Teaching Yoga Tips: Alignment Options for the Standing Poses

Becca is the author of Teaching Yoga: Creative Cueing for Safer Mixed Level Classes. A long-time studio owner and teacher trainer, she now teaches online, blogs, and creates resources for other yoga teachers.

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Although each standing pose has specific alignment cues and options, there are some general guidelines we can follow. In this post, I will cover frequently-asked questions about the position of the feet, the length and width of the stances, and the angles of the knees and hips.

New students need to learn where to place their feet and how much to bend their knees and hips. One size does not fit all, so let’s review some of the options we can offer.

Is the Heel-to-Arch Alignment in Standing Yoga Poses the Only Way?

The quick answer is NO, you don’t have to follow this traditional alignment because there are many options for our stances in the standing poses. This traditional instruction was popularized by teachers like B.K.S. Iyengar and Pattabhi Jois. They started their careers teaching young men, who had flexible and narrow hips, and so the instruction worked well.

We now know that individuals with wider hips are not always comfortable in this traditional stance, and it can cause injuries to the hips and knees over time. Many women have naturally wider hips and find a stance with the heels in a line or even a little wider much more comfortable.

Students with less flexible hips, wide hips, or balance issues may do best with a third stance option, placing their heels hip-distance apart.

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Does my Front Knee Have to be in a 90 Degree Angle in Warrior 1, Warrior 2, and Side Angle?

No, again the angle of the knee in these standing poses entirely depends on the students’ physical abilities and conditions. In the examples above some of the students are taking a shorter stance for balance, and in this case the knee will not be bent as deeply.

Holding the knee at 90 degrees is extremely challenging for many people, it doesn’t make good sense to expect everyone to do be able to do it.

This same guideline obviously applies to the hips as well. Although the traditional cueing for these standing poses includes holding the hips at 90 degrees, again many people will not tolerate this.

Over time some students will get deeper into the poses and enjoy the challenge, others simply will not be able to practice in this manner. As teachers we want to encourage our students to create a practice for themselves that is sustainable and healing.

Does my Back Foot have to be in a 45 Degree Angle in Warrior 1, Warrior 2, Side Angle, and Triangle?

No, our bodies are not all the same, and so we can’t all practice with the same exact angles. Just like with the knees and hips above, cueing specific angles of the feet may cause injuries to your students. Why? When people with tighter hips try to place their feet into a specific angle, their hips may not have enough mobility to follow the feet, and the torque goes into the knees.

It is better to teach from the hips, asking students to turn inward or outward, depending on the pose, and then letting the knees and feet follow the turn of the hips. Sometimes a students back foot might be at 90 degrees or more in Warrior 2. This may be all their hips allow at first, and is not worth the risk of forcing them into the traditional alignment.

Notes on the Heel-To-Heel Stance:

• A little wider stance with the heels in a line works well for many women with wider hips. This option can reduce torque on the back knee.

• In the picture on the left, the student is taking a shorter stance (with the feet closer together) and the heels in a line.

• The length of the stance can still be long and challenging, making the pose no less strenuous than the traditional one.

• In the picture on the right, the student has lifted the back heel turning Warrior 1 into a high lunge. This common variation is easier on the back knee for some students, but it does change what is stretching. Some students will go as wide as hip distance apart for this variation.

Notes on a Hip-Distance Apart Stance

• For those with balance issues, widening and also shortening the stance provides more stability.

• Ask them to take a comfortable step back, avoiding specific angles in your cueing. Trust their bodies to stabilize first.

• In this photo, the older man has tight hips, and is more stable in this position to start, even though it looks like it is somewhere in-between Warrior 1 and Warrior 2. Let him get stable first and become accustomed to the movement, then work on more mobility in the hips.

There Is No One Right Way To Do Things in Yoga

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In summary, the correct stance in all the standing poses is the one where students are stable and comfortable. Each person in class needs to pick the stance that works for them. Rather than cueing students with specific angles and distances, ask them to take a comfortable step back and start from there. ♢

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