Padmasana- The Lotus
Padmasana is one of the most beautiful asanas in yoga, yet difficult to master as a pose
for meditation. It places peculiar stress on the hip and knee joints unless you have much flexibili-
ty. If mastered, it brings an incomparable feeling of repose (tranquility) and a state of calmness to
the mind. It is worth practice even without the intent to do meditation.
Padmasana is a sitting posture with a tetrahedron geometry.
To start, sit with both legs kept in centre line, knees extended and ankle extended so as to
feel a stretch in soleus and gastrocnemius. Keep legs outstretched, and bring left foot towards the
body and place it on right thigh so that the lateral surface of foot is touching the thigh, and up-
turned.
Place the right foot over the left thigh. So lateral side of both the ankles will be on oppo-
site thighs and feet upturned. Straightened the spines by lifting up chest, flattening the kyphosis
while increasing lordosis of lumbar spine. Keep the hands on the knees, completing the geometry
of right tetrahedron.
Because the knee joints are hinges, the legs force the thighs into extreme lateral rotation
when the feet are lifted on to the thighs. And when coupled with an initial flexion and abduction
of thighs, the extra-ordinary lateral rotation places the hip joint in a stressed and unusual position.
This with the stress on the knee is what makes this posture so difficult. Consistent effort may be
needed to alter the anatomy of the hip joints and supporting ligaments enough to make the pose
possible.
Ligaments around the hip restricts the external rotation of femur, and sacroiliac ligaments restricts
lumbar lordosis.
Once the posture is satisfactory by aligning pelvis and both legs giving the stable base with locked an-
kles, and lifted thorax pushed anteriorly by abducting scapula and externally rotating shoulder joint, con-
centrate on breathing. As rectus abdominis is stretched, inhale by allowing maximum lifting and anterior
displacement of chest, hold the lifted position, slowly exhale. Do not allow chest to depress, which needs
attention of mind, so the diaphragmatic breathing happens. After few cycles of breathing, start using ab-
dominal muscles to exhale to the maximum. There will not be any movement of any part of the body ex-
cept the diaphragm and abdominal muscles.
Straight, still, and comfortable- these are the three factors to keep in mind while practicing Padmasana,
and may take regular practice to achieve it. To achieve ideal posture first tighten the erector spinae and
quadratus lumborum muscles in order to pull the body forwards into a perpendicular position. People with
stiff hip and pelvic ligaments may feel like falling backwards, so using iliopsoas muscle to lift hip will
help.
Increasing the sacroiliac nutation ability helps to increase depth of lumbar lordosis. Lifting the chest and
pulling the back of the head to the rear without extending the neck will help with nutation to get ideal pos-
ture.
To relax completely to prepare for meditation in this posture, the mind and the body should be brought to
heightened state of attention and alertness, an awareness that originates from the core and permeates
through the head, neck, trunk, and the extremities. The facial muscles are inactive and upper upper ex-
tremities should be relaxed, especially the shoulders, and they should be in a state of readiness, expressing
just enough tone to stabilize the posture and geometry.
The lower extremities form the base, and though there should be an overall feeling of ease they should
remain in a mild state of isometric contraction to keep the posture looking respectable.
