Low Lunge with a Book Under the Knee
Okay. We're still in hips, and if you're wondering how many more lessons on hips there are, the honest answer is a few more, because hips are where most of you are the stiffest and I'd rather spend the time here than rush you into something fancier.
This one is a low lunge. If you've seen pictures of yoga, you've seen this shape, one leg forward, one leg back, sinking down into the front hip. What nobody shows you in the picture is that your back knee is on the ground the whole time, and for most people that's the actual problem, not the stretch.
So we're putting a book under it.
Why the book
Your knee doesn't need to be on bare floor. It needs some cushion so you're not thinking about your kneecap instead of your hip. A yoga block does this. So does a folded towel. So does a hardback book, which is what I use, because I am not paying eight dollars for a foam block when I have a whole shelf of paperbacks doing nothing.
I actually tried to get around buying a block a different way — I 3D printed one. Printed three different versions, trying to get the size right, wasted a decent chunk of filament doing it. The last one looked perfect and then cracked the second I put weight on my knee on it. I drove straight to the store, muttering the whole way, and bought the eight-dollar foam one. So — sometimes the cheap fix is the printer humming for two nights and a cracked block, and sometimes it's just a book you already own. Use the book.
The steps
- Start kneeling on your mat or a towel on the floor.
- Step your right foot forward, so your right knee is bent and your right foot is flat on the floor out in front of you.
- Your left knee stays down behind you. Slide that book under it if the floor's hard on you — most people's is, especially at our elevation where floors seem extra unforgiving, I don't know why, they just do.
- Untuck your left toes so the top of your foot is resting down, laces-side flat.
- Now sink your hips forward and down, slow. You should feel a stretch along the front of your left hip and maybe down the front of that thigh.
- Hands can rest on your right knee for balance, or come up onto your fingertips on either side if you want a little more lean.
- Hold it. Keep breathing, don't hold your breath, I know that's not a fancy cue but it's the true one.
- After 20 to 30 seconds, come back up, switch legs, do the other side.
Go SLOW getting into this one. Your knee's on the ground, your balance is a little goofy, there's no reason to drop into it fast.
Where people go wrong
The most common thing I see is people sink way down before their hips are actually ready, and then their front knee creeps out past their front foot. Check that your front knee is stacked pretty much over your front ankle, not way out past your toes. If it's sliding forward, walk your front foot out a little farther from your body.
Second thing — people round their back trying to get "lower." Don't. Keep your spine long, chest lifted a little. This isn't about how low you get. It's about the stretch in the hip, and you can feel that plenty at a modest depth.
If your back knee is sharp, not just achy but sharp, more padding under it or come out of the pose. Ache in the front of the hip is exactly what we're going for. Sharp pain anywhere is your body telling you to back off, and that's information, not something to push through.
Your body, your rules here
Some of you have a bad knee and this whole shape isn't going to work no matter how many books you stack. That's fine. Do the seated figure-four from last lesson instead and skip this one. No pretense here — I'm not going to pretend every pose fits every body, because it doesn't, any more than everybody likes their fry sauce the same way.
And if 20 seconds feels like plenty and 30 feels like too much, do 20. This isn't a contest with the person next to you or with me.
Before next time
Try it once with a book, once with nothing under the knee at all, just to feel the difference — I think you'll be a convert to the book by the second try. 😊