Padmasana: 3 Secrets To A Pain-Free Lotus Pose 

yes its a good idea to make them a part of your daily routine. just watch 10 mins of TV for example in one of the poses. then later in the day maybe read a book for 10 minutes in one of the others :) frequency is key!

My pleasure 😊

Haha that's the first compliment I ever had about my voice Oliver! Thank you and glad it is helping. Definitely don't sit for longer if the pain starts, but as you continue to do hip opening postures in yoga you will be able to sit a little longer each time without pain

Madalena Vasconcelos my pleasure, I’m glad you found it useful 🙏🏽

Guess she didn't read it 😢 doesn't seem like she reads hardly any tho

Okay, ankle pain is often just a symptom of tight hip muscles! The hips are tight and cause the ankle to be pushed downwards against the bottom leg. Regular yoga practice that includes hip opening postures, and gently trying padmasana at the end of each practice will help a lot

I have anterior pelvic tilt and I'm practicing the excercises in your videos to correct it. I guess that would be reason for right hip. Thanks for the advice. The explanation in your videos are simple, elegant and interesting. Keep up your amazing work. 😊🙏🏼

Oh! Just found your lotus workshop video. Perfect!

Sitting for 10 hours a day is quite a long time without moving my friend! Do you make sure to take regular breaks to move your body? If you have suddenly begun to have joint pain, it could be a sign that your muscles are weakening and not strong enough to support your joints. I would recommend finding a physiotherapist to help you strengthen your leg and hip muscles

@@ashtangayogagirl4359 Dear sister, I am still 16+ years old Sri Lankan Buddhist monk in Pa auk meditation centre Myanmar. We only take breakfast and lunch for a day. We meditate for attain enlightenment. Then people offering foods, cloths and etc what we need. I like to getbsome instructions from you. If you can contact me gmail or whatsapp. It's better. panadureananda@gmail.com +94724448555 I try to meditate in padmasana. Thank you so much for quick replying.

Hi Cydney, if I were you I would just take it easy and don't try getting into the full pose yet. At the end of each practice, you could test half lotus on each leg but stop BEFORE the pain. So if you go too far, the next day try a little less until you are practising at a point without pain. Does that make sense? Then gradually each week you could try moving a little further

@@ashtangayogagirl4359 yes, it does make sense ! Thank you, I actually have been babying it for last 2 weeks and just yesterday was able to go to full lotus again, thank you so much for your help.

I am able to do full lotus padmasama pain free in several poses (finishing sequence for example) … but the ankle pain happens in Marychasana or in standing ardha badha padmotanasana.

@@TheYogaMaster thank you very much, I have an Impigment in that stiff hip, but I keep practicing.

Hi Fabian, yes it's so individual. The answer is it depends how frequently you practise and what you do outside of your practice as well. If you practise once a week and sit still at a desk for the rest of the day, for sure it will take longer than if you're practising 6 days a week and have an active daily routine. I'd say at least months, but most likely 1 year + if you are beginning from scratch

@@ashtangayogagirl4359 thanks 😀

Keep working on other hip openers in your yoga practice and just gently testing the lotus each day and it will come!

Yes, you are right. I definitely recommend a regular asana practice, something like the Ashtanga Primary Series is a great practice to learn as the postures all work on the hip muscles in different ways and when you practise Lotus Pose within a practice like this, it is much more accessible. I wouldn't recommend just doing a few postures every now and then and hoping to sit in Lotus Pose for meditation, the joints and muscles need to be moved and strengthened regularly!

@@ashtangayogagirl4359 Loving your lotus pose workshop! Shared it to my friend. I even managed to overstretch by doing the pigeon without hand support or was it the butterfly with too much resistance? Heh, anyway those exercises work the muscles a lot! Thank you! I was looking at your instagram and found the Nauli instructions helpful and I am happy you have a workshop on Nauli too! Well, good luck to you - you definitely look like a fresh face having the mental clarity to teach.

