Hi, with a lot of interest I have read your article about knee opening (http://www.yinyoga.com/forums/posting.p ... topic&f=11) and the postings in these knee topics. I have almost finished my 4 years hatha yoga teacher training and since I am overweight myself, that's to be my specialism: teaching yoga to people with bigger bodies.
I have some questions about what these knee openers actually do and when (or when not) to apply.
I had a discussion with one of my teachers in teachertraining: she said that virasana is healthy to the knees - always. But when I take the pose, I feel that there is too much pressure on my knees because of the additional flesh around my thighs on the one hand, and because of the extra pressure that my weight provides when I sit in this pose.
what are your ideas about this? I could practice with sitting on my knees, and gently raise the pressure by coming up, this way putting more pressure. Till now I avoided that. But could it be benificial for my knees to try to make more space this way - with or without a wooden rod as you suggest in the article?
And I am wondering what the wooden rod behind the knee actually does for the knees in your practice. What does it open precisely? Would that also be a healthy thing to do in my case, with extra flesh and exra weight?
Whenever I do a squatting pose, I put a rolled blanket behind my knees, because it provides some support to put the pressure off. It makes it possible to squat without pain in my knees. But the wooden rod gives extra pressure, I suppose.
(Some more information: I have meniscus issues since <10 years - doctor advised to do nothing about it.... which I accepted then, and which I become to doubt more and more last months...)
tnx in advance, Kind regards
Colette (Volop Yoga - the Netherlands)