Head to Knee Pose (Janu Sirsasana)

Pronunciation and meaning

Janu Sirsasana: JAH-noo sheer-SHAHS-uh-nuh. Janu stresses the first syllable, and Sirsasana stresses SHAHS.

Janu means knee, sirsa means head and asana means posture. The name describes the deepest version, with the head resting toward the knee of the straight leg, but the work is a long fold over one leg.

How to do Head to Knee Pose

1. Sit in Staff Pose on the front edge of a folded blanket, both legs long in front of you.
2. Bend your right knee and place the sole of the right foot against the inner left thigh. Let the right knee drop out to the side; if it hovers, slide a cushion or block under it.
3. Turn your chest slightly so your breastbone lines up over the left leg. Loop a strap around the left foot, or rest the hands on the shin.
4. Inhale and lengthen the spine. Exhale and fold forward from the hips over the left leg, keeping the left knee soft and the left foot gently flexed.
5. Stay for five to eight slow breaths, lengthening on each inhale and folding a little on each exhale, without pulling the head down.
6. Inhale to sit up, straighten the right leg and repeat with the left knee bent.

Make it easier

• Sit higher on a blanket or block so the pelvis can tip forward instead of the lower back rounding.
• Bend the knee of the straight leg and rest a rolled blanket under it.
• Rest the forehead on a bolster or block placed on the straight leg.

Pregnancy and after birth

Pregnancy. Adapt. Move the bent knee wider so there is room for the belly, sit up on a blanket and fold only a little, with the chest lifted. Check with your OB or midwife.

After birth. Adapt. Once your doctor or midwife has cleared you, keep the fold shallow and sit on a blanket. Ease off if it presses on a caesarean scar.

Expecting? Joahnna Lee Yoga has notes on adapting each trimester.

Common mistakes

• Pulling the head toward the knee and rounding the upper back, so the stretch moves away from the hamstrings.
• Forcing the bent knee to the floor. If it does not reach, support it from below.

Head to Knee Pose is a seated fold over one leg. It usually comes after the standing poses, once the legs are warm, and it often sits right beside Seated Forward Bend, Paschimottanasana in the quieter end of a class.

Because only one leg is straight, it asks less of the backs of the legs than a two-legged fold. The bent leg also opens the hip on that side, a little like half of Butterfly. It begins from Staff Pose, the upright seat with straight legs, so sit tall there first.

Who is head to knee pose for?

It suits most bodies, including beginners and people with tight hamstrings, as long as there is height under the hips. A folded blanket is often the difference between a long spine and a rounded one. It also appears among the seated yoga poses you can do on a cushion, and the seven hamstring stretches give gentler options for days off the mat.

What comes after it?

Once the fold feels calm, the side-bending version is Revolved Head to Knee Pose, Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana. Stop if you feel pain in the bent knee or a pull behind the knee of the straight leg.