Yoga for Knee Strengthening ✨ Stop Knee Pain!

Transcript

welcome everyone today's yoga class is focused on strengthening our knees to help prevent knee pain and knee tension you don't need any props for today's class so let's get started right away on our backs rolling the spine down keeping both feet flat for just a moment knees pointing upwards to find a slow and steady breath in and out through the nose and on your next breath in you can bring the right knee in towards the heart straightening out through the left leg and take hold behind that right knee with both hands just start to circle the lower leg so keeping the upper leg really still just bringing the foot up around and down a couple of times [Music] and then reversing the circle again just the lower leg that's moving really warming up into our knee area before we do any strength work and finishing up that final circle you can release hold of that knee simply switching sides taking hold behind your left knee now extend through the right leg [Music] and start to circle that lower left leg so because our knee is not a muscle it is a joint the best thing we can do to avoid any knee pain as we switch directions with our circles is to strengthen the surrounding muscle groups and that's just what we're going to do today really nice so finish up your last circle release that knee plant both feet flat to the mat feet are hips width apart knees pointing up we're going to come into a bridge pose so begin by squeezing through the glutes rolling up through the tailbone lifting the hips off of the mat as high as they'll go so knees are staying parallel here and then very slowly start to roll yourself back down one vertebrae at a time we'll do the same thing but before you go anywhere bring the knees together so keep the feet where they are we're just letting the knees knock in and we'll lift back up into that bridge pose again squeezing through the glutes lifting up one vertebrae at a time [Music] and then lowering back down so you might not come as high it might be a little bit of a different sensation with the knees in this position and then keep the feet where they are again this time we're going to open the knee so with the feet flat they probably won't open very far and again we'll squeeze through the glutes coming back up into our third variation of bridge pose knees apart and lower back down beautiful let's take that a few more times so beginning by bringing your knees parallel keeping them parallel as you lift up find your bridge pose squeezing and lower back down and once you've lowered knees knock in towards one another as we lift and lower and final variation feet are flat the whole time as the knees widen as we lift and lower and just one more time bring the knees parallel lift up into a bridge pose and this time hold it here stay lifted so just keep everything engaged the glutes the quads the hamstrings and staying in this lifted position now bring the knees together they may or may not touch bring them back to parallel and open the knees and back to parallel just one more time like this feet stay flat the whole time knees knock in [Music] back to parallel open the knees bring them back to center and lower yourself down really nice you can hug the knees in if you'd like just rock yourself side to side a few times and eventually we'll roll over to our right side supporting ourselves up on our right forearm bring the knees just slightly bent in front of you we'll take a couple of clam shells so the feet stay together as we open up through that top knee and lower just two more like this and then we'll add on so lift the knee up keep the knee where it is just straighten the leg re-bend and close two more like this open up keep the knee stable as you straighten and bend and close last time open [Music] straighten revenge and close moving on to our stomachs now come to a sphinx pose resting down on your forearms and bending into the knee so you can widen the legs a little bit we don't want any tension in the lower back here feel free to kind of kick out the legs a few times see how that feels and then leave the right leg where it is keep it bent just start to straighten into that left leg but don't let the knee touch down so again we're engaging through the entire upper leg the knee is floating the foot is floating just the thigh on the mat and re-bend other side left leg stays bent right leg begins to straighten without touching the knee or foot down holding it here keep breathing and release beautiful now you can straighten through both legs we'll roll over onto our second side propping up on the left forearm bending the knees slightly in front of us for those clam shells beginning by simply opening and closing a couple of times working the outside of the right leg and glute just one more like this and then adding on as we open and straighten re-bend and close remember that that right knee stays in place once it's open re-bending that leg closing down just one more here open it up lengthen and close wonderful press yourself up to a seated position we're just going to roll over onto hands and knees but we're not going to stay on the knees for very long once you've arrived with the shoulders over the wrist tuck the toes keep the hips over the knees as you just float the knees off of the mat just an inch or two engaging through the glutes here pressing the mat away evenly with both hands and just hold for three for two and one and then start to walk your hands back so that we end up towards the back of the mat in a little toe squat here so the knees are lifted you could even let the chin fall to the chest for a moment maybe rock yourself a little bit front and back supporting yourself on fingertips now from here you can either keep the fingertips to the mat or you can find a gazing spot in front of you and see if you can bring the hands to prayer in front of the chest little balance challenge here so either way we're going to transition from this toe squat into kind of a low chair pose so inhaling here exhale let the heels find the mat come into this low squat reaching forwards and then inhale see if you can lower back down into your little toe stand let's take that three more times inhaling here exhaling find your low chair sit it back and lower two more sitting back into your low chair and re-squat final time you can do it sit it back and lower down beautiful let the fingertips find the mat keep the knees bent as you let the heels find the mat ending up in a rag doll folds just swaying side to side maybe even stepping it out a little bit lifting one heel and then the other and then rolling yourself up to standing one vertebrae at a time here roll the shoulders back straightening up through the spine you can stay where you are i'll just turn to the side to show you what we're doing next so we're going to transfer our weight into our left leg bring the right knee up towards the heart and bring both arms out in front of us holding here for a breath and then exhale to open up towards the right bring yourself back to center and open up towards the left so right knee stays stable the entire time as we come back just one more on each side maybe you take the gaze with you for an extra balance challenge and finish it out and then lowering that right foot down very nice shake it off a little bit before we come to our second side transferring the weight into our right foot lifting the left knee up doesn't have to come all that high arms are back out in front of the body as we inhale to open towards the left and back to center second side back to center definitely more challenging on one side than the other working the strength of the whole leg here last time and lower that leg down beautiful and we're back at the back of our mat start to bend into the knees before bringing the chin towards the chest and rolling yourself back down into a forward fold you could take hold of opposite elbows here keep the fingertips to the mat feet are about hips width apart and with both knees generously bent bring the upper body over towards the right so either having the fingertips on the matter maybe just holding somewhere along the outside of your right leg will start to straighten and bend into the opposite leg your left leg so straighten it doesn't have to go all the way and re-bend pressing into the heel as you straighten and bend just one more here letting that go swaying yourself through center over to the other side holding the outside of the left leg or maybe fingertips to the earth as the right leg now begins to straighten and bend just two more wherever you are and then taking yourself back through center lowering back down through that little toe squat we had earlier and then eventually just finding a comfortable seat [Applause] once you're seated we can bring the soles of the feet together the knees out wide for butterfly pose make it kind of a wide butterfly says scooting your hips back right hand rest down beside you left hand to the inner left knee as you press up into that hand really fight against yourself here strengthening through the inner leg i'll simply try the other side maybe one side is stronger right hand pressing that inner right knee down as the knee lifts up against it let's hold for four three two and one and then bring the knees together bring the feet flat knees pointed upwards hands to the outside of your legs as again you try to open the knees out into your hands really press press press and release wonderful come to a cross-legged seat just give yourself a little bit of squeeze and release just around that whole knee area to thank yourself for your hard work i do hope this practice has helped you feel better beautifully done today and thank you so much for joining me i also invite you to join my three-day series for the lower body which you can find by clicking right here or the first link in the description box below and it's just a nice way to continue the stretching and strengthening work of your entire lower body i hope to see you there and wish you a beautiful day