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Yoga Bytes - June 14, 2007
Today we're borrowing from another tradition, ballet, to aide our yogic efforts as we work with improving the alignment of the knees. One of the key muscle groups that stabilize the knees are a foursome located underneath your shapely glutes (butt muscles). They are the muscles that are used in turning your feet out. There are few exercises that really strengthen these muscles but on Monday we played with a very basic ballet exercise: the plie.
Before we can begin to do the plie we have to exercise these hidden muscles by turning our feet out in what is referred to in ballet as first position
(see the photo of kid legs from Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre Kids). Grab ahold of the kitchen counter or the back of a chair (this helps you maintain balance). It may be that just getting your feet into either of this position is challenge enough. If so, just hold the position as long as possible and then reverse the action by turning your toes inward for a bit.
If you feel you can take it a step farther, bend your knees while keeping your torso upright as far as you can while keeping your heels on the floor. This is the plie. (Illustration from Dummies.com. Photo on the left is first position, photo on the right is second position.) 
Beyond strengthening the buttock muscles the plie strengthens the quadracepts and core muscles. All of which offers crossover benefits in many yoga poses.