Bikram Yoga Chadds Ford
Yoga for You
Standing leg LOCKED!
Standing Head To Knee
Wipe your hands, shift your weight, grab your foot!
Strengthens:
- Quadriceps muscles
- Trapezius
- Biceps
- Latissmus Dorsi
- Abdominal muscles
Stretches:
- Back
- Shoulders
- Hamstrings
Stimulates:
- Pancreas
- Thyroid, Para-Thyroid (in full expression of the posture)
- Thymus (in full expression)
- Digestive organs
- Reproductive organs
- Kidneys
- Heart
Benefits:
- Cultivates concentration, determination, faith, self-control and patience!
- Builds strength.
- Improves flexibility of sciatic nerve.
- Strengthens tendons.
- Prevents wear and tear of knee cartilage by strengthening of soft tissues around the knee.
- Helps clear and prevent problems with digestion.
- Helps to develop balance.
- Maintains blood-sugar levels through compression of the pancreas.
- Improves circulation throughout the body.
- Tones abdominal muscles and thighs.
- Improves your sex life through the massage of your reproductive organs.
- Helps to decrease varicose veins by exercising the long vein (great saphenous vein) running from the leg to the heart.
- Helps to improve confidence and self-worth.
- Helps to calm and clear the mind.
Standing head-to-knee builds great concentration and determination. As you lock your standing knee, the contraction of the thigh creates a “suspension” of the knee joint, pulling bone away from bone. Done correctly, the posture strengthens and protects the knee. As you bend forward, you exert pressure on the heart muscle, exercising the heart and elevating the heart rate. The completion of all four stages of the pose profoundly strengthens the body and mind, improving confidence, focus, patience and determination.
“The standing leg is the trunk of the tree. It’s your foundation. Everything else is decoration–branches and flowers, ” senior teacher Chris Fluck
“It took me seven years to learn to lock my knee,” studio owner Katelynn Ingersoll
“You should be able to build your shore house on that leg,” senior teacher Leo Eisenstein”
“If your standing leg isn’t locked, your effort has started, but the posture has not,” teacher Fiona Yohannan
Thanks to Bikram Yoga East York for contributing content to this post.
Bikram Yoga Chadds Ford 