Cool-Down Hip-Opening Practice

Short audio-only yoga practice designed as a cool-down. Ideal for after a workout.

Features lunges, hip-opening, a few standing postures, and some deeper hip releases on the floor. Long holds, precise alignment cues.

Transcript

So this is a deep hip stretch and a really good cool down for if you just did a workout.

I just did a workout so I thought I would record this.

I don't know about any of you guys but often if I do a workout and I don't do any yoga afterward or I don't do a really good stretch it feels like something is missing.

This is a really good way to round it out to just feel amazing like that energized strong but really calm and blissed out feeling.

So you'll just need your mat.

We'll start in a downward dog.

You can also do this as a stand alone practice the only thing is it won't be the same if your body isn't already warmed up it will just feel different but it's not bad.

Okay so come into downward facing dog.

Spread your fingers spread your toes connect to your base like you're plugging into the ground that energy source of the earth and lift your hips up long behind you as if something could slide off your back.

Lift your right leg up into the air.

Bend your knee open your hip for a breath.

Inhale straighten your legs square your hips and pull your knee into your chest step your foot all the way through.

Bring your left knee down to the ground and inhale come up into angina asanas just a little low lunge and as you exhale hands come down to the ground.

Walk your right foot out to the right edge of the mat.

Roll onto the outer edge of your right foot so that the sole of the foot is lifted off the ground and the right knee opens.

And then either stay here or come down to your forearms.

And if you have some blocks handy or another prop and your elbows don't quite reach the ground you might put one or both up on a prop.

And then bend your left knee reach around grab the top of your left foot.

And we'll start with it a bit of the twist the chest opener so roll your chest open to face the right side wall or the ceiling or sky if you happen to be outside and take a few breaths here feel as you press your foot back into your hand how it opens both your chest and your left quadricep.

And then slowly this is actually probably going to deepen it for most of us,

You're going to bring the sole of your left foot back down onto the ground so your hips will close a bit and close the chest as well to square it off towards the ground.

You can actually sort of arrest your right forearm on your outer right hip.

And now you're bringing your chest to face the ground.

Bow your head and pull your foot in towards your left glute.

So before we were pressing the foot into the hand.

Now you're using the hand to pull it towards you deepening the stretch.

It might feel hard to keep that right foot on the ground but as much as you can now keep it contained.

Notice where the breath gets stuck or where you're tempted to grip or tense and can you soften let go.

Let your breath move unrestricted through your body to open where it needs to open.

Might be getting a little spicy in the hip by now,

If it hasn't already.

Slowly release your left foot and step your right foot back simple downward dog.

Okay,

Other side reach your left leg up into the air.

Bend your knee open your hip and square hip step your foot between your hands bring your right knee down to the ground.

Inhale just one breath to come up and janeasana.

And as you exhale hands come down to the ground.

So heal your left foot out to the left edge of the mat turn your toes slightly open and roll onto the outer edge of your foot.

Now you might need to scoot your right knee back so that you're not way too far forward in a short stance and then if it feels good bring your elbows down to the ground.

Bend your right knee reach around grab your foot and spend a few breaths in the twist the heart opener.

Kick your foot.

Oh,

I got a cramp.

Kick your foot into your hands in order to open the upper chest.

Head across your collarbone and then slowly you'll start to bring the left foot to the ground and close left shoulder faces the ground and now you bow your head and pull that left foot in towards your right glute.

Sorry that right foot in towards your right glute.

One more.

Oh and then release your foot and hands come down to the ground step back.

This time just onto your through your knees so you're in table and then bring your forearms down to the ground hands come out in front of you and you'll come into dolphin.

So either the forearms parallel the fingers pointing straight out in front of you with the palms flat or if you need to you can interlace your fingers and press the outer edge of your wrists into the ground.

Curl under your toes lift your knees come up into dolphin pose.

Hips lifted high.

Trans transfer your weight into your left foot reach your right leg into the air and drop your left heel towards the ground so that you feel that opening in your calf and behind your knee.

Breathe.

Use your hands to press yourself away from the ground.

And then rise up onto your left toes maybe walk your left foot in and go higher through your right leg.

One more.

And as you exhale switch sides right foot down left leg up start with your right heel grounding so that you open your right calf behind the knee.

Your right ankle.

Good for mobility in your right ankle.

Come up onto your right toes.

Walk a little further lift your left leg really high.

Breath in full breath out.

Elbows keep pressing down so that you lift up you're not collapsing in the shoulders.

One more breath.

And left foot comes down knees come to the ground or child's pose.

Okay come back into downward dog.

Step your right foot between your hands.

Right toes facing forward we're going to come up into half moon,

Adi Sandhasana,

You might use I like this kettlebell in front of me so I'm going to use that as if it were a block to get some height,

But you can also just have your hand on the ground,

Left hand comes to your hip,

And you step onto your right foot,

Left leg reaches behind you with the toes pointing out to the left hips open towards the left side wall.

