Hello everyone.I just started doing Yoga and I attend a “relax” yoga class. Sometimes when my knees are stacked or in pigeon pose my toes start to fall asleep and work its way into my feet. It is so uncomfortable. I keep forgetting to mention this to the instructor. I must be doing something wrong. Has this happened to anyone? I welcome all advice.
Thanks.
Tracie,
As with most therapeutically oriented questions on this yoga forum, and many others, there’s not enough information about you to give a “very sound” reply. I do not know if you are 20 or 200. I do not know if you are active or a couch potato. I do not know if you are a male or a female. I do not know if you have a history of high blood pressure or have complete health.
The broad answer I can provide with integrity is that the lower limbs are innervated (supplied impulses) through the lower portion of the spine. If and when the nerves or nerve roots are impinged (pinched) it is possible to experience numbness or “pins and needles” in the part of the body that is being fed (or rather not fed).
In what you refer to as Pigeon (Eka Pada Rajakapotasana) an inappropriate action in the backbend can cause compression in the lumbar and/or sacral spine. Proper action in the pose (assuming the student is ready for such a pose) should be taught and monitored by a trained yoga teacher. Please do ask your teacher.
As for stacking the knees I do not know what you are referencing so I cannot fathom a guess and feedback on that portion of your inquiry.
Sorry for such a broad question. This is my first time on this site so I did not realize that I needed to give all that information about myself before I asked.
I am female, 28 years old, I am in between a couch potato and active, and I am in great health. I am so new to yoga and do not know names of poses and came to this site looking for positive advice. When I was talking about my knees being stacked on eachother…Its a sitting position legs crossed, knees stacked on top of eachother and you bring your chest down and it stretches the hip. Maybe I am putting too much weight on my legs and cutting off the circulation.
Hi Tracie. It sounds like you’re describing Gomukhasana (cow face pose). Is this what you mean? http://tranquilspace.com/images/asanas/2005_september.jpg
Hi Tracie,
I think your body wants you to start to listen to it. I am not sure what asanas you are refering to, but my advice has always been listen to your body, any sign of discomfort, too much pain or some strange occurance such as feet falling asleep in an asana is a way your body tries to communicate something to you.
You say you are new to yoga, perhaps your body needs more time to actually get used to all the new poses you want it to do. So be patient, don’t hold the pose too long, the moment you feel that your feet is going to sleep, come gently out of the asana and stretch the legs forward in order to normalise the blood flow.
In time your body will build its own intelligence about the asanas and one day you will attempt the asanas without your feet falling asleep.
Yoga should be gentle, especially in the beginning, our bodies need TLC more than we think and we abuse them so readily that perhaps we must sometimes just start to listen to them.
I trust this will add to your understanding of and growing in yoga. Please also discuss this with your teacher, that is why you are going to her/him.
Good luck and remember, a yogi should be persistent, but with great care.
Yes it is cow face pose.
Thanks for all the advice
Hello again Tracie.
Never a need on a yoga forum for apologies. It is perfectly understandable for you to post in that way. But it is also handcuffing when therapeutic advice is sought.
The internet provides a certain level of anonymity which means we only get the picture of you that you provide. And you cannot imagine how many posts I’ve had to reply to twice, once asking for more informaation and once actually answering the inquiry:-)
The second pose you reference may not be appropriate for a beginning student. Please seek a modification through your teacher. If he or she is unable or unwilling to provide you with such a modification then consider whether that is the practice for you or whether you should practice elsewhere.
Most students do not have enough opening in the hips to properly come into the pose mentioned. And it is quite possible to overdo in that pose and place excessive load and strain on both the knee joints and the hips.
InnerAthlete: I’m relieved to read this because, even though I am not a teacher, I was thinking that pose was quite advanced for Tracie.
Hello all…I’ve been reading through these threads and a thought that crosses my mind is a comment that Rodney Yee made during a workshop. His advice was to keep the quadricep muscles active when in a cross-legged meditation position. I recollect that someone asked what could they do to keep their feet and legs from falling asleep when in such a position and a bit of a discussion ensued. What I gathered from the conversation and have been experimenting with in various poses is to gather and release some energy in the quadricep area if I feel a pins and needles thing beginning to happen. Of course one should be mindful and aware of differences between a “problem” or “situation” which may be nerve related, or simply not enough blood flow due to restriction of the vascular system and how perhaps the weight of one part of the body rests against another resulting in what as a child many of us called our legs or foot or arm fell asleep. Is that really possible? The pins and needles can mean many things but you could try as I interpret what was suggested to me in the class on that day to shift awareness to the thigh area and squeeze and release a few times to help pump the blood and keep it flowing. Keep it active (on the inside) rather then passive, as you find your steady but comfortable place and BREATHE, feeling the fluctuations of the body as you gain more and more from your practice. It may feel like fidgeting but in essence you should seek a comfort zone or your edge as your poses take shape.
