Prepare For Lotus

Prepare for Lotus

Standing Postures for Deep Hip Opening

flexibility

PREPARE FOR LOTUS

There are multiple ways to prepare for Lotus Pose. The 5 standing postures and the techniques that are highlighted today are from a portion of a sequence Matt shares in the first class of his current Lotus Immersion. Here, it’s not just about doing the postures themselves; it’s more about the execution and intention behind them. If your goal is to create a healthy range of motion in your hips, going through the motions simply won’t offer all that you need. In order to increase hip mobility, especially for a posture like Lotus, you must prepare your body. An integral part of the preparation is to strengthen the gluteal and abductor muscles. Utilizing techniques in standing postures like Forward Fold, Crescent Pose, Warrior 2, Extended Side Angle, and “Crisscross Pyramid” can be a wonderful first step in creating a solid foundation.

lotus pose online yoga classes

LOTUS

  • Anatomy-informed classes
  • Increase hip mobility and range of motion
  • Balance flexibility and strength
  • Skillful techniques for Lotus variations and many other hip openers
  • Moderate Vinyasa-style classes
  • Unlock your Lotus Pose
  • Learn the 4 Quadrants of the Hips
  • 8 Classes: All levels appropriate
  • Lifetime unlimited access to all
  • Attend the livestream OR practice the replays any time that’s convenient for you

$128.00 $108.00

FORWARD FOLD & CRESCENT POSE PREPARATION

External rotation and hip abduction are essential movements for Lotus Pose, as is a generous degree of hip flexibility. In order to prepare for Lotus, increasing flexibility requires strengthening first. You can start this process by strengthening your abductors in Forward Fold. In the video, Matt demonstrates a simple technique, in which you place your hands on your outer shins, that lights up your abductors.  

Strong glute muscles are also essential for Lotus because they assist in externally rotating your hip. For this reason, the next standing posture is Crescent Pose. Once again, a few simple actions help activate the glutes. Two of the main actions are the posterior tilt of the pelvis and the pressing down of the front heel. You’ll see in the video that beyond just “doing” the posture, taking the right actions brings your intentions for strength to life.

WATCH THE VIDEO

PREPARE FOR LOTUS: 5 STANDING POSTURES FOR DEEP HIP OPENING

WARRIOR 2 & EXTENDED SIDE ANGLE PREPARATION

What’s lovely about the techniques Matt offers for strengthening the glutes and abductors is that they are all self-adjustments. You have total control over the intensity, which is often conservative but still goes a long way to increase strength. Along with the self-adjustment in Warrior 2, Matt mentions paying special attention to the rotation of the back of the pelvis. Maintaining the proper direction of your pelvis is the difference between actually being able to activate your glutes and failing to achieve the desired result. You carry the same direction of the pelvis into Side Angle preparation. The techniques demonstrated here are great: Depending on the placement of your front arm, you can focus more on the glute activation or you can invite in more stretch for your adductors. Lengthening the adductors is also imperative in preparing for Lotus.

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“CRISSCROSS PYRAMID”

Whenever Matt instructs this kind of “cross action” in a given posture, it’s always so intriguing. He provides cues for certain actions that offer more than you anticipate. In “Crisscross Pyramid,” for example, you’ll experience a stretch sensation and therefore a lengthening in the outer hips. Because Matt always advises strengthening before lengthening, this posture is well placed in the sequence! Beyond the hips, if you want to truly prepare for Lotus, you must also consider the positioning of your feet and ankles. While Matt explores this in seated postures, he also begins to prepare you in this standing posture earlier in the practice. He advises you to press the big toe of your front foot into the mat while simultaneously lifting your middle toes. This action takes your ankle into eversion, which is the same as the articulation required in Lotus Pose.

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THERE’S MORE THAN ONE WAY

Even though Matt carefully offers the techniques within these standing postures and demonstrates how extremely effective they are in strengthening and lengthening the muscles that are required to be primed for Lotus Pose, he also reminds you to carve your own path. Ultimately, you will have your own tendencies, patterns, and challenges that you may need to rewire, so incorporating other ways that will help prepare for Lotus are very much welcomed. That’s the beauty of being able to explore multiple techniques, postures, and actions within one immersion focused on Lotus Pose. Matt’s Lotus Immersion is packed with a multitude of ways to approach hip opening from an anatomical perspective. These 5 standing postures open the door, but there is always more to uncover. Register for Lotus in order to broaden your toolkit for better hip mobility.

See you on the mat!

