How to Prepare for Padmasana (Lotus Pose) - I

In a previous post about Benefits of Sitting in Padmasana, we saw how Padmasana is beneficial for Yogis who want to practice meditation and pranayama. However most people are unable to sit in Padmasana. The leg muscles are too stiff for people who do not have habit of sitting on floor, and when they try to sit in this pose this is very painful for them. Most of the Indians sit on the floor for eating, although this habit is gradually changing as people are using the Dining table more and more for eating. But even for most of the Indians who can sit cross legged it is quite difficult to do Padmasana.

When we sit in Padmasana, various muscles are extended and for practicing Padmasana, it is very important to understand the joints which are affected. This will ensure that we practice the loosening exercises for these joints. When these joints are flexible it will become very easy to sit in Padmasana. If we try to sit in Padmasana without loosening the joints it will result in painful joints and chances of injury.

Joints involved in Padmasana

There are muscles in three major joints which are stretched during the practice of Padmasana. They are the ankle, knee and the groin. Let us see how these are affected.

Knee Joint

There are various muscles groups in the legs that are affected when we sit in Padmasana. Since they are rarely streched they remain stiff. One of the muscles which is stretched the most during Padmasana is "Vastus Lateralis". This muscle is situated on the outer side of the leg, starting from the outer knee and and goes till halfway on the upper bone of the leg. This is one of the four major muscles group in the leg which forms Quadricep. Function of the Vastus Lateralis muscle is to provide stability to the knee joint and prevent the joints from being dislocated.

Ankle Joint

Flexibility of ankle joint makes sure that the sole does not press too hard on the thigh muscle, otherwise it causes pain in the thigh and we have to come out of the pose very early.

Hip joint

Hip joint flexibility ensures that the knees can touch the ground when we are able to place the foot on top of the opposite thigh. Initially Knees do not touch the floor, but once we are able to have both of them touch the floor, it will ensure that the Padmasana is more comfortable. Also we will be able to bring the toes nearer to the groin area.

Out of these three joints the most important joint is the Knee joint, and most of the effort for loosening the joints should be on the knee joint.

We would have basic exercises for loosening the joints in future posts.


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