Take your arm alongside your left leg and lift your left leg up into your hand.

So left foot is flexed and you're reaching into your heel,

Both legs,

Super active.

And if you can do more.

Perhaps you reach your left arm up into the air.

Now,

For today rather than looking up at the left hand,

Look straight out in front of you align your head with the rest of your spine so your neck lengthens,

Almost as if you're leaning your head back if you were against a wall for example,

So that your whole body is on one plane.

And when you lean your head back slightly lengthen the back of your neck,

Feel how your chest can open more.

And then rotate the right side of your abdomen towards the left so feel the twist through your torso and see if you can get even more stacked so that your right left hip lifts up even more,

And you open across your chest.

Take one more breath here.

Cool.

And then you'll bring your left hand down to the ground and start to square your hips into standing split without dropping your left leg.

So you want to keep your left thigh lifting up high.

And then take your right hand,

Bring your thumb inside your right hip crease and pull it back so pull the flesh of your hip crease back.

That's going to have the effect of straightening your right leg even more,

And you should feel a really deep stretch along the outside of your right leg.

And then if you'd like,

Left fingertips,

Either on the ground and you bow,

Or if you want more left hand can come actually to your right ankle so that you make it a full balance on your foot.

Neither hand is on the ground.

It's optional.

Whichever option you choose,

You're pulling yourself in towards your shin,

Maybe you're really far from it,

Or maybe you're close to it.

That's not really the point.

The point is the direction that you're moving in.

So you use the inhales to find length and the exhales to curl in towards your shin,

Look up towards your belly button and drop the crown of your head towards the ground.

One more breath.

Both hands down on the ground,

Step your left foot back so that you're in,

Setting up for a revolved triangle so that the left toes will be pointing slightly out to the left with the heel on the ground,

Right leg straight.

Place your hand either inside the right foot or outside the right foot.

If you have a block again,

You could place on a block and bring your right hand to your sacrum.

If you want more,

Right arm reaches all the way up and you turn across your belly.

So left belly comes over to the right.

You feel that rotation through the torso that then has the effect of letting you widen your chest even more and get long from left arm all the way up through the right arm.

All the while,

Right outer hip is pulling back and you're feeling that stretch.

This is a pose,

This is an intense pose and it's tempting to sort of seize up and hold the breath here.

What would you have to do to let the breath flow?

Release.

Bring your hand down to the ground and scoot your left foot back a little bit.

Bring your knee down,

Bending your right knee and we'll come into pigeon.

So before we come into a passive pigeon,

Bring your right foot straight in the middle of the mat.

So not all the way over to the left yet.

Flex your right foot and bend your knee out to the side.

You might need to scoot your left knee a little bit further back.

So your knee probably won't come to the ground.

For some people it might,

But with your knee lifted as it is,

Bring your forearms down to frame your foot.

If that feels really intense,

You might stay up on your hands,

But if you can,

You're down on your forearms.

Take a few breaths.

Come back up onto your hands.

Now continue walking your left foot over to the left and bring it as close,

The shin as close to parallel to the front of the mat as you can.

Lengthen the top of your foot and press the outer edge of your right leg into the ground.

And as you press the outer edge of the leg into the ground,

See if you can get a bit of height in your pelvis.

Keep the left toes curled under so that you're lifted in the pelvis.

And then if you're able to reach your arms up overhead,

Hook your thumbs and take three deep breaths here.

Back muscles working.

All the little muscles that support the lift in the spine are strengthening.

And then finally hands come down.

Lay yourself out over your right leg.

So now reclined pigeon.

Might make a little pillow for your forehead with your hands stacked.

And curl your left toes.

Settle in.

Feel the outer edge of your right leg pressing into the ground.

And feel the back of your heart.

And now as you inhale,

I want you to imagine filling that space.

So filling outer right leg,

Pressing down,

Breath back up into the back of the rib cage,

The back of the heart.

And as you exhale,

Hold your attention there and soften.

Again,

Inhale,

Foot down into the ground,

Shin down.

Breath moves into the back of the heart,

The back of the rib cage,

Balloon it up.

And exhale,

Relax into the ground.

Start to come back up.

As you come up,

You're going to take your right foot in and you're going to turn to your left leg.

Your left leg is straight out behind you.

So coming into a seated side body stretch.

So the right foot is in the groin,

Left leg long.

Turn towards your right foot.

I'm going to give you an additional variation.

You can either have it in at your groin or you can take the foot behind you as if you're in the virasana,

Half virasana with the leg.

So the right foot's behind you.

And move your right knee as far as back as you can.

If that's confusing,

Just don't do it.

Do the first option.

And then start to lower down,

Reach your left arm actually back towards your right leg and see if you can get the outer arm against your inner left leg.

There,

Take your arm up,

Bring your hand behind your head to cradle your head or reach your right arm all the way to your left foot.

Breathe into your right ribs.

And release,

Come up,

Come back to the front of your mat.

We got that all on the other side.

Okay,

Deep breath in.

