Published July 15, 2026 at 10:31 AM
Yoga magazine archives The series is a curated collection of articles originally published in previous issues beginning in 1975. This article on Head-to-Knee Forward Bend (Janu Sirsasana) first appeared in the November-December 1988 issue of Yoga magazine.
Although the correct practice of the Head-to-Knee Pose, or Janu Sirsasana, (Figure 1), can contribute to calming and cooling the overall body, its incorrect practice can cause problems for two reasons.
The first reason is structural: the lumbar spine is a major weight-bearing area of the body, yet it is handicapped because it lacks the same degree of support that several strong ligaments provide to other areas of the spine.
Unfortunately for the lower back, these ligaments, which help support the middle and upper back, don’t reach the sacrum, which is the curved bone at the bottom of the lumbar spine.
This lack of support can cause stress in various activities. In standing, for example, the lower back experiences a forward shear force due to the current weight of the torso and head, yet it has fewer ligaments to help hold the bones together in place. This shear force is amplified by the shape of the curve of the lumbar spine, which is hollow at the posterior (posterior) side, putting the bones in a position to move forward too much due to the effect of gravity on the trunk.
So, if we rotate the lumbar spine too much during Janu Sirsasana, the already stressed ligaments may become over-stretched. If we continue to practice incorrectly, over time the entire lumbosacral region can be structurally weakened, leading to lower back pain.
Janu Sirsasana and daily pose
This structural reason for caution in head-to-knee facing can be complicated by a functional reason, which is our habit of sitting incorrectly in chairs that round the lower back.
Straight-backed chairs in the days of our ancestors encouraged people to sit without slouching and keep the lower back curve in a natural shape. Today the situation is very different: most seats, whether in airplanes, cars, theaters, homes or offices, force a person to sit with the lower back rounded, which leads to stretching of the ligaments of the lumbosacral spine. After years of constantly sitting in poor posture encouraged by bad chairs, the lower back becomes weak.
When functional impairment resulting from poor posture is combined with structural weakness in the lower back, it is no wonder that low back pain is one of the most common modern ailments.
It is difficult to perform the Head to Knee exercise correctly because habit has taught us to bend forward from the lower back, not from the hip joints. In order to protect the lower back, the body must be re-educated by getting rid of this old habit and forming a new habit, which is bending from the hips.
Although Janu means “knee” and Sirs means “head”, the name is not meant to indicate that one practices Janu Sirsasana simply by placing the head on the knee.
In fact, the entire pelvis should move forward over the hip joints, allowing the head to pass over the knee to create a relaxed, elongated spine. When practiced in this way, the posture will not weaken the lower back.
To experience the feeling of your pelvis rotating over your hip joints, try the following experiment: Relax on your hands and knees on a surface that is comfortable for your knees. First, let the abdomen descend as far as comfortably possible Cow pose. Now lift the abdomen towards the spine, allowing the spine and pelvis to move freely over the hip joints Cat pose.
Try this a few times, and notice that the tailbone points up when the belly is down, while the tailbone points down when the belly is up.
Perfection from head to knee
In addition to its physical benefits, the Head to Knee exercise can be an expression of mental health.
We’ve all seen mandalas, the symbolic circular designs used for meditation in yoga and other Eastern spiritual traditions. A mandala is more than just expressive art: it draws its creator or meditator deeper into the center of the self. Yogis teach that when we realize our oneness with this self, we connect to the source of all knowledge, wisdom and love.
CG Jung speaks of mandalas as drawn, painted, modeled, or danced. In dancing mandalas, such as those practiced in Dervish monasteries, one not only views the mandala from an external point of view, but becomes so by shaping the physical body into a circular shape. The same process occurs in the practice of yoga asanas: all asanas have a circular component and position the body in the form of a mandala.
In Head to Knee, the circular component is the connection of the hands and feet, as well as the connection of the upper and lower body.
Why does this help us become more self-focused? One reason is that by completing the head-to-knee circle, with the chest resting on the thigh, we put the body in a position that makes it difficult for us to see our surroundings. This tends to draw the mind inward and downward, as in the process of creating or meditating on a mandala. Additionally, if we maintain a posture of worship and prayer while practicing head-to-knee prayer, the posture can symbolize for us the resolution of the ever-present tension between oneness and duality that Joseph Campbell referred to as “the myth of the one who became two.”
Loneliness and duality can be felt on several levels: in the process of birth, where the unity of mother and child becomes the duality of mother and child; In the sexual act, where the separation of partners is resolved in ecstatic unity; Within the individual, the masculine and feminine, conscious and unconscious, positive and negative aspects of personality can exist together in one person. The theme of the divided self seeking its original unity can also be found symbolically in much of the great world literature.
