Yoga Asana Sequence to Heal Knee Pain

Ah, the knee! Such a complex & delicate thing ~ and such a range of accidents, injuries, abuses/misfortunes of all sorts, it is subjected to. Whether you're a basketball player or skier with a torn ACL or medial meniscus; a distance runner beginning to feel a bit of arthritic in your knees; someone who's contemplating arthroscopic surgery to diagnose an unidentified pain in your knees; or simply tolerating stiffness and swelling (which could indicate Chondromalacia Patellae, among other things); know that you are not alone! Millions suffer from knee pain of one kind or another: of some infringement of bone, cartilage, muscle or ligament, creating various forms of bursitis, arthritis, cysts, and tears, to name the most common of "knee pain" diagnoses. The GOOD NEWS is that your treatment options are many, and the prognosis for partial or full recovery very good. As you research these options, consider a therapeutic Yoga practice as an excellent adjunct (and a way, after you've recovered, of maintaining your knees in their new & healthy state). An intelligently applied sequence of Yoga asanas, performed under the guidance of a qualified instructor, can be a powerfully effective tool for rehabilitating injured knees: for building strength, flexibility & intelligence in this most delicate joint.

Yoga In Context

The term "Ashtanga Yoga" has in recent years become associated largely with the Ashtanga vinyasa form of Hatha Yoga, originated by Krishnamacharya, transmitted to K. Patabhi Jois, and offered now to Western students by well-known teachers such as Tim Miller, Richard Freeman and Eddie Stern. This latter system is characterized by the interlinking (vinyasa), via sun salutation movements, of particular sequences of asanas. The system is composed of seven distinct series, each defined by its own set of asanas, and designed to accomplish a specific goal (e.g. to purify apana, or to cleanse the nadis).