Yoga Journal’s archives series is a curated collection of articles originally published in past issues beginning in 1975. This article about Head-to-Knee Forward Bend (Janu Sirsasana) first appeared in the November-December 1988 issue of Yoga Journal. 

Although the correct practice of Head-to-Knee Pose, or Janu Sirsasana, (Figure 1), can contribute to a generalized quieting and cooling of the 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 given by several strong ligaments to other regions of the spinal column.

(Photo: Yoga Journal, 1988)

Unfortunately for the lower back, these ligaments, which help to support the middle and upper back, do not reach all the way to the sacrum, the curved bone at the bottom of the lumbar spine.

This lack of support can cause strain in various activities. In standing, for example, the lower back experiences a forward shearing force due to the incumbent weight of the trunk and head, yet it has fewer ligaments to help hold the bones together in place. This shearing force is exaggerated by the shape of the lumbar spinal curve, which is hollow on the posterior (back) side, placing the bones in a position that predisposes them to move forward too much because of the effect of gravity on the trunk.

So, if we round the lumbar spine too much during Janu Sirsasana, the already-stressed ligaments can become over-stretched. And if we continue to practice incorrectly, over time the entire lumbo-sacral area can be structurally weakened, leading to lower back pain.

Janu Sirsasana and Everyday Posture

This structural reason for caution in Head-to-Knee can be complicated by a functional one—our habit of sitting incorrectly on chairs that round the lower back.

The straight-backed chairs of our grandparents’ day encouraged people to sit without slouching and to keep the lumbar curve in a natural shape. Today the situation is much different: Most seats, whether in airplanes, automobiles, theaters, homes, or offices, force one to sit with the lower back rounded, causing the ligaments of the lumbo-sacral spine to overstretch. After years of constant sitting in the poor posture encouraged by poor chairs, the lower back becomes weakened.

When the functional weakness due to poor posture is combined with the structural weakness of the lower back, it is no wonder that lower back pain is one of the most common of modern ailments.

Head-to-Knee is difficult to practice 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, we must re-educate the body by breaking this old habit and forming the new habit of bending from the hips.

Although janu means “knee” and sirs (pronounced “shearce”) 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 an elongated, resting spine. When practiced in this way, the pose will not weaken the lower back.

To experience the feeling of the pelvis rotating over the hip joints, try the following experiment: Rest on your hands and knees on a surface that is comfortable for the knees. First let the abdomen drop down as far as you comfortably can in Cow Pose. Now lift the abdomen up toward the spine, allowing the spine and pelvis to move freely over the hip joints in Cat Pose.

Try this several times, noticing that the tailbone points up when the abdomen is dropped down, whereas the tailbone points down when the abdomen is lifted.

The Wholeness of Head-to-Knee

In addition to its physical benefits, Head-to-Knee can be an expression of psychological health.

We have all seen mandalas, the symbolic circular designs used for meditation in yoga and other Eastern spiritual traditions. A mandala is more than merely expressive art: It draws its creator or contemplator deeper into the center of the Self. Yogis teach that in becoming aware of our oneness with this Self, we contact the source of all knowledge, wisdom, and love.

C. G. Jung speaks of mandalas as being drawn, painted, modeled, or danced. In danced mandalas, such as those practiced in Dervish monasteries, one does not just regard the mandala from an external viewpoint, but becomes it by shaping the physical body into a circular form. The same process occurs in the practice of yoga asanas: All the asanas have a circular component and place 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 centered in the Self? One reason is that by completing the circle of Head-to-Knee, with the chest resting on the thigh, we are placing 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 does the process of creating or meditating on a mandala. In addition, if we maintain an attitude of prayerful worship while practicing Head-to-Knee, the pose can symbolize for us the resolution of the perennial tension between oneness and duality referred to by Joseph Campbell as “the myth of the one that became two.”

Oneness and duality can be felt on many levels: in the process of birth, where the oneness of mother-child becomes the duality of mother and child; in the sex act, where the separateness of the partners is resolved into an ecstatic unity; and within the individual, where masculine and feminine, conscious and unconscious, positive and negative aspects of the personality can all exist together in a single person. The theme of the divided self seeking its original oneness can also be found symbolically in much of the world’s great literature.