Hello all…
I’ve been reading through these threads and a thought that crosses my mind is a comment that Rodney Yee made during a workshop. His advice was to keep the quadricep muscles active when in a cross-legged meditation position. This may help in the happy cow face pose as well. I recollect that someone asked what could they do to keep their feet and legs from falling asleep when in such a position and a bit of a discussion ensued. What I gathered from the conversation and have been experimenting with in various poses is to gather and release some energy in the quadricep area if I feel a pins and needles thing beginning to happen. Of course one should be mindful and aware of differences between a “problem” or “situation” which may be nerve related, or simply not enough blood flow due to restriction of the vascular system in that moment and how perhaps as the weight of one part of the body rests against another results in what as a child many of us called our legs or a foot or an arm as if they had fallen asleep. Is that really possible? The pins and needles can mean many things but you could try this interpretation of what was suggested to me and others in the class on that day. Shift awareness to the thigh area and squeeze and release a few times to help pump the blood and keep it flowing. Keep it active (on the inside) rather then passive, as you find your steady but comfortable place and BREATHE, feeling the fluctuations of the body as you gain more and more as you offer and open during your practice. It may feel like fidgeting but in essence you should seek a comfort zone or your edge as your poses take shape. Let breath be your guide and if you feel as if you are not able to breathe comfortably then move out of the pose and find a modification. Sometimes moving into a pose one way is not as comfortable as moving into it from another direction either. Sequencing can have a really interesting effect on “ability”. Oddly doing something one way feels impossible while going at something from another vantage point makes it all possible.
Similar problem:
I too am having nerve or circulation problems. I’m new to yoga, been practicing about 2 times a week for 2 months. This is the extent of my activeness sadly, I sit all day in front of a computer at work, cook, clean, go to bed. I’m 24 yrs old. (although it has now inspired me to eat better and I am looking into adding some bicycling to my weekly activities) I sometimes have slight irritations in sitting poses, but those aren’t really my concern. In the pegion pose, it kills me- my leg and feet fall asleep very quickly and it gets so bad I have to get out of the pose. I see a trend in the advice to listen to your body, but I am curious how to quite seperate listening to my body and getting my body more used to the pose. Is it possible if I keep trying it and trying it I can do it? Is it dangerous for me to continue holding the pose until I just can’t take it anymore or should I be releasing sooner? Also, how certain is anyone on if this problem is a nerve pinching problem or a circluation problem? I did ask my yoga instructor about it, but she had never heard of a similar problem. She suggested increasing my water intake and letting my body get more used to it since I’m so new to it, but was honest in telling she didn’t really know. Now some of these posts about dangers of nerve pinching, etc. have me freaked out and I’m worried I should ever even try these moves.
If it is dangerous, what about the moves that only slightly give me tingling feeling but I can still handle them- should I stop doing those too =o(
Thanks for any advice, and please feel free to ask me if you need any more information on myself to help. I’m really loving my yoga practice other than this problem and have already seen some drastic improvement in less headaches, much better sleeping, less back problems, some mindfulness (I’m still working on this, but its’s improved greatly) and motivation to get all around healther which I wasn’t finding in so many other places.
Hello Lissy.
Most of the time yoga teachers move students to this particular pose without sufficient preparation (physically speaking) AND before it is appropriate for their level of practice. I am amazed at what is currently given the tag of “opener”.
There are some very significant arteries traveling through the pelvic region. IN fact all arteries are significant. But you may merely be impeding one. Rather than pontificating about the what’s I’ll offer this:
Consider doing the supine version of this opening which some call Half Pigeon. In this way the body’s weight is not creating additional strain. It will be much easier to moderate the pose and back off in this supine position then in the other AND you will not sacrifice the integrity of your lumbar spine.
gordon
I sometimes run into a slightly different sensation with my hands. I notice it after a pose where I’ve been putting pressure through my hands (downward dog, plank, seated mountain pose, or a twist with hand on block behind back, for example). During the next pose (say, warrior I with arms and hands stretched overhead or even hands fairly relaxed, like in mountain pose), one of my hands (sometimes left, sometimes right) feels as if it’s ‘buzzing’ and being pushed on from all sides. This sensation can sometimes be quite strong, but it’s not painful. I’ve also noticed this in my feet from time to time, but it happens more often with my hands.
This is fabulous! Thank you so much for taking the time to reply and so quickly =o) I appreciate the alternative pose also, this way I don’t have to completely “sit out” while the rest of the class is doing the “full” pigeon pose. Thanks again!
Wow I know someone with the same problem.
My class discussed this and my instructor gave modifications based on the same feedback you are describing. I think that numbness just occurs sometimes. As a healthcare professional the term “parasthesis” or numbness of the exrtemities comes to mind. Vasopressure could be the cause…