In this video I'll give you yoga modifications for knee injury. I will show you how to do yoga with
your injured knee because I want to make sure that this practice of yoga stays a practice of
being secure in our bodies so that we can all get better. My name is Chi and you're welcome to The
Body Conditioner. Here we work in, not out! Knee injury doesn't mean that you can't practice yoga,
we just need to make sure we watch out for a few things and perhaps modify a few poses and this
is what I want to help you with. Make sure you have a block, a yoga block and make sure that you
feel comfortable where you find yourself. Also please subscribe to the channel so that I can
give you more content like this and like this video. What I forgot to mention is that you
need a wedge or a slant board. I will show you what that is a little bit later so at this point
we need the block so use the block and squeeze it in between your thighs press your big toes down
and then fan the other toes out. Unfortunately you can hardly see that right now but have a
feel of all eight corners of your feet on the ground and begin to settle in. It takes a while
to get all the fidgeting out of the way to land to notice the support that you get from the ground.
Settle in and notice the alignment of your knees so as you squeeze the block
that changes the alignment of your knees and if you could now actually squeeze the block
from the back towards the front then you will feel that the alignment of your knees
is absolutely the way we need it. That means your knees stacked over your ankles and your hips
stacked over the knees and this is how it should be in the yoga practice especially with your
injured knee because we want to use the knee as a hinge joint. We want to avoid all the twisting
at the knee and this is super important so squeeze the block from the back towards the front as if it
bulges out at the front of your thighs. Stay here for a few moments in this mountain shape
and breathe in and out lift the ribcage out of the pelvis expand the ribcage into all directions and
release the breath into the legs supplying your legs with oxygen breathing in and breathing out.
Your right shoulder points to the right and the left shoulder points to the left and your head can
finally rest on the shoulders. Knee alignment is not just leg alignment it's the alignment
of the whole system the whole body so we want to make sure that the knee as one of the components
is in the right position so that the muscle surrounding your knee can actually do the work.
Make sure that the back the crown of your head really extends all the way towards the ceiling
notice the openness at the chest and you can turn the palms forward.
It's such an intense pose and I would like us to stay here for a few moments breathing in and
out noticing the activity of all the muscles keeping your body in the shape being present
as you do what you do,
being still,
being receptive.
And then I want to show you what you can do to practice your sun salutation. So use the wall and
use the block behind your calf muscles so what you do is with the help of your calf muscles
you squeeze the block against the wall that is super intense. It actually looks so much easier
than it is. Do that for a few moments stay upright and breathe. So for the next two shapes we need
the slant board or the wedge and I must say I'm not really sure how to substitute this because
it helps to secure your ankle and to align your knee so you can see here that I do not place too
much weight onto my ankle because the slant board takes off some of the load and if you
are like me and you have sprained your ankles a lot then this gives you tremendous relief I
must admit. So I showed you the same shape with the slant board and now without and now I move
this lamp out to the other side to show you what that looks like so if it's your left ankle that
needs a bit more support then you can also use that on that side and you can see here if you now
externally rotate your hip, your knee is in this nice alignment from the hip all the way into the
left outer edge of the foot keeping your right knee over your ankle as much as your tight hips
allow that. And you can see here all the vectors of the shape you want to really think into the
left outer edge of the foot and all the way into the right foot and into the crown of the head so
it's really this full shape the full relationship that you have with the space that you want to
lean into. So let's get into the triangle shape and what I show you here is that we use the wedge
the slant board plus this um the block so you will find a link to the slant board in the description
and i'm sure you have a block. If you don't have one please get it also further below in the
description. So I rest my calf muscles against this block and the nice thing that happens now
is my calf muscles are active they are engaging and I take some of the load off of my left knee.
Certainly I want to make sure that the right knee is also nicely aligned from
the hip you externally rotate the hip and you think all the way into the right outer edge
of this right foot. Here I could actually also use a slant board at the right side you can see
that I supinate, over-supinate and we want to avoid that so depending on your alignment and
your challenges in the body perhaps you need to change the position of the slant board and
then you can get into this nicely aligned shape of the triangle pose so really making sure that
knee is happy. Make sure you come on over to the body thebodyconditioner.com because I want to send
you more emails on your knees, I want to make sure that you are alive in your body so that you can be
present for the things that you want to do. If you like this video please click the thumbs up also
subscribe to the channel right here click that tiny little bell to get notified anytime I have
a new video for you and please share this video with every person you feel may benefit from it.