Janu Sirsasana: A Step-by-Step Guide
Head to knee pose, that’s what it translates to in English is a more complex pose.
Janu means knee, and sirsa means head.
I have been familiar with it all my life. I practised it throughout my school life and my time in taekwondo practice. When I started to practise Yoga, I revisited it again.
During school and taekwondo, the aim was to touch your leg with your head, so we all yanked ourselves forward or grabbed our straight leg and pulled ourselves down as much as possible.
Only Yoga taught me a different approach, more structured. I became aware that both sides of the body do different things. And because of that, the pose can be tricky.
I love, though, how it opens the hip joint and lengthens the back.
Why practise head-to-knee pose?
The outer rotation of the bent leg in janu sirsasana opens your hip joints, a great antidote against prolonged sitting.
The back of the bent knee side lengthens and opens. The pose stimulates your digestion and calms your mind.
How to practise it?
Here is a step-by-step instruction on how to enter janu sirsasana:
Sit in Dandasana
Rotate your right leg out at your hip, and place your foot sole against the left leg where comfortable.
Inhale lengthen the spine.
Exhale fold forward from your hip by rolling your pelvis forward.
Inhale lengthen through the front of your body.
Exhale keep rolling forward from the pelvis.
Interlace your fingers and place your hands around your left foot.
Keep your elbows relaxed.
Stay for at least five deep breaths or as long as comfortable.
Lengthen through the crown of your head.
Breathe deep into your right side. Exhale and draw your navel a little back to your spine.
Inhale, come back up, exhale straighten your right leg. Change sides.
Ways to make Head-to-Knee Pose easier!
The pose requires hip mobility and length in the hamstrings and lower back. Here are a few tips on how you can make the practice more accessible and, at the same time, less frustrating.
If sitting in Dandasana pulls your pelvis back, sit on a block.
If the bent knee sticks up, place a block close to the hip joint.
If you can’t place the foot against the inner thigh of the straight leg, take it further down, closer to the knee or lower leg.
If it is challenging to lengthen through the chest areas, place your hands behind you to help lengthen the spine.
Use a strap around the straight leg to connect the hands and foot. Make sure that you avoid pulling yourself down!
How to make it more challenging?
Sit the heel of the bent leg.
Place a block behind your foot sole if the forward bent is easy for you.
Add a twist to it.
Janu Shirsasana through the Seasons
Autumn
It is excellent for adding joint mobility to your practice in the autumn. Keep your gaze steady on the floor just before you, and make sure your neck stays long. As the airy quality prevails during the cold months, ground your body by bringing awareness to the areas touching the floor, with each inbreath root further down.
Focus on the in-breath, make it long and smooth, and wait in the natural pose after the in-breath. The in-breath nourishes your body.
The restorative variation of janu sirsasana helps to calm the mind even further.
Spring
During spring, you want to create a rhythmic deep in-breath and draw your navel back with your out-breath. Integrating this deep-focused breathing should generate more heat in the body. Keep your focus on the digestive benefits of this pose. Take at least seven deep, focused breaths and draw the navel back with each out-breath. Keep your tummy moving.
Summer
Focus on the out-breath during the hot months, and practise the restorative version, keep the eyes closed to keep the body cool and the mind refreshed.
This way, you can enjoy the benefits of janu sirsasana all year round.
Let’s have a look at what the Yoga masters said about this pose.
Here are the benefits according to Krishnamacharya’s Yoga Makaranda:
After practising the asana for just one or two minutes, do not whine that you did not receive any benefits. However little effort there is, if you keep practising the asana daily for at least 5 to 10 minutes, you will start experiencing its benefits in a few days. There is no doubt about this. If you keep practising it from half an hour to an hour following the given rules, you will get the benefits mentioned below.
Diseases of the spleen will be removed.
People suffering from a low-grade persistent fever in the stomach will notice that the fever, the resulting anaemia and other such dangerous diseases will be wiped out. Continuous and recurrent cough, bloated stomach, flatulence and the first symptoms of tuberculosis will disappear. As a result of these intestinal doshas being removed, the digestive power increases and one feels hunger at the appropriate time. When you are very hungry, it is essential to eat sattvic foods cooked in pure ghee or cow’s milk or goat’s milk. Rice avul, kara boondi (fried peanut flour), kara vadai, peanuts, chickpeas — these tamasic foods should never be eaten. Eating high-quality fruits and kanda mulam is very beneficial. When they are hungry, some people will eat terrible things without thinking about it. This is a despicable matter. Because of this, they keep catching various diseases and suffering as a result. If one keeps practising janusirsasana according to the rules described above, then whatever diseases cause blocking of urine and faeces, increase the heat in the nadis, cause an increase in vata, if any such acute diseases occur, they will be destroyed from the root and the practitioner will be in good health very soon. Heavy head, burning eyes, weakness of the body, burning in the urinary area, fever caused by toxins built up due to indigestion and constipation, loss of appetite and sense of taste in the tongue due to a spoilt tongue, laziness or lethargy — all these will be removed by practising the asana in the highest standard. That is, all diseases caused by weakness of the nadis nearby will be removed.
BKS Iyengar mentioned as benefits also toning the liver and spleen, and aiding digestion. According to him, practising head-to-knee pose activates and tones kidneys. Helps men suffering from prostate enlargement and people with long-term low fever.
Once I read, but can’t remember where though, Krishnamacharya recommended practising janu sirsasana every day. With all these health benefits, this comes with no surprise, right?
Did you notice in the above quote that he suggested sattvic food? And avoid clogging food?
On that note , grab your FREE Sattvic shopping list and put those fruits and grains into your shopping basket.
Final Thoughts
Janu Sirsasana has been a part of my life. Initially, the goal was simply to touch my head to my leg by pulling forward. However, it was only upon starting yoga that I learned a more structured approach, recognising the different actions of each side of the body.
I appreciate how this pose opens the hip joint and lengthens the back. The outer rotation of the bent leg in janu sirsasana opens the hip joints, countering the effects of prolonged sitting, while the back of the bent knee side also lengthens. This pose also stimulates digestion and calms the mind.
Regular practice of janu sirsasana, as advised in "Yoga Makaranda," brings numerous health benefits. These include improved digestion, alleviation of spleen diseases, and relief from various other ailments. B.K.S. Iyengar highlights additional benefits like toning the liver and spleen, activating the kidneys and aiding in conditions like prostate enlargement and chronic low fever.
Continued practice, even for a short duration daily, is crucial for experiencing these benefits, emphasising the importance of consistency and adherence to the correct technique in yoga.
Enjoy your practice!
