This is actually one of two videos that I have made on the subject and have cross posted more than once to Instagram. Please share my videos with your yoga community as much as you wish!!! Here's the other one (short and sweet) th-cam.com/video/9jCVtfZYrA8/w-d-xo.html
Eureka! This makes so much sense. My YTT teacher taught me that in warrior II, front thigh energetically spirals open while back thigh spirals down, which is more compatible with unsquare hips. Warrior I is also much more comfortable when you honor your natural skeletal frame.
Thanks Ariel- I’ve been saying this for years. Great demo with the stick. I hope more teachers will understand this and teach from biomechanics principles .
Finally ! Thank you! I have a chronic groin /hip injury that is so painful and i can’t rid of ever since i was trying to square my hips in these poses !
Oh dear! Please see a physio if you at all can (telehealth also works!). Yes, this message needs to be spread WIDELY in the yoga world. Share it with your yoga friends and yoga teachers. I know many teachers don't mean it "literally", but it still comes across literally to students, whether that is intended or not.
I googled "why can't I face forward in warrior 1" and came across this video. I've been practicing for about 3 years and warrior 1 has continued to be a frustrating pose for me. I also happy to have found this video and feel much better about my warrior 1 pose now. Thank you!
You are amazing, Dr. Ariel. It was inspiring to find your content on Women's Day. You are an empowered, intelligent and compassionate woman and I'm grateful for your content.
We really briefly touched on this in my 200 hour but I still needed more clarity with some anatomy breakdown! This is fantastic yes! I find pelvis cues slip out of my mouth automatically sometimes just from taking that language in so many times. So time to really work on my language and understanding 🙏
In classical Japanese martial arts, there is a posture known as ichimonji no kamae where you do flatten (square the hips). Unfortunately, a lot of folks who use this posture do it incorrectly. Admittedly, the front knee bends over the toes and there is action in the pelvis that accommodates the angles. Nobody can get it perfect, of course. As you note there are limitations of the pelvis. The squaring is because of the location of the knees out over the toes. This serves to load the front leg in a particular way to balance the weight of armor. It has a rear configuration as well, allowed by the configuration of the pelvis.The differences are interesting, as yoga was, in part, created from warrior traditions. I have always been interested in this relationship and how things may have changed in yoga as it moved away from warrior practices. The reason for so much profiling is the use of long weapons and not exposing weak points. that's why I was intrigued with your use of the stick. There is a lot to fully understand this martial posture, just like the complexities of yoga. Thanks for the presentation.
Applying geometric cues to our organic bodies that have no 90 degree angles in them starts to get problematic really fast. It's perhaps less problematic in the position you are describing because the thigh bone is not in 90 degrees of horizontal abduction -- and less to do with knees being past toes.
This is purely my experience, the pushing of the knees past the toes opens up degrees of freedom for the front hip or achieve outward rotation. However, the way the rear leg lines up relies on the tracking of the foot that is very different from modern athletics and internal pronation for use of the toes as a push off. This creates a train like affect, whereby as you push forward with the knee, the rear hip is pulled (or pushed) into line of the front hip. Of course, it isn't a perfectly flat situation, but is much more flat than a lot of other postures in various disciplines. Thanks for your feedback. It has given me a lot to think about.
Thank you for this! I found this video after an evening where I asked my yoga teacher about this very problem, but she must be in the 1% that can legit pull it off. I thought my hips were just irregular. Thank you for validating that they're normal.
When a yoga teacher says "square the hips forward" it has the students start to face the hips over the front leg (in Warrior I) even if not exactly or close to 'squared' it does give them the direction to go. So for yoga teachers to speak clear on this they can say perhaps "face the hips towards the front leg, as much as comfortable, with no strain". But not 'square' the hips. Or if they say 'try to square the hips", even if not possible, it tells the students which direction to face (maybe not ideal directions but that is better than saying 'square the hips".) And yes, most students will not put the bent leg 90 degree angle in Warrior II but heading towards that if explained from the teacher correct, can guide them to towards a deeper bend (if they were not going as far as they can to develop strength, of course without poor alignment or joint strain). Correct me if I am incorrect on any of that. Namaste Stacie
Awesome video and information Dr. Foster- Thank you! I tend to experience a pinching or hitting a wall feeling deep in my hip socket with the front leading leg in Warrior 2. It's only in the right hip when I focus on abduction+ external rotation to get my knee over the ankle. Is this normal or have you heard of others experiencing this? I also feel the pinching feeling in the right hip when I'm doing the frog stretch and rocking my hips forward... I appreciate your Insight. Perhaps it's just the shape of my socket as you mentioned earlier in this video.
