Inhale lift your body all the way up to the sky and on the exhale bring your prayer in the centre of your heart. Poses for this group include Square Pose (or Double Pigeon/ Agnistambhasana), Cow Face Pose / Gomukhasana, Easy Pose/ Sukhasana or Lotus Pose. Inhale, look in front of you, bend the front knee and walk the back foot to meet the front one, look in front of you with a flat back. Exhale, release the forehead on your knee. Face the front of the room with both your feet, turn the back foot 45 degrees and square your hips to the ground. Inhale, bring your hands in front of your shoulders and straighten both legs. Inhale, press your palms on the floor, under your shoulders, shift your hips back, straight your front leg and move back, bending your left leg into Skandasana. Turn the front foot 45 degrees out, and lower your forearms on the mat, keeping your elbows aligned to your heels. On the exhale lower your right hand inside of the right foot. Exhale, lift the right arm up in your low lounge twist. Inhale, bring your hands on the floor, frame your front foot and press your left hand on the ground. Place the foot on the ground, align your ankle to your front knee, lower your back knee, shift the weight forward, lift your hands up and open your chest into a soft back bend. Inhale, square your hips to the earth and bring your knee to your chest.

Inhale, kick your right leg up and back, bend your knee and on the exhale open your hips. On the exhale curl your toes under press your feet into the ground and find your Down Dog.

Inhale, look in between your hands, shift your weight forward and slowly slide your body in your Up Dog. Spread your fingers and press the palms into the mat. Knees wild open to deep in your hips and find your roots, long arms in front you of. This sequence is designed to purge yourself from unnecessary emotions, practising presence, non-attachment and non-judgment while on your mat. Breathe slowly and hold every pose for at least 5 breaths. I love the feeling of space and strength it gives me.In yoga practice hips are known as the place where we hold a lot of unreleased emotions and they can be both physically and emotionally uncomfortable. This is my go-to hip routine that is safe to practice several times a week. We’ll take a look at three stretches for each compartment of your hip (Hip Flexors, Adductors, Hamstrings, External Rotators, Abductors). The sequence below offers a variety of poses to improve hip flexibility and mobility. So what does this mean? Essentially, almost any yoga pose can be thought of as a hip opener since we are using the muscles around the hips in many different ways. People think hip openers are limited to poses like pigeon, where the femur is externally rotated, but something like eagle, where the leg is internally rotated is also a hip stretch. This tightness, which can cause back pain and sciatica and affect mobility, is really in all the muscles surrounding the pelvis. Many people find that their 'hips' are tight due to spending a lot of time sitting, both at work and in cars. These include big muscle groups like the hip flexors, hamstrings, glutes, adductors (inner thighs) and abductors (outer thighs), as well as many smaller, deeper muscles including the piriformis and the psoas. Generally, when we talk about opening the hips we're referring to the muscles around the pelvis, legs, lower spine and sacrum. For instance, we often talk about poses that open or stretch the hips in yoga, but what does that really mean? The hips are a complicated area, anatomically speaking. Although I was only in the field for less than two years, I’m grateful for the knowledge that I learned because I’m still able to weave it into my yoga teachings today!Īnatomy and the technical exploration of asana is something I’m really passionate about. I went to a bodywork school and studied neuromuscular therapy, structural integration and myofascial release. See also A Sequence to Stretch + Strengthen Outer Thighs and Hips.

Hold for 5 seconds, then relax and go deeper into the stretch. Then activate the muscles by imagining that you are trying to drag the left knee forward.

Before I became a full-time yoga instructor, I worked at a chiropractic clinic as a massage therapist. Bend the left knee and grasp the ankle with your hand or a strap to deepen the hip stretch.

Hip opening yoga sequence