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Please please let go of your desire to sit in lotus soon. It might take years of dedicated yoga to reach that posture safely and it's not a necessary condition for a good sit. Believe me I've damaged my already weak knees trying to rush lotus, and that was with regular and intense practice (YMMV some bodies get it more easily). But it's OK! With the zafu or a meditation stool or yoga blocks you can still find other ways to sit, even if you have to change positions every so often. For example, I'll sit cross legged on a zafu with my knees on the floor, like a loose half lotus, until my leg starts to fall asleep. Then, I switch to kneeling with my butt on a yoga block. The more I do it the more I zone in on the micro adjustments necessary for me to sit longer comfortably. If you keep up your physical practice along with sitting, and listen to your body, you will find what you're looking for bit by bit. Also if u want more of a breakdown of the mechanics of lotus and knee safety I can elaborate on what I know 
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Apr 7, 2020 02:30
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I'm happy to share what I know, I've received a lot of instruction and adjustment over the years, and wished I'd been safer about it sooner. I'll type it out next chance I get.
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Apr 7, 2020 02:41
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Noted, Yorkshire Pudding. I'm glad to know you're not rushing it! I wrote up an effortpost with what I know—and I'm happy to be corrected or challenged if anyone here knows differently. The Road To Lotus As Nude Hoxha Cameo just said, lotus pose is not about knee flexibility, but about opening and rotating the hips. As I mentioned, I've struggled to reach lotus comfortably and have developed a chronic knee (and possibly ankle) injury in the process. I hope that anything I've learned about how to approach lotus will be useful to others so that they can enjoy a pain-free journey toward this fantastic pose. To be perfectly transparent, I can't do lotus. I've achieved it in the past, for a time. I don't know if I'll ever get to where I desire, but I do my best to focus on my present practice and what it affords. My Background I've been studying and practising Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga since 2013. I've had the good fortune to have had an excellent teacher from the outset. He's extremely dedicated to the practice and to his students, and even though he lives across the country now he finds ways to be present and to guide me in my individual journey. So, big shout out to Patrick! Ashtanga is a notoriously intense style that has a couple of dark sides, one being a culture of pushing the body to the point of injury. Thankfully that has changed over the years, and in my experience safety is now a key concern. I'm saying this in case there are people ITT who know enough about ashtanga to rightfully have doubts about an ashtangi sharing safety information. And, note that I am not a yoga teacher. I have on occasion given private lessons to friends but keep in mind that everything I'm saying here only really applies to experiences with my own body and my individual study. In any case, I did injure myself twice over time, both times from trying to push myself toward lotus. The ashtanga seated series has many hip opening and rotation postures but I would caution you to be extremely careful with them because they are surprisingly dangerous (this is where I got my worst injury). I've been taught that they're better understood as "check-ins" to measure your progress rather than as main flexibility engines. Flexibility and Safety It's worth keeping in mind that, practically speaking, joints are not flexible. It is muscles that lengthen and allow you to express the range of motion of your joints. If your muscles are not long enough, your joints will take up the strain. And with time and/or force that means soft tissue damage that is potentially with you for life. Lotus, so Hot Right Now Why does everybody want to lotus so bad anyways? Not just because it looks great, or that all our ancient role models do it. Lotus pose is so fantastic because when it is properly done, your body is locked into a seated posture. That means you are not expending energy just holding your foundation together. It's being held together by folding your skeletal system into a shape that doesn't collapse when you let go of muscular tension. Understandably, this is very useful for long meditation practice. That being said you can still find ways to sit with little to no muscle activation in your foundation, using bolsters, blocks, and/or a stool (or a chair for that matter). Lotus is great, but it's not the only way. So while you're working on it, just keep in mind that the goal is to have a solid foundation that minimizes muscle activation. Ideal Lotus Anatomy, a Visualization There are essentially 2 movements that fold the body into lotus pose. Outward rotation of the leg, and outward rotation of the hip. Visualize the following: This is a somewhat absurd anatomical visualization to illustrate lotus mechanics. You can use a bent drinking straw or something as a model leg if you prefer a tactile representation.