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Article by Trish Curling

Video Extracted From: Lotus Immersion

Yoga for Core and Breathwork

BREATH OF FIRE

  • Moderate Vinyasa-style classes
  • Core strengthening & integration
  • Master your breath with pranayama practices
  • Access your core in arm balances, heart openers, twists, forward folds, inversions, and more
  • Learn where and how to breathe in challenging postures
  • Each class will include one pranayama (breathwork practice) and several core strengtheners
  • Access your core muscles: deep, superficial, anterior, posterior, and lateral 
  • 12 Classes: All levels appropriate
  • Lifetime unlimited access to all
  • Attend the livestream OR practice the replays any time that’s convenient for you

$148.00

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Lotus Pose Variations

Lotus Pose Variations

Is There a Safer Option?

padmasana

LOTUS POSE VARIATIONS

One of my favorite episodes of Three’s Company is when John Ritter’s character (Jack) laughs at Joyce Dewitt ( Janet) and Suzanne Somers (Chrissy) when they are doing Lotus Pose during a yoga practice. He eggs them on about how easy it is, so they dare him to give it a try. Could he use the Lotus Pose variations that Matt offers? Most definitely! It wouldn’t be as hilarious though. In the episode, Jack struggles to get into the posture, pulling at the tip of his sock to set the top leg in place. It’s even worse when he tries to get out. Janet and Chrissy leave him begging for help. Definitely a good laugh and worth a search online. In our real life practice, however, we must be more intentional in how we explore Lotus in order to discover the safest options.

lotus pose online yoga classes

LOTUS

  • Anatomy-informed classes
  • Increase hip mobility and range of motion
  • Balance flexibility and strength
  • Skillful techniques for Lotus variations and many other hip openers
  • Moderate Vinyasa-style classes
  • Unlock your Lotus Pose
  • Learn the 4 Quadrants of the Hips
  • 8 Classes: All levels appropriate
  • Lifetime unlimited access to all
  • Attend the livestream OR practice the replays any time that’s convenient for you

$128.00 $108.00

IS LOTUS POSE FOR YOU?

First, how can you answer this question? The answer may be easy, or it may be quite layered. If you have room for exploration, Matt not only offers these Lotus pose variations to try but also reminds you to examine the sensations in your hips, knees, and ankles while practicing. Lotus pose is a deep hip opener, so there is a lot involved. Besides the hips, the state of your knees is one of the biggest considerations when it comes to deciding whether the posture is for you. And as much as you may associate the posture with extensive flexibility and mobility, it also requires stability. Generating stability in your knees, for example, is quite important and may be more accessible than you think.  The magic exists in the finer details, so paying attention to your knees and ankles may ultimately provide the answer you’re looking for.

WATCH THE VIDEO

LOTUS POSE VARIATIONS:  IS THERE A SAFER OPTION?

KNEES AND ANKLES

Now, your body can change at any time. A definitive answer for the safest option for Lotus Pose doesn’t really exist, but it’s through the exploration of these Lotus pose variations that you can always find the answer you need at any stage of your yoga practice.  

The angle of your knees is a great point of focus. The 2 variations Matt offers in today’s video are Lotus on Your Back and Lotus Seated Upright. In either variation, the angle of your knees is a factor in determining whether or not you will find the full posture. The more “closed” you are at the knee joint, the more stable your knees, which minimizes the chances of injury. Once you are in Lotus, a respectable amount of eversion of the ankles is imperative to reduce the pressure that may build from inversion—which is also required.

200 Hour Online Teacher Training Certification

200 HOUR ONLINE TEACHER TRAINING

GET CERTIFIED & DEEPEN YOUR YOGA PRACTICE

  • Deepen your yoga practice
  • Build confidence speaking in front of groups in person and online
  • Learn foundational class structures and templates
  • Learn techniques for a wide range of yoga postures
  • Get certified and highly qualified to teach yoga
  • Yoga Alliance Globally Recognized Certification Program

THE HIP JOINT

This deep hip opener requires great attention to detail and a tremendous amount of preparation. Part and parcel of this preparation are patience and focus. From an anatomical point of view, you may tend to focus on the external rotators of the hip. This is not wrong, because the shape of the posture requires that they perform efficiently to open the hip. What is also vital, however, is preparing in a way that honors the integrity of the hip as a whole. If you’ve practiced with Matt before, you’ll be familiar with what he calls “the 4 quadrants of the hips.” To delve into this concept, I highly recommend the Hips & Hamstrings immersion. Loosely defined, the 4 quadrants include the adductors, abductors, hamstrings, and hip flexors & quadriceps. Activating these muscle groups helps to exhaust the muscular system until they are ready to stretch, lengthen, and open.

