Why Bend Your Knees?

When you bend your knees in yoga, you take a big step towards a healthier, more therapeutic practice. Here's why: For students with limited mobility - • bending your knees decreases posterior chain tension and you can feel successful doing a forward bend rather than struggling in it. • bending your knees helps you to reduce excessive strain on the lumbar spine and redistribute the load through the hips and legs. It's an intelligent way to move! • bending your knees allows your nervous system to experience success and safety - essential for making progress with mobility. For hypermobile students • bending your knees reduces end-range strain on your hamstrings, sacrotuberous ligaments, and thoraco-lumbar fascia (strain of the fascia is highly correlated with low back pain). • bending your knees shifts the practice from passively loading your ligaments (aka "flopping") to helping to develop greater interoceptive and proprioception awareness - something hypermobile folks are often deficient in. • bending your knees supports stability! Definitely something hypermobile folks can benefit from