Hi Drew, usually in that Padmasana at the end, we do 10 breaths so you can breathe as slooowwwwly as possible which I guess you could say is a form of meditation. Many practitioners will do their pranayama practice at this point of the sequence if they have one. Personally I just do 10 very slow breaths, focusing on lengthening the spine and I do pranayama / meditation later after Savasana :)

Hi Emilio, yes you need to have the flexibility first otherwise you can't follow the technique. Keep going and have faith!

Ashtanga Yoga Girl so how can I start first I need your help teacher

Hi Zulkifli, some people actually do the left side first, some people switch each time they practise. There are a few different opinions on this, so just do what works best for you. In Ashtanga Yoga we're taught that traditionally you do the right side first though

Thank you. I am made to understand that right leg first is recommended in the ancient scriptures & it would bring about benefits to the internal organs whist left leg first wouldn’t. Your point is well taken though. Thank you

Hi Thank you very much. I tried for about one month to do right leg first making use of all the safety tips but I still feel awkward & uncomfortable. You are definitely right. Do what works best for us. I have switched back to my left leg first full lotus which I started in 2003 & it feels very comfortable & incorporating your safety tips has made it enjoyable. Thank you, 🙏

A little bit of an ankle stretch is fine! As long as it's not painful and unbearable, the ankle stretch will probably start to disappear after a few weeks of practising Supta Virasana (the reclining hero pose).Cushion under the ankle is a very good modification - you might find you don't need the cushion after a few weeks once the ankle is a little more mobile. The area where the thighs join the pelvis is also good (again as long as it's just a stretching feeling and not sharp or burning). This area is where you have a lot of hip flexor muscles which are often a limiting factor at first when you come into Lotus Pose, so it's great to lengthen those muscles. I also feel a gentle stretch near my knees. As long as it's not causing you any pain, it's probably just the muscles around the knee joint stretching. See if you can shift the stretch further up the legs and away from the knees...you will need to experiment with this! Sometimes tucking your tailbone under slightly and engaging your lower belly will help to move the stretch upwards. Make small adjustments to the position and you'll discover where the stretch feels best :) Hope this helps!

Ashtanga Yoga Girl I'm grateful for those precious words and effort undertaken. I remember when I was between 10-15 years old I was able to do lotus pose for long hours, the legs would go sometimes numb and the slight stretching burning which starts after sometime of sitting in lotus pose( says 15-20mins) would also subsidize due to numbness and then it allowed for even long hours to sit and meditate. I was flexible. But I left it completely when I shifted from town to city. Left sitting on ground for food which we used to do earlier at home and it kept us flexible. I'm 28 now, years of weight lifting with no stretching has made me so tight , urban lifestyle is also a contributory. ( sitting on chair for long hours ) Thank you so much.

Normal yoga classes. Lotus pose is advanced, needs a lot of flexibility

Hi Ash I'm sorry I missed your comment! Ankle pain is often a sign that the hip muscles are not open enough yet to do Lotus Post, so the tension in the hips causes a force on the ankle. I will create a video on this for you and some ways you can prepare to reduce the pressure on the ankles

Hmmm Sophie do you have pain in your ankles during other activities in daily life? Or only during Lotus Pose?

@@ashtangayogagirl4359 only with lotus!

It's a different pose - Virasana or Hero Pose is the name of the one I am recommending :)

Hi Teddy, my left knee being off the floor just means my left hip is still holding on to some tension, so it won't go all the way to the ground. As I continue to practise Padmasana and other postures, it will loosen up and relax down to the floor. A posture doesn't need to be perfect to be true! ☺

Well I recently actually started to change and do both left leg and right leg! I have heard various reasons why right leg should be first - eg the shape of the pelvis and also the positions of the organs inside the abdomen! But I'm not sure any of these things are scientific so I am experimenting for myself :) which side do you do first?

Oh and I just noticed that Titouan has responded with a great article from Gregor Maehle on the topic!

@@titouanlecomte2697 Thanks for this Titouan - I forgot that Gregor had an article on this!