Phase 3 · Functional Capacity

Part of the 12 Week Yoga Program for Knee Mobility, Strength and Function

Standing Yoga for a Knee You Can Use

Forty minutes of balance, transitions and load for the last four weeks

The last block is about putting it together. A knee does not fail in a pose, it fails on a kerb, on a wet step, or halfway through the second hour of a walk. So this practice stands on one leg, moves between shapes without resetting, gets down to the floor and back up, and keeps the strength work that made the difference. Balance is not decoration here. Standing on one leg is half of walking, and confidence in it drops long before strength does.

40 min · Level 2

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When it helps

You are in the last four weeks, the standing poses feel normal, and you would like the practice to look more like real movement than like a set of holds. Forty minutes. A wall within reach for the balance poses, a block for the squat.

Physical effect

Single leg load, balance, rotation of the hip, and the full range of the squat. Combined rather than practised one at a time.

Function

This is the physical performance end of what the trials measured: walking speed, getting up, mobility. Those improved more consistently than pain did, and they are the honest goal.

Mental effect

A practice you can run without instructions is what self-management looks like in the body, and it is what decides whether the next twelve weeks hold.

Standing from the first minute

No warm up on the floor. By now the way in is on your feet.

Tadasana

1 min

Mountain Pose

Feet hip width, fifteen slow breaths, weight even across both feet.

Mountain Pose is where you check whether the habit of standing on the good leg has actually gone.

Learn more about Tadasana

Ardha Uttanasana

45 sec

Half Standing Forward Bend

Hands to the shins, back long, chest reaching forward.

The hinge first, because everything below borrows from it.

Learn more about Ardha Uttanasana

Adhomukha Shvanasana

1 min

Downward-Facing Dog

Press the floor away, knees bent as needed, and walk the heels one at a time.

Downward Dog with alternating heels moves both knees through their range with the arms sharing the weight. It is a warm up disguised as a pose.

Learn more about Adhomukha Shvanasana

Move between the shapes

Same feet throughout, changing everything above them. Real movement does not reset between positions.

Virabhadrasana II

45 sec per side

Warrior II

Step forward from Downward Dog, turn the back heel down and open the arms in one movement.

Arriving in Warrior II from Downward Dog is already a transition, and stepping the foot all the way forward in one movement is the part that counts.

Learn more about Virabhadrasana II

Trikonasana

45 sec per side

Triangle Pose

Straighten the front leg without locking it, hand to the shin or a block.

Triangle changes the knee from bent and loaded to straight and loaded without moving the feet. That switch is the useful part.

Learn more about Trikonasana

Stand on one leg

Three balance poses. Standing on one leg is half of walking, and it is the half people stop practising.

Vrkasana

1 min per side

Tree Pose

Foot to the ankle or the calf, never against the side of the knee. A wall within reach is fine.

Tree Pose asks the standing leg to hold you while the hip stabilises. It trains exactly what stops a knee from wobbling on an uneven step.

Learn more about Vrkasana

Garudasana

1 min per side

Eagle Pose

Arms wrapped, legs wrapped only if that is available and comfortable. Sit down a little into the standing leg.

Eagle is a balance on a bent knee, which is harder and more like real life than balancing on a straight one.

Learn more about Garudasana

Virabhadrasana 3

45 sec per side

Warrior III

Hands on a chair or a wall, back leg lifting, standing knee softly bent.

Warrior III with the hands supported is a single leg hinge. It is the pattern you use every time you pick something up off the floor without kneeling.

Learn more about Virabhadrasana 3

Load, still

The strength work from phase two stays. Dropping it would give back what it built.

Utkatasana

3 sets of 8 breaths

Chair Pose

Hips back, chest lifted, only as low as you can stand up from.

Chair remains the most useful pattern in this program and it stays to the end.

Learn more about Utkatasana

Malasana

1 min

Garland Pose

Heels supported if needed, and try coming out of it without using your hands.

Standing up out of a deep squat without hands is a functional test as much as a pose. If it is there, keep it.

Learn more about Malasana

Anjaneyasana

1 min per side

High Lunge

Back heel lifted, front knee over the ankle, chest tall.

The lunge is the hardest single leg position here and it comes late, when the legs are already tired. That is the honest test.

Learn more about Anjaneyasana

Virabhadrasana 1

45 sec per side

Warrior I

Back heel down, hips square, front knee over the ankle.

Warrior I asks the pelvis to stay level with the legs in different positions and under load. It is where hip and knee have to cooperate.

Learn more about Virabhadrasana 1

Down, and out

From here the practice only comes down.

Utthan Pristhasana

1 min per side

Lizard Pose

Both hands inside the front foot, back knee on a blanket, and stay high if that is where it is comfortable.

Lizard is the deepest hip position in the program. A hip that opens gives the knee back the rotation it has been supplying itself.

Learn more about Utthan Pristhasana

Shalabhasana

3 sets of 6 breaths

Locust Pose

Chest and legs lifting a small amount, controlled rather than high.

Locust keeps the back of the leg strong, which is the half that quietly weakens when a knee gets protected.

Learn more about Shalabhasana

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

3 sets of 8 breaths

Bridge Pose

Lift, hold, lower slowly, one vertebra at a time.

Bridge finishes on the hips. Everything the hips carry is load the knee does not have to.

Learn more about Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

Supta Hasta Padangusthasana

1 min 30 sec per side

Reclining Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose

Strap around the foot, raised leg as straight as it goes comfortably.

The hamstrings after they have worked for forty minutes. This is when they actually give.

Learn more about Supta Hasta Padangusthasana

Jathara Parivartanasana

1 min 30 sec per side

Reclining Belly Twist

Knees to one side, cushion under the top knee.

The twist lets the whole leg go, and it is the last thing the spine does.

Learn more about Jathara Parivartanasana

Apanasana

1 min

Knees to Chest Pose

Both knees in, hands behind the thighs.

Back to the middle of the range before you stop moving altogether.

Learn more about Apanasana

Savasana

6 min

Corpse Pose

Legs long, palms up, and stay longer than feels necessary.

Six minutes rather than five. After forty minutes of single leg work there is plenty to file.

Learn more about Savasana

Phase 3 · Weeks 9 to 12

This practice is part of a program

It belongs to Functional Capacity, the third phase of the 12 Week Yoga Program for Knee Mobility, Strength and Function. The program says how often to practise it, what comes before and after, and when to move on.

See the whole program →

Integration

Three times a week for the last four weeks. After week twelve do not simply stop. That is the single clearest lesson from the digital trial this program is modelled on: twelve weeks after it ended, the improvements were gone. The fifteen minute standing practice twice a week is what carries it, and the program treats that as part of the plan rather than as an afterthought.

The teacher behind this sequence

Manish Rana

Founder & Author

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