Hopefully this provides some insight into how lotus works in an ideal sense. The last point about the knee and ankle provides probably the best way to measure your knee and ankle safety while you work toward the ideal. Safe Lotus Anatomy The #1 way to ensure that you are safe in your lotus explorations is to know how a safe knee and ankle feels and looks. It's really simple, thankfully. Try this for yourself:
When you are doing any kind of lotus-related posture, the lower and upper legs should always be aligned like this. If the lower leg starts swinging out of alignment with the upper leg, your knee is rotating laterally and you will probably hurt yourself. Similarly, if the ankle is getting pulled off to the side (like if you are cranking it up your leg to get closer to your hip) you will probably hurt yourself*. Again, because it bears repeating (and applies to all yoga practice): if your muscles can't get you into a pose, your joints will try to take up the strain, and strained joints will cause lasting damage * there is some leeway in the ankle, but be careful! Easy Poses That I Like I have 2 favourite poses for working on lotus flexibility, both very safe and accessible. The first is good old triangle pose (Trikonasana), in which you can find and hold a rotational stretch in the leading leg by gentle exploration of hip position in the pose. The second is bound ankle pose (Baddha Konasana), which you can do with a partner or with weights, perhaps while watching TV or reading a book! I can't in good faith go into any more detail on this part because there are so many poses that can contribute to reaching lotus, and I can't presume to know what will work for you. I can offer some suggestions for reading material that has given me insights and that I continue to refer to for my practice. I'd also be happy to know peoples' favourite lotus-related stretches/poses and lotus alternatives for sitting! Resources The Art of Vinyasa by Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor Anatomy for Hip Openers and Forward Bends by Ray Long Ashtanga Yoga Practice and Philosophy by Gregor Maehle
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Apr 7, 2020 13:43
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Nude Hoxha Cameo posted:I used to practice with Melanie Fawer years ago. She’s amazing, and her shala was very old school: Mysore every morning, complete with the traditional adjustments. I only wish there were as good a shala near where I’m living now; the closest these days is just a tad too far to make it practical to go. I definitely miss the routine and rigour of having daily Mysore with attentive adjustment. There are a couple of good options in my city for Ashtanga but I've never quite found the same level of satisfaction since my teacher moved away. Over time I've started to enjoy going to the gym and simply practicing among gym people, which for some strange reason I've found to be more enjoyable than practicing with other yogis. It's really helped with my personal practice, and made it so much easier to practice at home. I guess I find myself being less struck by Yoga Guilt. And yeah can't forget Swenson! For modifications/accessibility I like The Art of Vinyasa because Freeman and Taylor wrote it recently, and so they're writing and demonstrating yoga from a elder's perspective. Sometimes to stay safe and considerate of my body I have to remind myself to "practice like an old person", and this book hits that note for me quote:half assed lotus  I love this termYorkshire Pudding posted:for the near future I think I’ll stick with some basic yoga and just focus on getting some basic flexibility down. I’ve got plenty of time to work towards more advanced stuff. You've got your whole lives ahead of you!
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Apr 9, 2020 11:28
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Paramemetic posted:The brain is physical hardware that addresses a lot of sensation and perception including the embodied experience of thoughts (these being a class of perception) but we don't really have a good reason to associate this with mind itself. Do you have a good reason to dissociate the mind from the embodied experience of thoughts?
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Jul 9, 2020 15:32
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I suppose my question was a reaction to your wording about not having a good reason for associating them. Instead, it would be better for me to offer potentially good reasons for that association, and to articulate why I react so hard to what I saw as an easy assumption about the mind and body being unassociated. I'm out and about at the moment, so for now thank you for your response and I'll be back later with more to add!
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Jul 9, 2020 22:35
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When you pet the good dog, you also pet yourself in the next life
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Feb 16, 2022 04:23
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Impermanent posted:can't decide if the idea of the complete cessation of existence after death or eternal being is more scary so I think maybe both are attachments. that's my story today. I try to keep in mind that I'm made of used bits of other beings in the first place. So maybe I'll just be lost (or found) in the crowd
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Mar 21, 2022 20:22
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