Again, knee, really? REALLY? I can’t handle this shit. I’m busy enough trying not to kill my feet every damn class and now I’ve got to worry about your shit too?! Can’t do it.
As you can probably tell, my knee’s been acting up lately. I’m talking searing pain again. Pretty sure it’s because I’ve been trying to go back in fixed firm pose and my knees are lifting off the ground while my hips are trying to sit between my ankles. At least I hope that’s it because it’s the only cause I know if for this type of knee pain.
Similarly, I’m pretty sure I’m hyper-extending my knees in all the standing poses. I learned this because I originally thought my knee was hurting from hyper-extension, so I talked to a few of the teachers about this and when I showed them how I stand, they agreed that I was locking my knee out, rather than locking my knee (huh? There’s a difference?). So during the standing series today I really concentrated on not locking out my knee and trying to figure out what the hell locking your knee (without locking it out) feels like. The best advice I got though was to focus and put all the weight on the inside of my foot, rather than letting the weight rest on the outsides of my feet. Awesome. Put even more stress on my arches. Maybe that’s what my arches need though? A little more pain but ensuring that I’m doing the poses right? Who the hell knows.
On the bright side though, I ran into Other Kelsy today and she told me that Elle wants to take a picture of me and her sometime, so we made plans to both go to next Tuesday’s 6:30pm class so Elle can snap a few photos of us in action. I’m super excited! I’ve wanted to take a photo of my back bends for a while but haven’t worked up the gall to ask a teacher to feed my vanity.
Namaste!
The Life Chats 
Thank you, I can completely relate to this post! I (also) just came to the realization that I have been stressing my knees as well. Now, my left knee is screaming at me in class and I’m starting over with what it means to have a properly locked knee. I’m pretty sure I have been “locking out” and sitting on my knee joints because of a lack of leg strength. I really like your idea of focusing on the insides of your feet and will try it tonight, thank you! I also wanted to share that I have been able to relieve some pain in my knees if I focus on my tush…especially really engaging in the beginning of class during pranayama and half moon. Pushing my hips more forward and squeezing the bah-jezus out of my glutes I *think* has been relieving some pressure/weight off of my knees and they are engaged without pain. Good Luck!
That’s a really good point. When I’m not sure if I’m locking my knee properly or engaging my leg muscles, I try to tighten my glutes and that usually does the trick. It’s easy to forget about though, and that tends to be my problem. I’m just cruising through the standing series trying not to sit down and just chug my water and fall asleep that I sometimes forget to actually work in the poses.
Hope your knees start to mend! Just remember to listen to your body and sit out a posture when you need to! It really is the best medicine.