In yoga we seek to reunite the dual aspects of our nature, transcend our usual sense of separation and fragmentation, and become aware of our essential oneness. Contemporary psychologists often describe the unity we seek in terms of an integrated, creative personality. However, yogis speak of unity in terms of enlightenment, or the realization or re-recognition that the individual soul (jiva) is (and has always been) one with the universal soul (paramatman).
In the Head to Knee exercise, for example, we can consider the upper body to represent the masculine principle, which is the bursa of yoga philosophy, and the lower body to represent the feminine principle, prakriti. In practicing the pose, we connect the upper and lower parts, thus symbolically merging the dual parts of our nature into a single whole in which the two become one again.
How to practice Head to Knee Pose
For the head-to-knee exercise, place a tightly folded blanket on the floor, as shown in Figure 2. Sit on the edge of the blanket with your legs extended in front of you. Bend one leg at the knee, and place the foot of the bent leg next to the upper inner thigh of the other leg, so that the bent shin is at a 90-degree angle with the straight leg. Do not sit on the foot. Use the hands as shown in Figure 2 to help lift the spine upward, thus creating a curve in the lower back. You can also use the hands on your hip bones, as we discussed earlier, to determine if your pelvis is moving when you start moving forward.
Make sure to keep the straight leg completely straight. One way to see if it is straight is to keep the back of the thigh as close to the floor as possible. It is also helpful to turn this leg slightly inward toward the bent knee, which slightly changes the relationship between the femur (femur) and the hip socket (acetabulum). This slight change in relationship facilitates forward movement of the pelvis while practicing the pose.
Keep the breathing and diaphragm completely free and smooth during the asana. Move forward slowly, enjoying and exploring the stretch as you descend. Remember to keep your neck relaxed. Avoid raising the head and “hunching” the shoulders, as shown in Figure 3 (incorrect). Maintain this position for 30 to 60 seconds, then rise slowly while inhaling. More flexible students can do without sitting on the raised blanket and can make the position more difficult by moving the bent knee back so that the angle is greater than 90 degrees.
When the bent knee is pointing backwards, it is especially important to move forward from the hip joint on the side of the bent knee. Because the knee has been pulled back, the pelvis will be somewhat twisted. The challenge then is to create a symmetrical pose from an intentionally asymmetrical pose. Notice how the back is turned in Figure 4 (incorrect). This is easy to do if a person is just seeking to get as low as possible. But remember, asana is not just an exercise; It is a way to create awareness. So be careful to allow the spine to flow forward over the leg evenly (Figure 5).
Some students enjoy placing the bricks behind the feet, as shown in Figure 6. This makes the pose more difficult and is only recommended for experienced students who can move freely from the hips as shown. Remember, the asana is not meant to overly challenge the body, but rather to use the body lovingly in a way that expresses wholeness. Gently move into the position. Hold it with awareness and compassion; And get the freshness and calmness that this asana expresses so well.
If the student is ready, the pose can be held for up to five minutes. Whatever its duration, your practice of Head to Knee exercises should be viewed as a time of liberation, not penance.
Repeat the position on the other side for the same amount of time. Make sure to keep breathing easy. Head to Knee is usually taught at the beginning of a series of seated forward bends, with positions such as: Downward facing dog (Adu Mukha Svanasana), Standing forward bend (Uttanasana), standing poses, and Handstand (Sirsasana). Forward bends are often followed by twists, which may relax the lower back if any residual strain remains from head-to-knee or other forward bends.
When doing the Head to Knee exercise, you may find it helpful to place your hands on your hip bones in the front of your body. Technically known as the superior or anterior iliac crest, these bones are felt as ridges that extend laterally on either side of the hips below the level of the navel. When bending forward into the pose, you should feel your hip bones moving forward as you begin the pose and for as long as possible as you continue to lengthen the spine and move the head down. By feeling this movement of the hip bones, you will be able to confirm that the movement is coming from the pelvis, above the hip joints, and not from the spine. If the hip bones do not move and the pelvis is fixed, the spine will be excessively rounded and posture will be incorrect.
In order to perform the head-to-knee exercise correctly, with the movement from the pelvis, the hamstring muscles must be relaxed. Proper practice of the head-to-knee stretch itself will effectively relax these muscles, but I do not recommend the pose exclusively for stretching the hamstrings until the student has a good understanding of how to move from the hip joints. There are other poses that provide a demanding stretch for the hamstrings but cause less damage to the lower back – for example, all the standing poses suggested by BKS Iyengar in Light on yoga. Instead of using the Head to Knee exercise as a stretch for the hamstrings, one can then use it as a measure of how loose the hamstrings are as a result of practicing these other poses.