300 hour teacher training online

300 HOUR ONLINE TEACHER TRAINING

GET 500 HOUR CERTIFIED AS A MASTER TEACHER

Master your skill set as a teacher through refined techniques, anatomy, biomechanics, sequencing, philosophy, meditation techniques, theming, yoga business, and much more!

  • Get 500 hour certified
  • Learn anatomy, biomechanics, asana techniques
  • Expand your teaching skills
  • Masterful sequencing and verbal delivery
  • Learn meditation and breathwork techniques
  • Transformative tools: theming, dharma talks, satsang
  • Business, branding, marketing, and social media skills

LOTUS ON YOUR BACK VS. LOTUS SEATED UPRIGHT

Matt offers Lotus on Your Back as the safer option when comparing it directly to Lotus Seated Upright. In the video, Matt talks about the risk of straining the knees in the upright variation. Sometimes the use of props may minimize this risk, but again, it’s about exploring what works for you. There may be less risk on your back. In the video, Matt’s entry to Lotus on his back shows that in this variation, you have more time and room to consider the sensations in your knees, particularly the second leg. The floor under your legs is out of the equation, so you can roll to the side, and you can play with how much you press the first knee away from your body to see if it is accessible for you to place the second leg on top. This doesn’t mean that the variation is easy, but it does offer more room to play.

NAVIGATING THIS DEEP HIP OPENER

Attention to your body is paramount in this sophisticated posture. In both Lotus Pose variations, the hips are flexing and abducting while in external rotation, the knees are in flexion, and the feet are in plantar flexion. Add to this the key action of some eversion of the ankles, and the pose can be quite complicated to navigate.

Jack’s pursuit of the posture in the Three’s Company episode is hysterical, but definitely not the model to follow. Forcing ourselves into postures can only lead to unwanted outcomes like injuries. In the full class, Matt reminds us about what yoga truly is by saying, “Postures are something we can utilize in order to pursue the practice of yoga: the practice of self-inquiry and self awareness.”

Register for Matt’s March 2023 Immersion Lotus to safely navigate this beautiful and elaborate posture.

See you on the mat!

The 200 Hr. Teacher Training: Click Here to See the Next Start Date

The 300 Hr. Advanced Teacher Training: Click Here to See the Next Start Date

Article by Trish Curling

Video Extracted From: Hips & Hamstrings Immersion

Yoga for Core and Breathwork

BREATH OF FIRE

  • Moderate Vinyasa-style classes
  • Core strengthening & integration
  • Master your breath with pranayama practices
  • Access your core in arm balances, heart openers, twists, forward folds, inversions, and more
  • Learn where and how to breathe in challenging postures
  • Each class will include one pranayama (breathwork practice) and several core strengtheners
  • Access your core muscles: deep, superficial, anterior, posterior, and lateral 
  • 12 Classes: All levels appropriate
  • Lifetime unlimited access to all
  • Attend the livestream OR practice the replays any time that’s convenient for you

$148.00

Continue Learning

Glutes & Hamstrings

Glutes & Hamstrings

Glutes & Hamstrings 8 Skills and Drills For ActivationstrengthGlutes & Hamstrings How many times has your yoga teacher said “feel your glutes” in a particular posture in a yoga class, but you’re not sure exactly what that means or what it’s actually supposed...

read more
Bound Ardha Chandrasana

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Bound Ardha Chandrasana Technique, Accessibility, and ExpressionBOUND HALF MOONBOUND ARDHA CHANDRASANA As Matt shares the 5 Powers of Consciousness from Tantrik yoga philosophy in his current immersion, The Power of Bliss, he reminds us that they are powers that exist...

read more
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read more
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3 Ways to Stretch and Strengthen Your Neck Home In on the Awareness of Your PostureNECK MOBILITYSTRETCH AND STRENGTHEN YOUR NECK A common postural tendency or pattern for so many is slouching, which includes forward head posture due to the amount of time spent at a...

read more
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Take Action in Flying Pigeon Asana and the 5 Powers of ConsciousnessEKA PADA GALAVASANATAKE ACTION IN FLYING PIGEON Interesting about seeking and incorporating a yoga practice is that the entry point is quite different for everyone. There are many reasons you may be...

read more
Inversion Drills

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Inversion Drills Conquer Fear Through TechniqueSIRSASANAINVERSION DRILLS Are you the type of person who avoids inversions altogether, or do you eagerly await the option in your yoga classes?  Matt infuses Chromatic yoga with the philosophies of ancient Tantric yoga to...

read more

THE FREE TECHNIQUE PACK

When You Subscribe, You Will Get Instant Access to

  • the Technique Pack: 15 yoga pose breakdowns
  • exclusive online course discounts
  • exclusive blogs and videos
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

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