Yoga for Hips

Sit on your mat and cross your shins comfortably, letting each foot rest under the opposite knee. Sit on the front of your sit-bones and rest your hands on your thighs or knees. If your hips feel tight, sit up on the edge of a folded blanket.

1. Inhale — root down through your sit-bones and lengthen up through the crown of your head.
2. Exhale — settle your shoulders down your back and soften your face and jaw.
3. Rest your hands on your knees or in your lap, letting your knees relax toward the floor. Hold the position, breathing steadily.

• Sit up on a folded blanket if your lower back rounds or your knees sit high.
• Stack your ears over your shoulders and your shoulders over your hips.
• Let your knees settle naturally rather than pressing them down.
• Switch the cross of your shins partway through so both sides share the work.

Start on your hands and knees in a tabletop position. Place your wrists directly under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Spread your fingers wide and press evenly into the mat. Begin with your spine in a neutral, flat position.

1. Inhale — drop your belly toward the floor, lift your chest and tailbone toward the ceiling, and let your gaze travel forward and slightly up. This is cow.
2. Exhale — round your spine toward the ceiling, tuck your chin toward your chest, and draw your tailbone down. This is cat. Flow between the two with the rhythm of your breath.

• Let the breath lead the shape; one full inhale per cow, one full exhale per cat.
• Press the mat away from you on both halves so your shoulders stay supported.
• Keep your wrists and knees stationary — the movement lives in the spine and ribs, not the arms.

From a standing forward fold or downward-facing dog, step your right foot forward between your hands into a lunge, with your right knee bent over your ankle. Keep your back leg straight and lifted with the heel high.

1. Inhale — sweep your arms forward and overhead, framing your head with your palms facing each other.
2. Exhale — sink your hips down and forward, keeping your front knee stacked over your ankle.
3. Inhale — lengthen up through your spine and reach up through your fingertips. Hold the position, breathing steadily.
4. Exhale — lower your hands, step back, and repeat with the left foot forward.

• Keep your front knee tracking over your middle toes, not drifting past them.
• Reach back through your back heel to keep the back leg long and active.
• Draw your lower ribs in so your lower back stays long as you reach up.
• Relax your shoulders down away from your ears.

Stand with your feet wide apart. Turn your right foot to point straight forward and angle your left foot slightly in. Extend your arms out to the sides at shoulder height. Keep both legs straight but not locked.

1. Inhale — reach actively out over your right leg, lengthening the right side of your waist.
2. Exhale — hinge from your right hip and lower your right hand toward your shin, ankle, or the floor, wherever your body allows.
3. Inhale — extend your left arm toward the ceiling, opening your chest, and turn your gaze up toward your top hand if your neck allows. Hold the position, breathing steadily.
4. Exhale — press through your feet to rise, then repeat on the other side.

• Reach out and over before you lower down, keeping both sides of the waist long.
• Rest your bottom hand only as low as you can go without rounding your spine.
• Stack your top shoulder over the bottom one so your chest stays open.
• Keep both legs active with the kneecaps gently lifted.

Begin in a tabletop position on your hands and knees. Slide your right knee forward toward your right wrist and angle your right shin across the mat, letting the outside of the shin rest on the floor. Extend your left leg straight back behind you with the top of the foot on the mat.

1. Inhale — walk your hands forward slightly and lengthen your spine, lifting through your chest.
2. Exhale — lower your torso toward the floor over your front shin, resting on your forearms or reaching your arms forward. Hold for the prescribed duration, breathing steadily.
3. Press back up through your hands and switch sides.

• Keep your back leg pointing straight behind you, not angled out to the side.
• Flex your front foot to keep the front knee supported.
• Slide a folded blanket under the hip of your front leg if it lifts away from the floor.

Lie on your back with your knees bent and the soles of your feet together, letting your knees fall open to the sides into a diamond shape. Rest your arms out at your sides with your palms facing up, or on your belly.

1. Inhale — lengthen through the crown of your head and settle your shoulders and back into the floor.
2. Exhale — soften the weight of your knees toward the floor and broaden across your chest.
3. Let your whole body grow heavy and passive. Hold the position, breathing slowly into your belly.
4. To exit, gently bring your knees back together with your hands.

• Let gravity open your hips rather than pressing your knees down.
• Place a pillow or folded blanket under each knee if your inner thighs feel strained.
• Keep your lower back relaxed and settled, not arched.
• Let each exhale soften your body a little more into the floor.

Lie on your back. Bend your knees toward your chest.

1. Inhale — open your knees wider than your torso and bring them toward your armpits.
2. Exhale — flex your feet, point the soles up toward the ceiling, and reach your hands to grab the outsides of your feet (or your shins or ankles). Hold for the prescribed duration, breathing steadily.
3. To exit, release your feet and bring your knees together.

• Keep your tailbone and lower back resting on the floor; don't lift the sacrum.
• If reaching your feet rounds your back, hold your shins instead.
• Let your weight be passive — this is a release pose, not a strength pose.

Lie on your back with your legs extended and feet relaxed open. Rest your arms by your sides with palms facing up. Let your shoulders settle into the floor.

1. Inhale — feel your whole body widen and settle.
2. Exhale — let the floor support your weight. Hold for the prescribed duration, breathing slowly and naturally.
3. To exit, draw a deep breath, gently move your fingers and toes, hug your knees to your chest, and roll to one side before sitting up.

• Make small adjustments to find true comfort: a pillow under the head, a blanket over the body, a bolster under the knees.
• Keep the jaw, brow, and tongue soft.
• Let the breath flow naturally; don't try to control it.