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You’re perched on one foot in Warrior 3 (Virabhadrasana III) or Half Moon (Ardha Chandrasana) and your teacher cues you to “microbend your standing knee.” Ever obedient, you do. Your standing foot and ankle wobble like crazy, you almost lose your balance, and you instantly feel less stable. Does that mean “bend your knee” in yoga balance poses is an unhelpful cue? Not at all.
Why You Want to Bend Your Knees in Yoga Balance Poses
Standing yoga balance poses are challenging. By their nature, they force you to create your own internal support, which means faltering and perhaps even failing. That, in turn, demands physical and mental effort to help maintain your steadiness.
But your body and mind are geared toward efficiency. They will always take shortcuts to reduce effort. Standing with straight legs and locked knees is an example of a shortcut that, over time, becomes a habit. When your legs are straight and your muscles are relaxed, the ligaments at the back of your knee are forced to maintain your posture.
If you’re standing for a long time, such as in a line at the store or while you’re in the kitchen, locked knees do save energy—not only the physical effort of engaging your leg muscles but the mental energy you would expend to mindfully move out of your default position.
But on your mat, your habit of locked knees could stop you from improving your stability. When you’re teetering and it’s taking all your effort to remain upright on one foot, the stacked bones of a passively straight leg can provide the illusion of stability. However if your eyes or your attention wander, the slightest shift in your center of gravity can cause that illusion to crumble. Relaxed muscles can take too long to wake up in response to the need for action, and the next thing you know you’ve toppled out of the pose.
It Takes a Little Practice to Balance
A slightly bent standing knee might feel less stable, but it forces your leg and hip muscles to remain engaged to provide the structure you feel you lack. If, or rather when, your center of gravity is perturbed, you’ve already engaged the muscles you need to find a stable and central position again.
To be more ready for the inevitable trips, slips and wobbles you encounter in yoga (and in life), you need to teach your body and mind a new habit—to shift effort from your leg and hip joints to your leg and hip muscles.
Like any cue, the usefulness of taking a slight bend in your knee during balancing yoga poses depends, in part, on its intention. In this case, it’s not to help you FEEL more stable but to help you BECOME more stable.
