Wide Knee Childs Pose with Twist

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Lotusyoga
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:29 pm

Wide Knee Childs Pose with Twist

Post by Lotusyoga »

Hi

I have a lot of students, men in particular, who struggle with wide knee childs pose twist. This is mostly to do with tight ankles and quads. Do you have any recommendations on how this posture could be improved upon?

Childs pose on its own is easily adapted but I would love to hear your suggestions for improving the experience of the twisted wide knee variation.

Thank you
Stretch, Breathe and Simply Be
Bernie
Posts: 1293
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:25 am
Location: Vancouver

Wide knee child's pose with a twist

Post by Bernie »

Could you describe where the twist comes in for this pose? I can't visualize what you are referring to. One possibility is to have your students rest their chests on a bolster, and maybe that gives them more space to move. But without visualizing what you are after, I can't really give you much help.

Cheers
Bernie
Lotusyoga
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:29 pm

Wide Knee Childs Pose with Twist

Post by Lotusyoga »

Hi Bernie, this pose is taken from Sarah Powers training.

Wide Legged Child Pose: You begin in Childs Pose, and spread your knees as wide as they are willing to go, keeping your hips back near your feet. You then bring the upper body down to the earth and twist to the left and take your right shoulder toward your left knee and rest it on the floor with your arm outstretched. Your left hand can then reach around and rest on your lower back or if you are more open you can take hold of the top of your inner right thigh. Your head then rests on the floor.
Stretch, Breathe and Simply Be
Bernie
Posts: 1293
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:25 am
Location: Vancouver

Trouble with Twists

Post by Bernie »

I see - I am not sure why your students would have more trouble with their ankles in this pose than without adding the twist, but would not the same modifications you offer for the basic Child's Pose problems work? Padding under the top of the foot, perhaps?

I can understand why twisting in this pose would be challenging for many students. Twists are made by increasing the angle between the plane of the shoulders and the plane of the hips: when doing reclining twists, the shoulders are more passive and the hips are moved. In seated twists it is the other way around: the hips are pinned and the shoulders move. Because the hips are pinned in the seated twist, the sense of the twist may seem shallower than in the reclining twists, because in the reclining twists neither the shoulders nor the hips are pinned down: both can move, giving the illusion of a deeper twist. When the hips are pinned, however, the twist may not seem as deep.

The same effect happens in a twisted Child's Pose: the hips are again pinned so all the movement has to come from the spine and shoulders. Tighter students, especially men, will naturally feel a greater challenge here. They won't be able to wiggle their hips enough to get their shoulders underneath them. In a seated twist, you may often find students "cheating" a bit - they move their hips around to make it seem like they are twisting deeper to the back of the room. In the twisting Child's Pose, even this option is not available.

Options? Have clear what your intentions are in putting them in this pose. If it is simply to give them a twist through the upper spine, have them do a seated twist instead. If it is do a flexion of the spine, just let them linger in regular Child's Pose. If it is do both flexion and twisting, realize that for some people they won't be able to get both benefits in this one pose: you will have to choose what your most important intention is. Another option: don't have them fold into flexion so deeply: let them rest their chest on a bolster and maybe this will allow them to get some twist in. However, be aware that some men won't like using a bolster. It doesn't feel manly enough for them. But, that is a whole other issue.

Cheers
Bernie
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