In yoga we seek to re-unite the dual aspects of our nature, transcending our usual sense of separateness and fragmentation and becoming aware of our underlying oneness. Modern psychologists often describe the oneness we seek in terms of a fully integrated and creative personality. Yogis, however, speak of oneness in terms of enlightenment, a realization or re-cognition that the individual soul (jiva) is (and always has been) one with the Universal Soul (paramatman).

In Head-to-Knee, for example, we can regard the upper body as representing the masculine principle, the purusa of yoga philosophy, and the lower body as representing the feminine principle, prakriti. When practicing the pose, we connect the upper and the lower, thus symbolically merging the dual parts of our nature into a single whole in which the two once again become the One.

How to Practice Head-to-Knee Pose

To practice Head-to-Knee, place a firmly folded blanket on the floor, as shown in Figure 2. Sit on the edge of the blanket with the legs straightened in front of you. Bend one leg at the knee, and place the foot of the bent leg next to the top inner thigh of the other leg, so that the shin of the bent leg is at a 90 degree angle to the straight leg. Do not sit on the foot. Use the hands as shown in Figure 2 to aid in lifting the spine upward, thereby creating a curve in the lower back. You may also use the hands on the hip bones as discussed earlier, in order to determine if the pelvis is moving as you begin the forward movement.

Be sure to keep the straight leg quite straight. One way to observe whether it is straight is to keep the back of the thigh as close to the floor as possible. It is also beneficial to turn this leg slightly inward toward the bent knee, which slightly changes the relationship of the femur (thigh bone) to the hip socket (acetabulum). This minor change of relationship facilitates the easy movement of the pelvis forward as one practices into the pose.

Keep the breath and diaphragm completely free and soft during the asana. Move forward slowly, enjoying and exploring the stretch as you go down. Remember to keep the neck relaxed. Avoid lifting the head and “hunching” the shoulders, as shown in Figure 3 (Incorrect). Hold the pose for 30 to 60 seconds, then come up slowly with the inhalation. More supple students can dispense with sitting on the elevated blanket and can make the pose more challenging by moving the bent knee back so the angle is greater than 90 degrees.

When the bent knee is pointing backward, it is especially important to move forward from the hip joint on the bent knee side. Because the knee has been drawn further back, the pelvis will be somewhat crooked. The challenge is then to create a symmetrical pose from one that is purposely asymmetrical. Note how the back is tipped over in Figure 4 (Incorrect). This is easy to do if one is merely striving to go down as far as possible. But remember that the asana is not just an exercise; it is a way of creating awareness. So be careful to let the spine flow forward over the leg in an even stretch (Figure 5).

Some students enjoy placing bricks beyond the feet, as shown in Figure 6 This makes the pose more difficult and is recommended only for experienced students who can move freely from the hips as shown. Remember that the asana is not intended to overly challenge the body, but to use the body lovingly in a way that expresses wholeness. Move gently into the pose; hold it with awareness and compassion; and come up with the freshness and calmness that this asana so well expresses.

If the student is ready, the pose can be held for as long as five minutes. Whatever its duration, your practice of Head-to-Knee should be considered a time of release, not of penance.

Repeat the pose on the opposite side for the same amount of time. Be sure to keep the breath easy. Head-to-Knee is usually taught at the beginning of a series of seated forward bends, following such poses as Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana), Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana), standing poses, and Headstand (Sirsasana). Forward bends are often followed by twists, which can relieve the lower back if any residual strain remains from Head-to-Knee or other forward bends.

When practicing Head-to-Knee, you may find it helpful to place your hands on the hip bones in the front of the body. Technically known as the anterior superor ilac crests, these bones are felt as prominences running laterally on either side of the hips below the level of the navel. When bending forward in the pose, you should feel the 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 downward. By feeling this motion of the hip bones, you will be able to confirm that the movement originates from the pelvis, over the hip joints, rather than from the spine. If the hip bones do not move and the pelvis is held still, the spine will be overly rounded and the pose will be incorrect.

In order to practice Head-to-Knee correctly, with movement from the pelvis, the hamstring muscles must be loose. The correct practice of Head-to-Knee itself will effectively loosen these muscles, but I do not recommend the pose exclusively for a hamstring stretch until the student has a good understanding of how to move from the hip joints. There are other poses that provide a demanding stretch to the hamstrings but afford less potential damage to the lower back—for example, all the standing poses suggested by B.K.S. Iyengar in Light on Yoga. Rather than using Head-to-Knee as a hamstring stretch, one can then use it as a gauge of how loose the hamstrings have become as a result of practicing these other poses.