Doing the lotus stretch PLEASE HELP

When I'm trying to do the lotus stretch my knees hurt like a bitch, even if I just put one foot up to my hip it hurts a little bit. I'm not super unflexible, I can put my foot over my head and push my knees to the ground in the butterfly stretch after I get loosened up, but when I try the lotus it feels like my knees can't take it. It is frustrating because I keep hearing Eddie say that it is super important to have that flexibility. Are my knees supposed to hurt when I do this stretch? Or has anybody else had this problem and got through it? Any sort of input would be helpful at this point.

Thanks

It should be working your hip, not knee. What I do instead of trying to force lotus is make a small stack of pillows on the couch and then sit on them with the soles of my feet touching close to my butt, letting my knees hang loose off the sides. When I do that I don't feel any pressure against my knees.

Crazy, my friend has the same problem and asked me this same question yesterday. Be awesome to hear people's input so I can relay the message lol

As a super inflexible fellow myself, I sympathize.

The point isnt to feel pain doing these stretches. Yes you are meant to feel an amount of discomfort, but not to the point of actual pain. If its hurting then you are probably doing more harm than good, in which case stop.

Do the stretch until a few degrees before the pain comes in, and hold it there. Try not to take it past where its supposed to go. Getting flexible takes time, so rushing it will only backfire. It needs to be done correctly.

If you decided you wanted to get strong having never lifted weights before you wouldn't begin by attempting to clean a weight more suited to Mariusz Pudianowski would you? As that would be foolish...

Take it slow.

Take it slow, and always remember to exhale into the stretch. Don't be the guy who pops his knee in lotus because he thinks he's flexible enough to do it, your hips have to be SO flexible to do it properly. If there is pain in the knees then do half lotus.

Oh, and if you are serious about stretching, take a Yoga class. They will be able to assess you directly to your needs and make any adjustments to bad habits...like doing Lotus when you shouldn't be doing it yet :)

half lotus is the best thing like Jay said. I can get to lotus but not without hands yet. this is what helped me out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7VYA8IP1QM

^ Awesome video.

Great video, I have a long way to go but this is helpful!

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Originally Posted by Trez Reyna

half lotus is the best thing like Jay said. I can get to lotus but not without hands yet. this is what helped me out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7VYA8IP1QM

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cheers for posting that video bro
i think it will help me out

Thanks a lot for the help! I think that video will definetely help me out.