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Front knee stability in the warrior 2 family of poses

Olivia Marley

After a two week Christmas break that involved more sitting and lying down than the average fortnight (for me at least!), we’ve started the year by looking at standing poses - which means the warriors, triangle, high lunge etc. I include these postures in pretty much every flow and hatha class I ever teach, for every level of student, but it’s not because I think they’re easy or just filler postures. It’s because I think they’re SO GOOD. They’re great strengtheners; they’re also sneaky hip openers (but you often don’t feel the stretch like you would in a seated hip opener, at least partly because your legs are working so hard); they’re also great for improving balance and proprioception. And they’re ideal to start a new year’s curriculum with: from the students’ perspective they’ll get up and moving (whether that’s after a break from exercise over Christmas or simply after sitting at a desk all day). And from my perspective I know that in January, more than any other time of year, my classes will be really mixed levels with lots of people either brand new to yoga or coming back after a break. And these poses are ideal for mixed levels classes: unless they have an injury or limiting condition beginners can make the shapes of these postures. But they can continually be refined and will still make experienced practitioners work hard!

Our first particular focus within this group is the warrior 2 family (ie postures where your front leg is turning out, and your chest is turned to the side of your mat). It’s really common in these postures for a student’s front knee to collapse in towards the big toe side of their foot. So my key learning point for students this week has been to feel and learn engage the muscles in their outer hip that will stop their front knee turning in. Here are some of the postures we’ve used, in the order they’ve appeared in class, and with some of the cues I’ve been giving my students:

@yogawitholivia ankle to knee pose

Ankle to knee pose

@yogawitholivia low lunge with blocks

  • concentrate on trying to turn your top knee out (ie move it away from your face) and see if you can feel what switches on in the outside of that hip to turn your knee out

Low lunge

  • place a hand just on the outside of your front ankle. Use blocks if you prefer. Keep your arm steady, and gently press your front knee out against it. Notice what you feel

@yogawitholivia side angle pose with block

Side angle

  • put a block (or your hand if you prefer) just outside your front ankle. Press your front knee out against your arm and notice what you feel working in your front hip

@yogawitholivia warrior 2

Warrior 2

  • remember all the times you’ve felt your outer hip working to press your knee out, and try to bring that sensation into your front leg here. If you were using a block in side angle, leaving it there in warrior 2 will give you some sense of whether your leg is turning in or not

@yogawitholivia reverse warrior

Reverse warrior

  • when you move your upper body like this it commonly makes your front knee want to straighten and turn in a bit. Apply all you’ve learnt so far about engaging your outer hip to keep your front knee turning out (and keep trying to touch that block with your leg!)


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