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Step 1
When first starting a yoga practice study with a the guidance of a well trained teacher who can evaluate your alignment. Once you become more experienced, practicing at home with videos is fine. Know the instructors background. Be careful of instructors who were certified over a weekend course. Look for a teacher with at least 200 hours of training that is recommended by the Yoga Alliance (see references below). When teaching, I can tell my class over and over to watch their knee alignment, however verbal cues are hard to follow. I usually need to walk over to new students and physically assist them so they know where they need to be. You may think you are doing the posture correctly and just not feeling the incorrect alignment.
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Step 2
Watch your placement when doing lunge motions and postures such as Warrior One and Two. Whenever your front knee is bent it should also be aligned directly over the ankle. You should be able to draw a straight line from the outside of your knee to your ankle bone. If you lunge too far forward and your knee goes past your toe, you are placing too much stress on the joint. To deepen lunge postures, bring the feet further apart and focus on dropping straight down versus lunging forward.
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Step 3
Be careful in positions where you are in a standing squat, such as goddess pose. In general when squatting your buttocks should never go lower then your knees. There are some postures such as prayer squat where you do go lower, but there should be a focus on using your legs and keeping the back straight.
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Step 4
Never lock your knee joints. It is OK to work with straight legs, but do not push to the point you lock your knees. When in standing postures, use muscle control to hold your balance versus locking out the joint for stability. For floor stretches try working with a slightly bent knee. You may find that not only do you avoid knee pain, but you make feel a deeper stretch in the muscle as you take pressure off of the joint.
