have been sitting on a block with my knees bent and now I do feel the stretch on the lower back well. It's a better stretch. When I keep my legs straight my knees complain so I have to bend them. So far I have been holding this pose for only 2 minutes. It's already hard to sit relaxed in that pose. I think I will increase the time held once I get more comfortable. For my counter pose, I use the saddle pose. That pose itself comes with some challenges and modifications. I will blog about that later. I need to read another chapter of a novel before knocking off.

Yin yoga

I shall start documenting my progress with yin yoga in this blog from now onwards. My target is to archieve flexiblity and relax and sleep well. I want to be able to fold forwards fully and to do the saddle pose to heal my digestion problems. I also want to do more hip openers. I am not very flexible in many parts and I have the occasional knee pain whenever I stretch in the wrong direction.

I have read Paul Grilley's and Biff Mithoeffer's books. I have also been  watching Bernie Clark's YouTube videos as well. I also bought that book on Gravity Yoga from Lucus Roockwood. According to them you have to stretch for at least 5 minutes for each pose to get there. I am now at a lost on which poses to do with so little time every night. Each book has it's own suggestions too. I have been stretching for the past few months and I rely a lot on props like blocks and belts. So far I still hurt my knees and sometimes the back too.  I haven't become more flexible yet. Maybe I am too ambitious. This blog will record my progress. I regret that I have no original pictures to share at the moment. Perhaps when I am in the mood, I will draw with my tablet some of the poses. 

How To Do The Saddle Pose

I've been so interested in Yin Yoga lately and the saddle pose is one of the most difficult poses to do. It's also one of the most beneficial poses to as I was told because it is good for stretching the back muscles. I've been trying it with props because I'm not so flexible yet. It is my target to be able to lie backwards without any props and pain.

When I first googled about yoga poses to help improve digestion and cure acid reflux, the saddle pose came up tops.Here are a couple of videos to use as a guide. Hope you find the saddle pose useful too.

And here's another one:

 

This is the half saddle pose for those who want to start with just one leg at a time.

 

This video describes the benefits of the saddle pose. (I bought this guy's book on yin yoga!)