Fire log pose or Agnistambhasana is one of those yoga poses that you are either really good at it or really bad at it. This is coming from the perspective of a male, so take that into consideration when explaining the pose and working towards improving it. When I first started yoga in May 2022 fire log pose was not accessible for me; in any way. I was one of those people in the yoga studio that needed two blocks in between my legs for fire log or double pigeon pose. To say it was uncomfortable was to put it mildly. This was one of the first poses in my yoga adventure that I worked on perfecting.
Interestingly, you can do fire log pose with tight hips and tight hamstrings. It is not “correct” nor easy, but it is possible. Every morning for about three (3) straight months I would work on fire log pose. I would sit with my left foot on top of my right knee and feel the discomfort (pain) on the outsides of my knees. At times it was so painful that I had to really work on breath work just to get through the three minute hold. What I did by doing this was create “rubber band knees” as one of my yoga instructors likes to call it.
There is no reason to stretch out the outside of your knees unless you want to. There are no normal daily activities that humans do in which the outsides of the knees need to be flexible or have little to no scar tissue. I was very early on in my yoga career so I had no idea fire log pose or double pigeon is significantly easier and more comfortable if you have flexible or loose hamstrings and glutes.
If you are a male and you simply want to lower your knees closer to your ankles on fire log pose, it takes a lot of time. Sit in this pose with the support of a block or bolster between the two legs and gently press down the knees with the insides of your hamstrings or what feels like the tendons on the insides of the back of the knees. Once again, note that this takes a very long time and you will have to endure a lot of discomfort but this will allow your legs to fall with gravity towards your knees.
The correct way to gain flexibility and improve your fire log pose is to really open the hamstrings and glutes. If you are someone that has the ability to feel the insides of your glutes or upper hamstrings open the legs out to the side, this is going to create a lot more space for your fire log pose. When I first started to notice that I was not perfecting the fire log pose is when the yoga instructor queued to fold the upper body over the lower body in this pose. Since my yoga journey started, I have had very little flexibility in my hamstrings and glutes, which, in turn, cause a lot of lower back pain and discomfort.
Only after about 200 classes and 18 months of yoga/stretching did I start to open my hips with hamstring and glute flexibility. Now, when I lean forward in fire log pose, I have a lot more space between my legs as my hips are much more open. If you really want to have a comfortable, and beautiful, fire log or double pigeon pose, work on your hamstrings and glutes. Some great stretches and poses are malasana squat, laying on the back and using a strap to pull a straight leg towards the nose, Captain Morgan pose and general forward folds.
The more you can feel your hips being able to externally rotate, the more comfortable it is going to be to stack leg on leg in fire log pose.
As I continue down the path of my yoga journey, I will update this page with some tips and tricks on how you can open your hips with hamstring and glute work.
Unfortunately, most people that do strength training or lift weights do it in a way that makes it impossible for the hamstrings and glutes to be flexible. Unless you are truly focused on form with squats, lunges and leg press, you will likely press too hard through the insides of the feet or the outsides of the feet. Over time, this builds scar tissue in the skins, knees and hips. Instead of trying to leg press 400 points, work on improving your fire log or double pigeon pose. It is much healthy and significantly more cosmetically appealing as your three legged down is going to be incredible.
UPDATE: January 13th, 2024 – By doing seated butterfly, bound angle or Baddha Konasana you will be able to feel your glutes and hamstrings really open up. If you have tight shoulders and a tight upper body, feel your elbows rolling in and the insides of your shoulders pushing back as you reach down to grab your feet in this pose. Then, you can allow your head to fall gently towards the floor with gravity. This is a pose that I was not very good at for a long time yet I was really good at Firelog Pose. The reason for that was I stretched out my knees like crazy but never really stretched out my glutes and outer hamstrings. This made my groin muscles extremely tight.
When I do Baddha Konasana or bound angle, I still feel a lot of tension and stress in my groin muscles. Fortunately, I can now roll my shoulders back and open my glutes to feel the stretch in my groin. It is going to take a few weeks, but once I can get my groin stretched out, a lot of other poses are going to be accessible to me. I can already feel more stability now that I opened my glutes and outer hamstrings more.