Hamstrings exercise
Head-to-Knee Pose (Janu Sirsasana)How to do it, with form in numbers
- Main muscles
- Hamstrings
- Also works
- Lower back, Adductors
- Equipment
- Yoga mat
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
How do you do the Head-to-Knee Pose?
- Sit with your legs long, then bend your left knee and place your left sole against your right inner thigh.
- Turn your chest a little towards your right leg.
- Breathe in and lengthen your spine.
- Breathe out and fold forward over your right leg, holding your shin, ankle or foot.
- Breathe here for 5–10 breaths, then change sides.
Cues
- Fold from your hips first, then let your back round.
- Right kneecap faces up, foot flexed.
- Let your head be heavy.
Common mistakes
- Forcing the fold: hold a strap around your foot instead.
- The long leg rolling out: keep the kneecap up.
- Slumping: sit on a folded blanket to tip your pelvis forward.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
The version in our demo
Janu Sirsasana as Yoga Journal and Iyengar teach it, the right leg long: a one-leg seated fold with the other knee bent out to the side and the sole against the inner thigh, the trunk turned a little towards the long leg and folding over it.
Starting position
Sitting with both legs long; bend the left knee, let it drop out to the side and place the left sole against the right inner thigh.
The position
Turn the chest a little towards the right leg, lengthen the spine on an in-breath, and on an out-breath fold forward from the hips over the right leg, holding the shin, ankle or foot. Keep the right foot flexed and the kneecap facing up; let the head relax.
Breathing
Lengthen on the in-breath, fold on the out-breath.
Tempo
A held pose through one slow breath, 6 s: in 2.5 s (the spine lengthens), out 3.5 s (the fold deepens a little). Real practice: 5–10 breaths each side.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
- Right leg long (knee 7°), foot flexed, kneecap up; left knee bent 140–146°, resting out to the side, left sole against the right inner thigh.
- Pelvis tipped forward 22°, spine rounded 32°, chest turned 10° towards the long leg (trunk 44–47° from vertical, head about 37 cm above the knee).
- Both hands on the right shin, as far towards the ankle as they reach (55–65 % of the way), elbows soft (51–61°).
The targets our 3D demo was built to, from the references below. Bodies differ, so treat the ranges as a guide for your own build.
For coaches
Use this demo in your clients’ programs
The Head-to-Knee Pose is in Trainaq’s exercise library. Add it to a workout, and your client sees this demo in the free Trainaq app above the sets they log.
Sources
Sources
- Yoga Journal pose library, "Head-to-Knee Forward Bend (Janu Sirsasana)".
- B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Yoga (1966), Janu Sirsasana.
