This well-rounded yoga asana practice explores the entire circumference of the hip joint. Strengthen all four quadrants of your hips and top it off with a few more stretchy, passive poses. This class is geared towards all levels of practitioners and can be practiced daily!
Meet your Teacher
San Francisco, CA, USA
Transcript
Welcome, Yogis. Today's practice will focus on the hip. Make sure you have a strap located somewhere near the top of your space. And let's begin standing at the side of your mat. Take your feet nice and wide for temple pose or goddess pose. The toes will turn out, The heels will turn in, And then you'll bend your knees deeply. Take your hands to the tops of your thighs. Keep your arms towards straight and let your shoulders hike up by your ears. Stay here for the breath. Inhale. Open mouth, Let something go. Exhale. Take another breath, Inhale. And now dip your right shoulder down, Twist towards your left. Rotate to the left. Inhale back through center. Twist to the right, Left shoulder dips and rotate to the right. Again, Center inhale, Dip your right shoulder down, Twist to the left. Center inhale. Other direction, Left shoulder dips, Twist to the right. One more each direction. As you press the hand into the inner thigh, Twist to the other direction. Inhale, Center. So it'll be your left hand into your left inner thigh and you twist towards the right. Good. Come back through center. Stay in your squat. Bring your hands to your heart. And we'll circle arms wide up and overhead as you inhale. Sit a little bit lower if you can as you exhale. You can do this. Inhale, Arms wide up and overhead. Reach up. Exhale, Draw the energy inward, Hands to prayer. Close your eyes. Inhale, Reach up. Exhale sit low. Twice more. You got it. Inhale, Reach. Exhale, Sit. One more time, Yogis. Inhale, Reach up. Exhale, Sit low in your squat. Stay low, Now bring your elbows to the tops of your thighs. Your stance is likely a little wide, So you'll toe heel your feet in a little bit closer together so your knees can align over your ankles. As you do that, Press your forearms into your inner thighs, Inner thighs back into your forearms. And maybe grab hold of your calves, Your shins, Or your ankles. Create a flat spine with your back. So booty back, Crown of the head forward. You've got three breaths. Sumo squat. Breathe in. Exhale, Breathe out one. Breathe in, Feel the strength and the stretch of the adductor muscles. Breathe out two, That's the inner groin muscles working. One more cycle, Breathe in. Exhale, Breathe out. Good, Finally straighten your legs, I'm sure you want that. Parallel your feet now, Toes can face forward or they can slightly turn inward, Heels slightly out. Lengthen both sides of your body as you inhale, Flat back, And then exhale, Wide-legged forward fold. I'll encourage you to bend your knees here, Maybe bounce a little bit up and down. It might feel good to find some organic movement, A little sway of the body side to side. Maybe you bend one knee. Maybe the other knee. Find what works for you. Or just stay right where you are in a wide-legged forward bend. Take another breath. Breathe in. Open mouth, Let something go. Exhale, Breathe out. We'll keep moving. Inhale, Come onto your fingertips. Halfway lift. Skandasana. Turn your left toes out. Bend your left knee. Straighten your right leg and look over your right shoulder. Back through center inhale bend your right knee straighten your left leg and look over your left shoulder Keep it going, Inhale center. You might like to take a karate chop, Arms go wide, Sitting low, Adding some variations. Inhale center Imagine you're surfing, Bend your right knee, Straighten your left, Look over your left shoulder. One more in each direction side to side maybe you add a little twist Side to side to the right. Maybe right hand down, Left arm up. All variations are welcome. Come on back through center. Prasarita Padottanasana. Come onto your fingertips again, Halfway lift. And then quarter turn to your right, You land in a right leg lunge. Plant the hands down, Step to plank, Right foot to meet your left foot. And then push back to downward facing dog poop. Find your breath here, Breathe in. Let something go. Breathe out. Okay, We keep moving. Right leg. We'll sweep straight up and back to the space behind you. Take your time with this. Open your right hip, Bend your right knee, And twist to the right. Inhale, Re-extend right leg straight up and back to the space behind you. Now right knee, Right tricep, Bring your right knee wide. Again, Right leg straight up and back to the space behind you. And finally, You'll step forward, Right foot to your right thumb. Turn the back heel down 45 degrees. And you'll come on up to rise. Warrior one pose. Arms by your ears or the hands come together to touch. Take a breath, Please. Breathe in. On the exhale, Float the arms alongside your body. Breathe out. Interlace your grip behind you or use your strap. Press into both feet, Lift the heart, Lift the chest. Humble warrior, Bow forward, Right shoulder intersects with the right knee and the head and neck hangs low. This might feel good enough for you. You might like to widen your stance a bit. Right toes forward, Left heel back. And the head and neck hangs heavy. Three breaths. Okay, Release. Hands to the earth. Everybody come onto the ball of the left foot. Lower down to your left knee for a wide knee