Hip opening yoga poses offer improved mobility and flexibility. The hips are the body’s largest joints- and there’s a lot that can be stored there. Besides physical tightness in the hips that most people experience, emotions can often be stored here as well.
Healthy hips are crucial to movement throughout the entire body. Yoga is a tool to stretch and strengthen your hips offering mobility, flexibility, and a release of hidden emotions. Every yoga pose targets different areas of the body, and understanding which asanas benefit which body parts is a powerful tool for overall wellness.
These 22 yoga poses offer a wide variety of hip openers for every body type. From restorative poses using props to advanced poses with deep hip opening capabilities, this blog is your guide to finding which hip opening yoga poses work best for you.
Reclined Bound Angle
Starting with a restorative hip opening posture, reclined bound angle offers gentle external rotation of the hip. Perfect as a beginning pose for your practice or for anyone with an injury looking for a restorative stretch.
Lying on your back, press the soles of your feet together about 2 feet away from your body (or whatever distance feels best/most natural for you). Lower your knees down on either side of your body. Option to support your knees or lower back with props.
Butterfly
Butterfly is another gentle hip opening stretch. You decide how deeply you feel the pose by adjusting the distance between your body and your feet. Pressing the soles of your feet together, take a deep breath in and lift through the crown of your head. As you exhale, fold forward, draw your belly in towards your spine, and settle into the stretch. Option to have support under your knees or arms.
Garland (Yogi Squat)
Garland is a deep squat that’s a natural position for the human body. This grounding pose opens the hips, along with stretching your entire lower body. Rooting down through your feet, come into a squatting position. You can always have support under your sitting bones here (when I first started practicing this pose, it served me to sit on top of two blocks). Engage your hips and draw your navel towards your spine to support your lower back. Draw your shoulder blades back behind you to expand through your upper body.
Shoelace
For a more intense stretch, shoelace is a great option for more flexible yogis. There are many variations of this pose that offer an opportunity to move deeper into the pose with practice. Sitting upright with both legs extended forward in staff pose, start by bending into one of your legs. Keep the other leg straight, as you draw the sole of your foot to the inside of your leg. If this feels okay in your knee, then you can left that same foot and place in on top of your straight leg. If this still feels okay in your body, guide your foot over to your opposite knee. You then have the option to bend your straight leg, and move it towards your other hip.
Wide Leg Forward Fold
Try seated straddle for a more intense hip opening stretch. This pose stretches both the upper and lower body. Extend your legs out in front of you, then take your heels wide. Your inhale lifts you, your exhale tucks you in. It might serve you to have your hip elevated by sitting on a folded blanket. Explore if it feels better to have your spine straight or rounded here. Option to keep a soft bend in your knees or have a prop under them. You hands could meet the floor in front of you or rest on a prop. Settle in with your breath.
1/2 Lord of the Fishes
This is a deep twist that both stretches and strengthens. Arriving in staff pose with both legs extended, hug one of your knees in and ground it down on the opposite side of your straightened leg. Hook your elbow on the outside of your knee and rotate from your lower spine. Gaze as far back as feels comfortable for you. With each inhale feel your spine grow taller. With each exhale, twist a little deeper.
High Lunge
From downward dog, place your right foot along the inside of your right hand. Grounding into your front foot, rise strong with your hands extended overhead. Stack your front knee over your front ankle. Stay lifted through your vertebrae.
Low lunge
Entering this pose the same way you did in high lunge, keep your back knee grounded down on your mat. Engage the inside of your legs, and stay lifted through your upper body.
Lizard
From a runners lunge, heel toe your foot to the outside of your hand. Option to lower down onto forearms.
Goddess
With your feet spread apart, bend into your knees, keeping your spine tall. Root into the four corners of your feet, tuck your tailbone, and draw your shoulder blades together behind you.
Side squat
Shift your weight into toes of one of your feet, and extend the other in the opposite direction, keeping your heel rooted down. Keep your upper body lifted. Option to rest your hands on blocks, bring them to prayer at your heart space, or many other mudra you’d like.
Half moon
Ground down through the four corners of your right foot and stack your hips over it. Extend your left hand towards the sky and hover your right hand over your mat or rest it on a block. Lengthen through the fingertips.
Chair
For Utkatasana, or chair pose, begin in mountain pose. Breathe your hands overhead so they’re parallele with your ears. As you exhale, bend into your knees, and lower your booty down an imaginary wall behind you. Keep your spine straight, your chest open, and relax your shoulders away from your ears.
Warrior II
Keep your back heel rooted down and your front knee stacked over your front ankle. Draw your back hip and shoulder open. Energetically extend through your finger tips in opposite directiosn. Steady gave over your fingertips.
Pigeon
From downward facing dog, draw your right knee in towards your chest. Lower your knee down towards the left side of your mat. Drop your back knee and untuck your back foot. Option to have a prop for support under your right sitting bone. You decide if you’d like to keep your chest raised or lowered over your knee. You can always readjust the placement of this knee to change the intensty of the stretch. I recomend keep the foot only ever so slightly to the left side, and then raising your foot towards the top of your mat from there to increase the stretch. Don’t forget to stretch your other side as well!
3 leg dd
From downward facing dog, extend one of you legs behind you, drawing it towards the sky. Engage hasta banda in your hands by lifting through the center of your palm and bending into your top knuckle joints.
Dancer
From flamingo pose, extend forward through your open hand and press your foot into your other one. Keep a soft bend in your knee, and hinge forward at your hips. Open through your heart space.
Tiger
From table top position, extend one of your legs back behind you. Lift your oppostite hand and reach back for your foot. Press the top of your foot into your hand and invite expansion into your upper body.
Bridge
Lying on your back, root down the soles of your feet hip width distance apart and about a foot away from your body. Rest your arms by your side, and press into your feet as your hips grow light. Avoid letting your knees fall out to the side by slightly engaging your inner thighs. Draw your shoulder blades together underneath you. Open through your heart space.
Frog
Start in table top postition. Begin guding your knees out to the side slightly (it doesn’t take much space to feel this one!) Option to lower down on forearms.
Bird of Paradise
From extended side angle, sweep your top arm behind you towards your lower back. Wrap your lower arm around your waist and grip your other hand. Heel toe your back foot towards your front one and find your grounding. Press into your unbound foot and begin lifting up strong, keeping the bind, and extending your leg towards the sky.
Happy baby
This gentle yoga pose is commonly offered at the beginning or the end of a yoga class. It’s simple, beginner friendly, and a soothing option for inviting expansion into your hips.
Lying on your back, hug both of your knees in towards your chest. Guide your knees out towards your sides and grab the bottoms of your feet or ankles. You can gently rock side to side or play around with straightening on leg, then the other. For a more intense version, you can straighten both of your legs. This can also be done up against a wall.
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