Phase 1 · Mobility and Load Tolerance

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

Gentle Yoga for Knee Pain

Thirty minutes on the floor, where the knee carries nothing

A sore knee gets used less. You sit down sooner, take the lift, skip the stairs on a bad day. Every one of those decisions is reasonable on its own, and together they are the problem. This practice is the opposite move, made as cheap as possible: everything happens lying down or sitting, so the joint can go through its range without carrying your weight while it does. That is the point of the first four weeks. Not to stretch the knee, but to remind it that bending and straightening are still available.

30 min · Level 1

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When it helps

Stairs have become unpleasant, standing up out of a chair feels stiff, and the knee needs a minute before it works properly after you have been sitting. Thirty minutes, entirely on the floor. A folded blanket under the seat makes the seated poses much easier, and a strap or a belt is genuinely useful for the reclining leg work.

Physical effect

Knee flexion and extension without body weight, plus the hamstrings and the inner thigh. Short hamstrings keep a knee slightly bent all day, and a knee that never fully straightens loses the position it needs for walking.

Function

This is the range of motion block. The research consistently shows improvements in stiffness and function before, and more reliably than, improvements in pain.

Mental effect

Moving a joint that has been hurting, and finding that nothing bad happens, is the first thing that has to be true before anything else in this program works.

Arrive with the legs long

Lying down, doing almost nothing. It is also the position in which you find out whether both knees actually reach the floor.

Savasana

2 min

Corpse Pose

On your back, legs long. Notice whether the backs of both knees touch the floor, and whether one is further away than the other.

A knee that has hurt for a while often stops fully straightening, and most people have no idea it is happening. This is thirty seconds of information you cannot get standing up.

Learn more about Savasana

Apanasana

1 min

Knees to Chest Pose

Draw one knee at a time towards the chest, hands behind the thigh rather than over the kneecap.

Knees to Chest is flexion with no load at all. Holding behind the thigh keeps the pressure off the joint itself, which matters more here than in any other program.

Learn more about Apanasana

Ananda Balasana

1 min

Happy Baby Pose

Knees wide towards the ribs, hands on the shins or the backs of the thighs.

Happy Baby takes the hip and the knee to the end of their range together, gently, while the floor supports everything. The hip is part of this problem and it gets treated as part of it.

Learn more about Ananda Balasana

Supta Hasta Padangusthasana

1 min 30 sec per side

Reclining Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose

One leg up with a strap around the foot, the other foot on the floor. Straighten the raised leg only as far as the knee stays comfortable.

Short hamstrings hold a knee in slight flexion all day and change how you walk. Doing this lying down means the joint is not loaded while it lengthens.

Learn more about Supta Hasta Padangusthasana

Sitting, still no weight

Four seated poses. The legs work here, but nothing carries you, which is exactly the dose this phase is looking for.

Dandasana

1 min 30 sec

Staff Pose

Sit up on a folded blanket, legs straight, and press the backs of the knees gently down while lifting the kneecaps.

Staff Pose is the quadriceps working with the knee straight and unloaded. It looks like sitting and it is the most direct knee exercise in this practice.

Learn more about Dandasana

Baddha Konasana

1 min 30 sec

Butterfly Pose

Soles together, knees falling out. Put cushions under both knees so they rest on something.

Bound Angle opens the inner thigh and the hip. Supporting the knees is not a beginner option here, it is how the pose is meant to be done with a joint that is sensitive.

Learn more about Baddha Konasana

Janu Shirsana

1 min 30 sec per side

Head-to-Knee Forward Bend

One leg straight, the other foot to the inner thigh with a cushion under that knee. Fold from the hip, not the back.

Head-to-Knee reaches the hamstring of the straight leg and the inner thigh of the bent one. The cushion keeps the bent knee out of the deepest part of its range.

Learn more about Janu Shirsana

Upavistha Konasana

1 min 30 sec

Wide-Angle Seated Forward Bend

Legs wide, sitting up on a blanket, hands behind you if that is where the back is comfortable.

A wide seated position works the inner thigh with both knees straight. It is one of the few places you can load the hip without asking the knee for anything.

Learn more about Upavistha Konasana

On all fours, then back down

Three minutes with weight on the knees, then the strongest pose of the practice, which is also the one that finally asks the leg to push.

Marjaryasana

1 min

Cat Pose

A folded blanket under the knees. Round the back towards the ceiling and let the head hang.

Cat is here for the spine, not the knee, but it also puts a small, controlled amount of weight through the joint. A blanket under the knees makes that tolerable.

Learn more about Marjaryasana

Bitilasana

1 min

Cow Pose

Belly drops, chest and tailbone lift, neck long.

Cow completes the movement. Together they are the only weight bearing minute in this practice, and they are on the knees rather than on the feet.

Learn more about Bitilasana

Balasana

1 min 30 sec

Child's Pose

Knees wide, forehead down. If the knees complain, put a cushion between the seat and the heels.

Child's Pose is deep knee flexion, and that is exactly why the cushion matters. The pose should feel like rest, and if it does not, it is too deep today.

Learn more about Balasana

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

5 lifts, 5 breaths each

Bridge Pose

On your back, feet hip width and close to the seat. Lift the hips only as far as it stays comfortable, then set them down slowly.

Bridge is the first real strengthening pose of the program. Strong glutes and hamstrings take load off the knee, and this is the version you can do before anything standing is available.

Learn more about Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

Jathara Parivartanasana

1 min 30 sec per side

Reclining Belly Twist

Knees stacked and dropped to one side, a cushion under the top knee.

A supported twist releases the whole leg after it has been working, and the cushion means the top knee is not hanging unsupported in rotation.

Learn more about Jathara Parivartanasana

Apanasana

1 min

Knees to Chest Pose

Both knees in, hands behind the thighs.

Knees to Chest returns the joint to the middle of its range before you stop.

Learn more about Apanasana

Savasana

5 min

Corpse Pose

Legs long, and notice again whether the backs of the knees are closer to the floor than they were at the start.

Ending where you started makes the change measurable. Over four weeks that gap is usually the first thing that moves.

Learn more about Savasana

Phase 1 · Weeks 1 to 4

This practice is part of a program

It belongs to Mobility and Load Tolerance, the first 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 through the first four weeks. Judge it by the first few steps in the morning and by how a flight of stairs feels, not by whether it hurt during. Some awareness of the joint afterwards is normal. Swelling that stays, pain that increases over several days, or a sense that the knee might give way are different, and those belong with a doctor.

The teacher behind this sequence

Manish Rana

Founder & Author

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