low lunge. Press your pelvis forward for a moment. Lower your pelvis and lift the heart. Wide angled half splits. Straighten your right leg. Just get off that front leg for a moment. Stretch out the right calf muscles and the right hamstring muscle. We keep going. Re-bend your right knee. Take your left hand either to the mat or off of your mat onto the floor outside of your mat. Right hand to the right inner thigh and you twist right. Option to stay here or bend your left knee. Come up onto the left fingertips or keep your left hand grounded. Or option to advance. You can lower down towards your left forearm. You can either indulge in the twist by kicking your foot back into your hand, Hand back into your foot, Or fold in towards the mat. Make this a little bit more intensive. Squeeze your left heel towards your left butt cheek and then kick the foot into the hand for added resistance. Three breaths. Great, Release the left toes. Come on back to your center. Come up onto the fingertips, Back to a regular old wide knee low lunge. And now we'll walk to pigeon pose. So you'll toe heel your right foot over towards the left side of your mat. And then drape your right knee down towards your right wrist. Now, The right shin ends up being on an angle. I like to toe heel my left toes back or inch my left toes back to the space behind me. Before I surrender, I press down through my shins. I lift through the pelvis. I lift through my heart. Proud pigeon, I call this one. And then you can exhale, Surrender into sleeping pigeon. Take your hands, Elbows, Chest, Chin or forehead towards the earth. Feel free to add support as you need to. Let's go 30 seconds in Sleeping Pigeon. Let this be a more passive, Enjoyable shape. Don't worry so much about the alignment or Adjusting too much. We're not here for much longer. Already halfway through. What else can you do to ground, To release? Tension in the hip. Or whatever it is that you no longer need. One more breath. On your next inhale, Rise on up to seated. Go ahead and lean to the right. Soften the left knee and then swing the left leg around for artematsyandrasana seated spinal twist. Take your left foot outside of your right thigh. Take your left hand behind your left hip. Right arm reaches up to the sky. Inhale. And then twist to the left. Right elbow is going to cross outside of the left thigh. Right hand can come to your heart. Offering yourself some love and compassion. Three breaths. No hurries. Brief counter twist to the other side, Twisting to the right. And then come on back through center. Just lean back. Loosen the cross of your legs. And let's make our way back to Downward Facing Dog. Nothing too fancy today. Just step back to Adho Mukha Svanasana. Find your breath again. Breathe in. Offer it up, Exhale, Breathe out. Here we go. Left side, Left leg straight up and back to the space behind you. Open your left hip, Bend your left knee and twist to your left. Inhale, Extend, Left leg straight up and back. Now one time, Left knee, Left tricep, Tap it wide, Just once. Inhale, Re-extend, Left leg straight up and back. And now step forward, Left foot to your left thumb. Turn the back heel down about 45 degrees and you'll rise on up to warrior one pose. Virabhadrasana one. Maybe hands come to touch at the top. Breathe in, Reach up. Exhale, Float the arms alongside your body. Remember, You can always add the strap. Interlace your grip behind you if you have that capacity. Press into both feet. Lift the heart. Lift your gaze. Exhale, Now humble warrior, Bow forward, Left shoulder comes inside of your left knee, The head and neck hangs heavy, And you look to the back of your space. Three breaths. Good. Release the grip if you have it. Release the strap if you have it. Come on to your fingertips. Lift the back heel high. Lower the back knee down. Widen your lunge as much as you can. Drop your pelvis. Lift the heart. Wide leg. Low lunge. A brief counter pose. Straighten the left leg. Draw your hips back. And stretch through the left hamstrings and the left calf muscle. From there, We bend your left knee. Take your right hand to the mat or off of the mat onto the floor beside you. Take your left hand to your left inner thigh and take a gentle twist to your left. From there, Maybe left arm goes to the sky. You might bend your right knee and hold onto your right foot with your left hand. Again, For more length, You can come onto the right fingertips or for more depth, Lower down to your right forearm. Option to, Of course, Indulge in the opening or. . . Grab onto the big toe side of your right foot. Squeeze your left heel towards your butt and then bow forward. Couple breaths. You release the right foot if you have it. Come on back through center. Come on to the fingertips. Just reset yourself into this wide knee low lunge. And setting up now for pigeon pose. Walk your left toes over towards your right. The right side of your mat. Your left knee will drape off to the left wrist. You can angle the front shin. Inch the right toes back to the space behind you. Proud pigeon first. You'll press into the shins. Lift the pelvis. Lift the heart. And lift your chest. Exhale sleeping pigeon lower down to your hands forearms and elbows Come on down and get comfortable. Find rest. Maybe look the other direction if you can remember which direction you looked at the other time. And again, Just 30 seconds to enjoy the pause. You're