Hip-Opening Yoga: 6 Poses to Unlock Tight Hips

Versatile hips aren’t nearly getting bendier; frequently working towards hip-opening yoga poses can considerably cut back decrease again ache and hip enhance vary of movement, making on a regular basis actions a lot simpler and extra pain-free, in response to a September-December 2019 research within the Worldwide Journal of Yoga.

“Consider all of the actions you do in a day; all of them contain your hips, do not they?” says Paige Willis, RYT-200, licensed yoga teacher and founding father of Undone, a pop-up yoga expertise. “You stroll, sit, attain, and bend, and your hips are the engine that makes all of it attainable. So in the event that they’re tight, these every day actions will really feel stickier, much less snug.”

Willis is the host of our April 2024 Motion of the Month Membership, specializing in yoga. Designed to ease stress and improve mobility, these six yoga poses for Week 3 of this system deliver a way of aid and openness you may not have felt shortly—particularly if you happen to spend plenty of time sitting (it is us, hello).

Be a part of the Motion

In case you’re following together with our Motion of the Month Membership, you’ll do one pose every day, Monday by means of Saturday. Then on Sunday, you’ll do the total 5-minute routine.

Do every pose for 50 seconds (25 seconds on all sides, the place mandatory) earlier than shifting on to the subsequent one, for a complete of 5 minutes. In case you’re feeling particularly tight or if in case you have extra time, be happy to do every transfer for so long as feels good.

Associated Tales

1. Goddess Pose (Utkata Konasana)

The ability of this pose is within the identify: It should make you are feeling like a goddess. It strengthens your legs, hips, and core and deeply stretches your hips (exterior rotation) and interior thighs.

1. Stand tall together with your ft wider than hip-width aside, toes pointed barely outward and arms by your sides.
2. On an exhale, bend your knees deeply, decreasing your hips down towards the bottom.
3. Preserve your knees monitoring according to your toes, guaranteeing they don’t collapse inward.
4. Purpose to deliver your thighs parallel to the bottom (in case your flexibility permits), forming a proper angle together with your calves.
5. Prolong your arms out to the edges at shoulder top, palms dealing with ahead or upward.

2. Star Pose (Utthita Tadasana)

This pose reaches nearly each muscle in your physique by having you stretch out in all instructions, whereas creating house on your lungs to replenish and your coronary heart to open.

1. Stand tall together with your ft collectively and arms by your sides.
2. On an inhale, step your ft aside, spreading them about 3 to 4 ft aside.
3. Prolong your arms out to the edges at shoulder top, reaching actively by means of your fingertips.
4. For a deeper stretch, you may raise your arms overhead and attain upward, lengthening by means of your whole physique.

3. Warrior 2 (Virabhadrasana II)

By working towards warrior 2 pose, you encourage openness throughout your hips and chest and create a way of groundedness that may additionally offer you an power enhance.

1. Stand tall together with your ft collectively and arms by your sides.
2. Take a step again together with your left foot, about 3 to 4 ft behind your proper foot.
3. Flip your left foot out barely, roughly 45 to 90 levels, so your toes level towards the left facet of your mat.
4. Bend your proper knee, stacking it immediately over your proper ankle.
5. Preserve your left leg straight and robust, urgent firmly into the outer fringe of your left foot.
6. Prolong your arms out to the edges at shoulder top, parallel to the bottom, together with your palms dealing with down.
7. Return to middle, then repeat on the opposite facet.

4. Prolonged Facet Angle (Utthita Parsvakonasana)

Take warrior 2 one step additional to open your hips, strengthen your legs, and stretch your facet physique much more.

1. Start in warrior 2 (see above) together with your proper knee bent and your proper thigh parallel to the bottom.
2. Prolong your arms out to the edges at shoulder top, palms dealing with down.
3. On an exhale, tilt your torso to the fitting, bringing your proper forearm to relaxation in your proper thigh.
4. Prolong your left arm overhead, reaching towards the entrance of your mat, making a straight line out of your left fingertips all the way down to your left heel.
5. To launch, inhale as you straighten your proper leg and raise your torso again as much as warrior 2.
6. Repeat the pose on the opposite facet, transitioning by means of warrior 2 together with your left knee bent.

5. Standing Facet Lunge

This dynamic lunge variation requires the hip of the prolonged leg to open and the groin space to stretch. This engages and progressively loosens the hip flexors, adductors, and muscle tissue surrounding the pelvis, rising hip vary of movement, encouraging higher circulation to those areas, and bettering flexibility and mobility over time.

1. Stand together with your ft collectively, palms at your sides, and distribute your weight evenly by means of each ft.
2. With an exhale, step your ft about 3 to 4 ft aside.
3. Bend your proper knee and push your hips again to decrease right into a lateral lunge. Your proper thigh must be parallel to the ground, with the fitting knee aligned over your proper ankle. Preserve your left leg straight, together with your left foot firmly planted on the bottom.
4. Straighten your leg, then repeat on the opposite leg.
5. Proceed to rock facet to facet.

6. Half Pigeon Pose (Eka Pada Rajakapotasana)

Half pigeon pose opens the hips by focusing on each the deep hip rotators and hip flexors by means of a balanced stretch, selling flexibility and offering aid gently.

1. Start in downward-facing canine. Take a deep breath in, lifting your proper leg as much as the sky.
2. As you exhale, deliver your proper knee ahead towards your proper wrist. Place your proper knee on the mat and place it simply exterior your proper hip fairly than immediately in entrance.
3. Slowly stroll your proper foot towards the left facet of your mat, aiming to deliver your shin parallel to the entrance fringe of the mat.
4. Gently decrease your hips towards the mat, guaranteeing they’re squared to the entrance of your room or mat. Place a folded blanket or a yoga block below your proper hip if it doesn’t comfortably attain the ground.
5. For a deeper stretch, slowly stroll your palms ahead, decreasing your torso down over your proper leg.
6. To launch the pose, gently stroll your palms again towards your physique, lifting your torso. Tuck your left toes, raise your hips, and return to downward-facing canine.
7. Shake out your proper leg, then repeat the sequence together with your left leg ahead.