Stretch and Strengthen Your Hips With These Hip-Opening Yoga Poses

Wondering if you have tight hips? Here’s a simple test: Stand and look down at your feet. If your toes point outward rather than straight ahead, your hip muscles are probably overworked and need to be stretched. Hip openers are actually the most-requested moves in my yoga classes.

For people who sit a long time at work, the hip flexors and rotators become tight, and the gluteal muscles become weak. This combination negatively affects our ability to walk, maintain proper posture, and the stability of our spine.

The following yoga poses target each of the four primary directions of hip movement, with modifications for whatever level you’re starting at. Try to commit to doing some of these feel-good stretches three or four days a week, and you’ll notice a major difference in how your hips feel soon enough!

Happy Baby Pose:

How to:

Lie on your mat and pull your knees to your chest.
Place hands on outsides of feet, opening your knees wider than your torso.
Press your feet into hands while pulling down on feet, creating resistance.
Breathe deeply; hold for at least 30 seconds.

Reclined Bound Angle Pose:

How to:

Lie on your mat with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
Bring soles of feet together and let knees fall out to sides.
Place one hand on your heart and one hand on your belly.
Close your eyes and breathe deeply.
Hold for at least 30 seconds.

Frog Pose:

If most inner-thigh openers feel too easy, try Frog Pose.
Get down on all fours, with palms on the floor and your knees on blankets or a mat (roll your mat lengthwise, like a tortilla, and place it under your knees for more comfort).
Slowly widen your knees until you feel a comfortable stretch in your inner thighs, keeping the inside of each calf and foot in contact with the floor.
Make sure to keep your ankles in line with your knees.
Lower down to your forearms.
Stay here for at least 30 seconds.

Thread The Needle:

How to:

Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
Place left ankle right below right knee, creating a “four” shape with left leg.
Thread left arm through the opening you created with left leg and clasp hands behind right knee.
Lift right foot off floor and pull right knee toward chest, flexing left foot.
Hold for 30 seconds, then repeat on opposite side.

Half Pigeon:

How to:

Start in a runner’s lunge with right leg forward, right knee over right ankle and back leg straight.
Walk right foot over toward left hand, then drop right shin and thigh to the floor, making sure to keep right knee in line with right hip.
Allow left leg to rest on the floor with top of left foot facing down.
Hold here, or hinge at hips and lower torso toward floor, allowing head to rest on forearms.
Hold for at least 30 seconds, then repeat on opposite side.

Double Pigeon:

How to:

Sit on floor with knees bent and shins stacked with right leg on top.
Use your hand to position right ankle on left knee
. Ideally, the right knee will rest on the left thigh, but if your hips are tight, your right knee may point up toward the ceiling.
Keeping your hips squared to the front of the room, hinge at the hips and slowly walk hands slightly forward.
If this is enough of a stretch, hold here, or fold your torso over your thighs to go deeper.
Hold for at least 30 seconds, then repeat on opposite side.

Low Lunge:

How to:

Start in a runner’s lunge, right leg forward with knee over ankle and left knee on ground with top of your foot flat on the mat.
Slowly lift torso and rest hands lightly on right thigh.
Lean hips forward slightly, keeping right knee behind toes, and feel the stretch in the left hip flexor.
Hold here, or for a deeper stretch, raise arms overhead, biceps by ears.
Hold for at least 30 seconds, then repeat on opposite side.

Crescent Lunge:

How to:

Start in a low lunge, then straighten back leg, coming onto the ball of your back foot.
Hold here for at least 30 seconds, then repeat on opposite side.

Camel Pose:

How to:

Start kneeling on your mat with knees hip-width apart and hips directly over knees.
Press your shins and the tops of your feet into the mat. Bring your hands to your low back, fingers pointing down, and rest palms above glutes.
Inhale and lift your chest, and then slowly start to lean your torso back.
From here, bring your right hand to rest on your right heel and then your left hand to your left heel.
Press your thighs forward so they are perpendicular to the floor.
Keep your head in a relatively neutral position or, if it doesn’t strain your neck, drop it back.
Hold for 30 seconds.

Related article: The Yoga Moves That Build a Stronger Butt

Dancer’s Pose:

How to:

Stand on one foot, then lift and bend the other into a hamstring curl.
Grip the raised foot from the inside (palm facing out) with the same-side hand.
Press the top of your foot firmly into your palm and lift up.
The higher you lift, the deeper the stretch will feel.

Supported Bridge:

How to:

Lay supine (belly up) on the ground with knees bent and feet grounded, hips-width apart.
Lift your hips up toward the ceiling. Place your hands at your lower back, just above your butt, and keep your elbows grounded.
Relax your body weight on your hands to sink into this hips stretch while gently strengthening the lower back.

Hip Pry:

How to:

Lay prone (belly down) on the ground with arms out at shoulder height, palms facing down.
Keeping your arms out will help to glue your body to the ground as you twist.
Lift one leg, bend your knee, and reach that foot towards the outside of your hip on the other side.

Hero Pose With Block:

How to:

Kneel on your mat with thighs perpendicular to the floor and tops of of your feet facing down.
Place a yoga block between your feet.
Bring your inner knees together. Slide your feet apart so they are slightly wider than your hips, and press the tops of your feet evenly into the mat.
Slowly sit down on the yoga block.
Use your hands to turn the top of your thighs inward.
Allow the backs of your hands to rest on your thighs.
Hold for at least 30 seconds.

Reclining Hero Pose:

How to:

Kneel on your mat with your thighs perpendicular to the floor and tops of your feet facing down.
Bring your inner knees together.
Slide your feet apart so they are slightly wider than your hips and press the tops of your feet evenly into the mat.
Slowly sit down between your feet. Use your hands to turn the top of your thighs inward.
Then, lean back onto your forearms and slowly lower torso to floor.
Hold for at least 30 seconds.

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