1. Foam Rolling - If you’re anything like me, you read the first to-do and thought, UGH, she wants me to roll all over the damn place. Can’t we just skip to the “real yoga”
2. Reclined Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose Supta Padangusthasana - This pose is not only beneficial for knee pain, but also for the general health of stretching our hamstrings and awakening our hip flexors.
3. Bridge Pose Setu Bandhasana - This pose is a great way to both strengthen and soothe knee pain, but for this sequence, we will focus on the strengthening aspect.
4. Banana Pose Bananasana - This yoga pose might seem odd for a knee pain sequence, but as we open the hip, it allows tension from the pelvis to release, the hip flexor to gently stretch, and the breath to reach new depths.
5. Mountain Pose and Chair Pose Tadasana Utkatasana - The next two postures should be familiar to your yoga practice, but we will bring a new awareness to them in regards to knee pain.
6. Warrior I and Warrior II Virabhadrasana 1 and 2 - The two following postures – the Warrior poses – can build a great deal of strength and alignment when it comes to our knee pain.
7. King Arthur’s Pose - Congratulations You made it to the floor poses which means we’re in the home stretch of our yoga for knee pain sequence. King Arthur’s Pose offers an incredible stretch to the quadriceps our knee extensors.
8. Half Lord of the Fishes Pose Ardha Matsyendrasana - This stretch is my go-to when my sciatica starts to scream at me. I drop down, get my twist on, and quickly relax that uncomfortable sensation.
9. Hero Pose Virasana - We will seal our knee pain yoga practice with Virasana Hero Pose. This is a pose that’s a true challenge for this chronic knee pain yogi, but one that I thoroughly enjoy when I have a block nearby.