Dandayamana Bibhaktapada Janushirasana

Standing Separate Leg Head to Knee

This is one of those postures with quite a few misconceptions. We all say that the forehead has to touch the knee but how many people actually do it (and keep it that way?) I see so many varying deviations from this specific instruction. You know: chin on the knee, eye socket on the knee, you name it. And I understand why; this posture, when executed properly, is extremely uncomfortable. It's only the third true inversion in class with the entire torso below the pelvis. Gravity is pulling blood and lymph to the shoulders, neck, and head but we're intentionally restricting that flow at the throat. You just completed Triangle Pose and you’re looking forward to Savasana. It’s tempting to just walk through the steps. But when practiced with precision, this forward bend will actually subdue the effects of the Sympathetic Nervous System that have elevated your heart rate and possibly evoked a bit of panic.

The Sympathetic Nervous System exists in order to offer your body the necessities to survive in an emergency situation. By stimulating the Fight-or-Flight response, you’ll have the energy and drive to fight off an attacking bear in the woods or you’ll at least have the necessary blood flow to the legs to hightail it out of there. Your body is flooded with hormones such as cortisol and norepinephrine. Blood-glucose levels rise, blood vessels constrict, and the heart beats faster. Blood is diverted from non-essential organs to the heart and skeletal muscles. Many of the Bikram postures kindle a response from the Sympathetic Nervous System. The energy and focus derived from the Sympathetic Response is good news for you in the yoga room. The anger, anxiety, and aggression however, are not. I’ve been practicing this yoga for a few years and have yet to encounter a bear in the hot room. (They like it cold, don’t they?) This is where Standing Separate Leg Head to Knee comes in handy. Use this posture, in conjunction with controlled breathing, to stave the effects of the Fight-or-Flight response.

When people first start out, there's generally confusion about the priorities of the posture. Folding the body at the hips and resting the chest on the thigh allows for a great stretch in the hamstring muscles down the back of the forward-standing leg but the intention is to work the abdominal muscles, invigorating the effects on the internal abdominal organs to enhance the process of digestion and assimilation of food. It's more about incorporating new levels of flexibility in the facet joints of the spinal column and strengthening the Erector Spinae muscles that support the spine. So rather than folding in half with a straight spine, shoot for a curved spine by rounding the shoulders forward and away from the ears. Even if you think you're already curved, there's further to go. This results in a concave chest and negative space between the torso and the thigh.

Even if you're fairly new to the series, you've heard it a hundred times: compression in the throat area stimulates your thyroid gland. The distinction though, is that the throat compression is evident from start to finish. The moment you begin to round the spine, your chin should be attached to your chest allowing for the deliberate restriction of blood flow to this area. And the experience is intensified when the compression is uninterrupted. Don’t allow it to sneak away for even a moment. It’s difficult but the pay-off is worth it. Think about it as a similar entry as is displayed in Rabbit Pose. If the chin is not tucked from the onset of the posture, it's going to be more challenging to hit the desired landmarks as the posture progresses.

Definitely try to keep your forehead touching the knee for the entire duration. Even when you hear the instructor call "change," you're not finished. Keep the chin tucked and the throat choked as you reverse out. In order to keep the compression, the navel remains as the focal point as you uncurl the spine. Looking at your bellybutton on the way out is going to make it much more difficult to balance but it will reinforce the desired compression. When your head finally comes up at the end, the Thyrocervical Trunk, the Common Carotid Artery, and the Internal Jugular Vein are released allowing the now oxygen-starved Thyroid Gland to receive a blast of oxygenated blood. Sternocleidomastoid and Platysma have been intensely contracting for several seconds so it is common to feel fatigue in the muscles of the anterior neck once you're finished. You might even feel a throbbing in the neck: a result of the muscle tissues finally reabsorbing all of the nutritive blood.

But the posture doesn't start and end at the throat. This is another one of those postures that strengthens your core by requiring abdominal muscle contraction. The antagonistic relationship between your lower back and your ab muscles is evident in this deep forward bend. When you contract your abdominals, you naturally intensify the hydraulic pressure in the abdominal cavity that is helping to support the lower back muscles. This, in conjunction with the choked throat, can put a burden on the process of breathing. Allowing inhalations to lift the torso toward the ceiling will expand your ribcage and increase the compression on the front side. During exhalation work toward sliding your forehead higher up the leg. It doesn't matter how high your forehead already is; there's always further to go. Unless, of course, your forehead is on the bellybutton. That's when we fold you up into a tiny shipping box and send you off to India to develop your own form of yoga.

With the flat-back forward bends such as Standing Separate Leg Stretching Pose and the Intense Stretching Pose at the end of class, most of the pivot occurs in the hips and the pelvis. But with Standing Separate Leg Head to Knee Pose, we're concentrating specifically on the movement of the spine. If you've ever experienced low back pain, it's the continued practice of this particular posture which will offer you relief through healing, and strengthening the lower back and abdominal muscles, and the eventual increased flexibility of the spine.

Just keep in mind that this is probably going to be a tough one but that it’s placed in the series specifically to help you through. As with any posture: so many benefits; so many details. Listening carefully and allowing your body to respond to the verbal instruction will get you through. At this point, we’re almost to the floor so you might as well work hard and finish up strong.