more than halfway. What else can you do to soften? Enjoy your next exhalation. If you need more time, Feel free to stay longer. Otherwise, You'll rise on up to seated. You're going to lean to your left. Soften the right knee. Swing the right leg around for seated spinal twist. Right foot will come outside of the left thigh. Right hand comes behind your right hip. Left arm reaches up towards the sky, And then you take the twist. Left elbow, Right thigh, And then you rotate to your right. Maybe left hand plants down to the. . . Heart in the front of your chest. And then you twist accordingly to the right. Don't force it. Let it be enjoyable. Three breaths. Good, Counter twist to the left. And then we'll stay seated. Just go ahead and lean back and loosen the cross of the legs. You'll use your strap now if you haven't already. And we'll come into what we call Agni Stambhasana or Fire Log Pose. Let's do the right side first. Have your left knee bent in. Hug your right knee in towards your chest. And then cross your right shin on top of your left shin. This is called Fire Log Pose. So imagine your legs are like fire logs, One on top of the other. If you have tighter hips, And this is more like what it looks like in your shape, Or there's a trick with the strap you'll take your strap unravel it if it's rolled up Take your strap beneath your bottom shin or ankle and over the top knee. So in this case, It's the bottom left shin and across the top of the right knee. You make a loop and you just tie it. Tie the strap so that the right knee will lower down towards the left ankle. From here, You'll come onto your fingertips, Lengthen your spine, And then as you exhale, Begin to fold hands, Forearms, Elbows. Come on down. You can rest your head onto something or just let it dangle. Again, Just 30 seconds in Agnistan Bassana, Double pigeon, Fire log pose. Finish out your next exhalation. No hurries, Yogis. You take your time. Slowly rise on up. Loosen the strap if you have it. Go ahead and move it off to the side for a second. And then you'll just lean back. Uncross your legs for reverse tabletop. I'm going to come onto profile so you can see me. Palms are behind you. Fingertips face forward. Imagine you're doing a tricep dip. The feet are planted down. Take a breath in. And then as you exhale, Press into your hands, Press into your feet, And lift your hips. Reverse tabletop for three. And one, Sit down and then we'll switch. So now it should be left ankle on top of your right knee, Left knee over the right ankle. Again, If you have tighter hips, You can either extend your bottom leg or take your strap beneath the right shin and loop it around the left knee. Make a really easy knot, Tie the knot and lower the left knee to any comfortable edge, Right? Find what feels sustainable for you. Pop up back onto the fingertips, Lengthen your spine. And then exhale begin to fold hands, Forearms or elbows. Or any edge that feels appropriate for you, 30 seconds. As I often say, You'll likely feel some variance from right to left, Left to right, Just notice. Hopefully you're feeling a little bit more open. Hopefully you're feeling a little bit more grounded. Halfway now. Lean into that feeling of grounded energy as we come into our surrender. One more breath. Follow the exhale to completion. And then again, Slowly rise on up. Take your time. Loosen the strap. Go ahead and move it off to the side. You won't need it. Once again, We'll lean back. Face this way. We'll lean back. Fingertips face forward. You'll bend both elbows. Reverse tabletop. Press into your feet. Press into your hands and lift your hips. Lift them higher than you think. They won't go too far, I promise. Hold it for three. Tchoo! One sit down now your fingertips are facing forward you're going to turn your fingertips so that they face the back corners of your space you'll walk your feet a little bit wider and then we'll start to drape the knees to the left And center, Knees to the right. You'll start to notice you might start to slouch in your shoulders. You can let that happen. As that happens, Start to inch your fingertips towards the back corners of your space. And then eventually you'll come to do that. And lie all the way down. Continue the rock of the knees side to side. The next time your knees drape over to the left, Keep them to the left and maybe cross outer left ankle on top of your right thigh. Arms can come out into a cactus. Close your eyes and breathe. If you have the ankle crossed, Uncross it. Take your feet wide, Knees back through center. Drape your knees to the right now. Maybe cross right ankle on top of left. Press your pelvis to the right. And just a few breaths. Hip flexor supine twist. Engage your belly. Come on back through center. Uncross your legs. Happy baby pose. Hold on to your knees, Your shins, Your ankles, Or the soles of your feet. Make sure you stretch out the back of your hips as we already opened the inner groins, The outer hips. And the front side. And we'll end in Supta Baddha Konasana. Feet come together. Knees drape out to the sides of your space. Hands to your belly. Hands to your heart. Or arms relax alongside your body. And this is where we'll close our practice today. Hopefully you feel a little bit more open, A little bit more activated in the hip joint. Let this be your surrender for today's practice. So glad you decided to join us. Until next time. Namaste.
