Hero's Pose

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Hey guys! new member here, excited to be a part of a new community. i’m a relatively new yogi and had a question regarding hero’s pose.

often times when i get into hero’s pose, one knee will fall slightly (an inch at most) further out from the other. and my big toes will not fall into alignment either. is this natural? am i doing something incorrectly?

is it because my hips are uneven? any help would be greatly appreciated as this is driving me absolutely nuts :confused:

edit: just wanted to say thanks in advance

#2

Welcome Owls.

Could you provide some additional information please?
For this question I need more detail on how you are doing the pose.
Are you sitting on a block, pads, bolster, et al or are you doing the pose flat on the floor? And by “fall slightly” are you referring to one leg moving away from the midline (midsagital plane) of the pose?

TIA,

gordon

#3

why certainly

i am doing it flat on the floor

i’m referring to one knee resting ahead of the other, not sideways. so if i were to look at the top of my knees they don’t align properly from left to right, one is ahead of the other.

does this make sense? this is hard for me to explain for some reason, i’ll try to think of a better way to explain it…

#4

That’s helpful, thank you.
We don’t teach the pose flat on the floor unless the student is able to align the lateral and medial condyles of the knees with a line parallel to the floor. For most, this is challenging even with a block across the sitting bones but that is the teaching so that the ligaments of the knee joint do not lengthen on the medial side while shortening on the lateral side.

The description of the knee placement you offer is one I “get” but I find a reference to the front edge of the mat to be additionally helpful in this sort of description. So the knees are not equidistant from that front edge? One would then have to look at the hip alignment and possible shearing in the pelvis. Of course it is possible, though remotely so, that you have an anatomically shorter bone on one side (but very unlikely).

gordon