It’s probably the shape of your hip sockets, though if you’ve spent a lot of time doing those activities you may have also contributed to some bony impingement / FAI, which can be lateral as you describe. See a physical therapist if it causes you pain or is not symmetrical side to side.
Hello, this is a very helpful and informative video. I have been doing yoga for many years. I have extreme femoral retroversion, especially in my right side and I have a good understanding of my limitations in various yoga poses that involve deep internal rotation of the hips (femoral retroversion is a rotational deformity that loves external rotation but cannot rotate internally). I particularly have a problem with the back leg in all warrior poses. Any suggestions would be highly appreciated. Namaste 🙏🏼
Hi Maurizio, I'm so very glad this is helpful for you. I am not able to give individualized advice here, but if you wish to book a one on one session, please see happyandwell.janeapp.com -- best wishes with your hip health!
I've been teaching to have the hips facing parallel to the long side of the mat. That would lead in a warrior I to keep the hips facing forward and twisting the upper torso from the waist facing the short side of the mat. Did I understand correctly that "squaring the hips" would refer to bringing the hips facing forward/ parallel to the short side of the mat?
@@Ariele.Foster okay thanks for your reply! I'll pay more attention to it but I haven't felt any discomfort myself after practising it like this for ten years.
Do you mean "front to back" or side to side? I was taught to bend my front knee to a 90 degree angle. Frankly I don't get close to that. But that will force your feet wide apart from front to back.
Please spread the word! Majority of TH-cam videos on warrior 2 (I just watched 4 before this) all I sift on squaring the hips!
This is actually one of two videos that I have made on the subject and have cross posted more than once to Instagram. Please share my videos with your yoga community as much as you wish!!! Here's the other one (short and sweet) th-cam.com/video/9jCVtfZYrA8/w-d-xo.html
Eureka! This makes so much sense. My YTT teacher taught me that in warrior II, front thigh energetically spirals open while back thigh spirals down, which is more compatible with unsquare hips. Warrior I is also much more comfortable when you honor your natural skeletal frame.
I'm glad this resonates.
I love folks like you who are debunking the myths.Thank you. :) Will check out your website.
thank you so much for being here and appreciating!
Thanks Ariel- I’ve been saying this for years. Great demo with the stick. I hope more teachers will understand this and teach from biomechanics principles .
I'm glad this was a good visual. Pass it on to any of your teacher communities! It's so vital we all know this.
Finally ! Thank you! I have a chronic groin /hip injury that is so painful and i can’t rid of ever since i was trying to square my hips in these poses !
Oh dear! Please see a physio if you at all can (telehealth also works!). Yes, this message needs to be spread WIDELY in the yoga world. Share it with your yoga friends and yoga teachers. I know many teachers don't mean it "literally", but it still comes across literally to students, whether that is intended or not.
I googled "why can't I face forward in warrior 1" and came across this video. I've been practicing for about 3 years and warrior 1 has continued to be a frustrating pose for me. I also happy to have found this video and feel much better about my warrior 1 pose now. Thank you!
yes! anatomy answers so much of the confusion :)
You are amazing, Dr. Ariel. It was inspiring to find your content on Women's Day. You are an empowered, intelligent and compassionate woman and I'm grateful for your content.
Thanks for being here, and for these kind words.
Love this demonstration!
Thanks, Nana.
We really briefly touched on this in my 200 hour but I still needed more clarity with some anatomy breakdown! This is fantastic yes! I find pelvis cues slip out of my mouth automatically sometimes just from taking that language in so many times. So time to really work on my language and understanding 🙏
Great! Check out the blog post, as well. It wasn't live earlier (for some reason) but now it is.
In classical Japanese martial arts, there is a posture known as ichimonji no kamae where you do flatten (square the hips). Unfortunately, a lot of folks who use this posture do it incorrectly. Admittedly, the front knee bends over the toes and there is action in the pelvis that accommodates the angles. Nobody can get it perfect, of course. As you note there are limitations of the pelvis. The squaring is because of the location of the knees out over the toes. This serves to load the front leg in a particular way to balance the weight of armor. It has a rear configuration as well, allowed by the configuration of the pelvis.The differences are interesting, as yoga was, in part, created from warrior traditions. I have always been interested in this relationship and how things may have changed in yoga as it moved away from warrior practices. The reason for so much profiling is the use of long weapons and not exposing weak points. that's why I was intrigued with your use of the stick. There is a lot to fully understand this martial posture, just like the complexities of yoga. Thanks for the presentation.