Step your left foot between your hands.

We'll start with a half moon,

Anitra and asana.

Left hand comes down,

Right hand to the hip.

Make sure your left toes are pointing all the way forward,

That they haven't migrated in to point to the right.

They're pointed all the way forward.

Lift your hip up into your hand and then if it feels good,

Reach your right arm up into the air.

Left side of your belly rotates up.

Feel your whole body rotate up in the opposite direction as your left foot.

Widen across your chest as you slightly lean your head back,

Lengthen the back of your neck.

And see how when you're aligning your head with the rest of your spine,

There's more of an openness in the front body.

Coming through the roof of your mouth,

The crown of your head.

Slowly bring right hand down to the ground.

Keep your right hip lifting high up as you come into standing splits.

Take your left hand with your thumb,

Dig into your hip crease,

Pull the flesh of the hip back,

And feel your leg power up and get straighter and then bow with the right fingertips down.

Bow yourself in.

Or if you want to balance,

Bring your right hand to your left ankle.

Look up towards your belly button.

Notice if your breath gets stuck.

Can you relax your jaw,

Your throat,

Your eyes?

It's like that's the challenge.

How calm can you stay when the sensation gets intense?

Take one more breath.

Hands back down to the ground and step your right foot back,

Setting up for a revolved triangle.

So legs in pyramid,

Right foot is down with the toes pointing slightly out to the right.

Feet hips width distance with the left leg totally straight.

Hand can come either onto a block or on the inside of the foot or more intense outside of the foot.

And if it's on the outside of the foot,

You might be able to get it so that your forearm is actually pressing your shin back.

So your forearm and your shin are pressing into each other and that's keeping the bones of the leg moving back.

And then if you have space and it doesn't feel unbearable,

Your left arm might reach up into the air.

Otherwise it can stay on your sacrum and you're turning from the low belly,

Turning right abdomen over to the left.

And you get that rotation all the way up through the chest and then maybe even the neck.

So you might look up at the hand.

What would you need to let go of here to breathe more fully?

Breathe deeper and more circumferentially in the body.

Bring your left hand down,

Scoot your right foot back,

Bring your knee down to the ground.

Toe heel your left foot into the center of the mat,

Flex your foot and open your knee out to the side.

If you can,

Forearms down to frame the foot,

The knee might be really high up in the air,

That's totally fine.

But we're opening it.

This is a really active form of a pigeon stretch.

And while there are benefits to doing the pose passively,

We create a lot of both strength and flexibility when we do a really active version of it.

So you're pressing your foot into the ground and opening your knee out to the side.

Just one more breath.

And come back up onto your hands,

Walk your foot out to the right and bring your knee down now.

So you might in order to do that,

In order to bring your knee down,

Maybe you brought your foot closer in towards your groin,

But keep it as far forward as you can.

So it might be really far from that shin being perpendicular to the front of the mat,

But that's the direction that you're moving in.

Keep the right toes curled under,

Press the outer edge of your left foot,

Your left shin and your left knee into the ground in order to elevate your hips,

Pull up through your pelvic floor and reach your arms overhead with the thumbs hooked.

Feel how strong your back body gets here in this back end.

And can you stay calm?

One more breath.

Not freaking out,

Bring your hands down and recline.

So walk your hands either out in front of you and lay your belly down or you can bend your elbows and make a pillow by stacking one hand on top of the other and bringing your forehead down.

Feel the outer edge of your left foot pressing down into the ground and the back of your heart lifting up.

And as you inhale,

Breathe down into your shin,

Up into your upper back,

Ballooning the body with a breath.

And as you exhale,

Hold your attention there and relax.

Inhale down into the shin,

Up into the back.

Exhale.

One more like that.

And release.

Start to come up onto the hands.

Pull your left heel into your groin or take your foot into half-virasana behind you,

Pointing your knee all the way out to the left or the front edge of the mat as close as you can get it.

Right leg is towards the back of the mat,

Hips as open as possible.

Take your right arm down against your inner leg and reach your right hand over to your left foot and you're pressing into your leg for leverage to rotate your chest open.

Now you can either bring your left arm up and bring your hand behind your head.

Use your hand to cradle your head or you might reach your left hand towards your foot and fully stretched,

Keep revolving your chest out from under as if you want to get your chest to face the sky or the ceiling.

Okay,

Come out of it.

Turn to face the front of the mat.

Just one more time.

The facing dog to stretch it out and then bring your knees down,

Cross your ankles,

Come all the way onto your back.

Wow,

It's almost been 30 minutes.

I cannot for my life do a short class.

Bringing you into your chest.

Give yourself a hug.

And extend your legs all the way in front of you.

For Shavasana,

Lay yourself out on the ground.

Let go,

Let go,

Let go.

Take a deep breath down into your belly.

Open your mouth,

Sigh.

One more like that,

Deep breath.

Exhale.

And relax.

I'll end it here,

But you stay as long as you'd like to rest your body.