Posing and Posers

Ran across Miley Cyrus in The Lord of the Dance, a difficult pose rather well done. I can't get my foot anywhere near my head regardless of angle from which I come, so kudos to Hanna Montana.

The poor lighting makes it difficult to really judge but it looks as though she's hyper-extended the knee on the standing leg and once those ligaments behind the knee are loose - they are loose forever.

It's a beautiful pose though and one that can't be accomplished without a great deal of mobility along the spine. Open shoulders and hips are necessary too. Even my eight year old, who is a noodle, can't pull this off and children are notorious for just "assuming the pose" whatever it may be.

I always ran across a poser in the form of Sarah Palin showing off her every-woman yoga skills with Tree Pose.

Cat, my training instructor, was fond of saying that a Tree could be planted anywhere in a good sequence. It's a go to pose that even the most novice student can pull off even if you have to prop her against a wall.

But though she strikes a good one for the camera, anyone who's taking a yoga class knows that the foot does not rest against the knee. Pushing into the knee is a big yoga no-no though nearly every beginner thinks that it is where the foot should go thanks to photos like this one.

The knee is really nothing to screw with regardless of the activity. In women especially it is particularly vulnerable because our wide hips result in the femurs angling in and this puts a strain on the knee ligaments. As Jade is fond of saying, "There is no such thing as a knee stretch." But because the foot pressing into the leg is crucial for balance in tree, placing the foot on the knee is just begging to injure it.

It's funny that yoga poses are the go to photo op moments in the celeb world. I guess that makes it mainstream, eh?