Applying geometric cues to our organic bodies that have no 90 degree angles in them starts to get problematic really fast.
It's perhaps less problematic in the position you are describing because the thigh bone is not in 90 degrees of horizontal abduction -- and less to do with knees being past toes.
This is purely my experience, the pushing of the knees past the toes opens up degrees of freedom for the front hip or achieve outward rotation. However, the way the rear leg lines up relies on the tracking of the foot that is very different from modern athletics and internal pronation for use of the toes as a push off.
This creates a train like affect, whereby as you push forward with the knee, the rear hip is pulled (or pushed) into line of the front hip.
Of course, it isn't a perfectly flat situation, but is much more flat than a lot of other postures in various disciplines.
Thanks for your feedback. It has given me a lot to think about.
Thank you for this! I found this video after an evening where I asked my yoga teacher about this very problem, but she must be in the 1% that can legit pull it off. I thought my hips were just irregular. Thank you for validating that they're normal.
your hips are normal! Your teacher may have extremely shallow hip sockets, which is known as dysplasia, or may not actually be "squaring" her hips.
When a yoga teacher says "square the hips forward" it has the students start to face the hips over the front leg (in Warrior I) even if not exactly or close to 'squared' it does give them the direction to go. So for yoga teachers to speak clear on this they can say perhaps "face the hips towards the front leg, as much as comfortable, with no strain". But not 'square' the hips. Or if they say 'try to square the hips", even if not possible, it tells the students which direction to face (maybe not ideal directions but that is better than saying 'square the hips".) And yes, most students will not put the bent leg 90 degree angle in Warrior II but heading towards that if explained from the teacher correct, can guide them to towards a deeper bend (if they were not going as far as they can to develop strength, of course without poor alignment or joint strain). Correct me if I am incorrect on any of that. Namaste Stacie
I would avoid the use of the word "square" completely. Saying "move in the direction of 90 degree bend in your front knee" is fine, though.
So informative, many thanks…regarding Warrior II, do you cue the front heel intersecting the middle of the arch of the back foot?
Thanks for watching. No I do not give that cue. It’s arbitrary and made up.
Nice information 👍
I have same problem doing yoga 😊
just to be clear, not being able to square the hips is not actually a problem :)
Awesome video and information Dr. Foster- Thank you! I tend to experience a pinching or hitting a wall feeling deep in my hip socket with the front leading leg in Warrior 2. It's only in the right hip when I focus on abduction+ external rotation to get my knee over the ankle. Is this normal or have you heard of others experiencing this? I also feel the pinching feeling in the right hip when I'm doing the frog stretch and rocking my hips forward... I appreciate your Insight. Perhaps it's just the shape of my socket as you mentioned earlier in this video.
It’s probably the shape of your hip sockets, though if you’ve spent a lot of time doing those activities you may have also contributed to some bony impingement / FAI, which can be lateral as you describe. See a physical therapist if it causes you pain or is not symmetrical side to side.
Hello, this is a very helpful and informative video. I have been doing yoga for many years. I have extreme femoral retroversion, especially in my right side and I have a good understanding of my limitations in various yoga poses that involve deep internal rotation of the hips (femoral retroversion is a rotational deformity that loves external rotation but cannot rotate internally). I particularly have a problem with the back leg in all warrior poses. Any suggestions would be highly appreciated. Namaste 🙏🏼
Hi Maurizio, I'm so very glad this is helpful for you. I am not able to give individualized advice here, but if you wish to book a one on one session, please see happyandwell.janeapp.com -- best wishes with your hip health!
I've been teaching to have the hips facing parallel to the long side of the mat. That would lead in a warrior I to keep the hips facing forward and twisting the upper torso from the waist facing the short side of the mat. Did I understand correctly that "squaring the hips" would refer to bringing the hips facing forward/ parallel to the short side of the mat?
I believe so? Hips parallel and Hips squared seems like the same thing to me.
@@Ariele.Foster okay thanks for your reply! I'll pay more attention to it but I haven't felt any discomfort myself after practising it like this for ten years.
I'm noticing your foot stance is wider than I've been cued to do by most in warrior one/two. Can you elaborate on that?
Do you mean "front to back" or side to side? I was taught to bend my front knee to a 90 degree angle. Frankly I don't get close to that. But that will force your feet wide apart from front to back.