Deep Hip Opening Stretches - Beginners Yoga Sequence

Hey guys , welcome to yoga TX .

I'm Jen Hillman .

And today's video is gonna be focusing on some great hip openers .

It's gonna be awesome for those of you with really tight hips , people with sciatic problems or tight low back .

These stretchers are gonna be awesome for helping to open up those hips , get some circulation , moving loosen up those tight muscles .

So go ahead and leave a thumbs up on this video .

Add it to your list of favorites .

You can come back and practice along and while you're at it , subscribe to the yoga TX channel because I'm gonna be putting out fresh new videos every Thursday and I know you're gonna want to get updated when those come out .

So I look forward to sharing more with you and for now let's get started in a seated position .

We'll start with a few seated stretches to warm up and move into some bigger poses as we start to get loosened up .

So beginning in a comfortable seated position , you're going to bring the soles of your feet together and let your knees open out wide .

Now , if your hips are very tight and your knees don't really want to open out to the sides .

You can put some pillows or blankets underneath your thighs to give you a little added support .

If this is too much stretch right out the gate , you can also try sitting on a pillow or a cushion to help lift your hips up , which also will help ease you into your stretches .

Well , once you find yourself in position , hold onto your ankles and pull your chest through your arms .

So you're using a little bit of leverage here to really help you lift up and lengthen your spine .

So from sitting all the time , our spine gets rounded and shoulders go forward and your low back gets weakened .

This is a chance to reverse all that .

So really use your arm strength , use your upper body to lift your heart up , lift up through your spine and all the way up through the crown of your head .

And already you're gonna start to feel a little bit more stretching sensation in your hips .

So just take a couple of deep breaths , acknowledge the sensations that you're feeling in your body slowly greeting your body and starting to loosen up a little .

So take another deep breath in , keep your heart and chest lifted as you hinge forward at your hips .

So you might not go very far .

That's totally fine .

You don't have to go super far forward .

We're just taking that stretch in your hips a little bit deeper .

So see if you can keep your spine long , you can keep holding onto your ankles to use your hands to help you get that leverage .

You need , keep your chest reaching forward and your spine lengthened and you feel that stretch deepening in your hips .

Take one more big breath in right here with your heart reaching forward .

Then as you exhale , go ahead and round your spine , let your shoulders relax , let your head drop down towards the floor .

Um Just allow yourself to slowly start to soften here , deepen into your breath .

So if it's tight , if you feel a lot of sensation , if it feels uncomfortable , just keep using your breath .

Focus on that inhale and exhale .

So each breath is gonna help you relax a little bit deeper into your pose .

Then slowly we start to come up , roll your spine back up to sitting , taking your time to come all the way up .

Now , we're gonna move into a little seated position with a twist .

So bring your right foot to the outside of your left leg .

If this is difficult for you to sit with your bottom leg bent , you can extend your left leg forward and that might make it easier to sit square on your hips .

Ok .

So either option is great .

So either way , make sure your right foot is planted flat on the ground , not just relaxed sideways , but you wanna step your foot down to the floor , then use your left arm to grab a hold of your knee , bring your right hand behind you .

So you can twist your spine , twisting towards the right now , use your left arm to pull your knee in towards your chest or towards your armpit .

So the more you can pull that knee in , the more stretch you're gonna get along the outside of your hip .

So remember we're really focusing on the hips here .

You might feel some stretch in your spine and in your low back and that's awesome .

So just breathe into that stretch if that's where you're feeling it .

But if you're feeling it in your hips and your hips are tight , then use your breath to relax that area .

Then we slowly come back around to the front .

Now take a hold of your right foot with your hands .

We're gonna slowly start to extend your knee .

If your uh knee doesn't come all the way straight , it's totally OK , especially here in the beginning of our practice , you might feel kind of tight and stiff in there .

So just extend your heel forward until you get that maximum stretch in your hamstring .

So that it feels like hurts so good .

You know what I mean ?

Then notice if your spine got rounded , see if you can lift your chest up and keep your heart open .

This is going to give you even more stretch in your hamstring , which is a good thing .

So kick your heel forward for one more cycle of breath .

You may be able to stretch your knee a little bit straighter right here at the end and then we'll release that foot back down to the floor and now move to the other side .

So you're gonna step your left foot to the outside of your right leg .

And remember it's totally fine if you want to extend your right leg forward .

If that makes your life a little easier , just go for it .

It's no problem .

Ok , then wrap your right arm around your left knee , bring your left hand back behind you on the floor .

Lift up in your spine and twist your heart over towards the left side .

And remember , the more you can pull your left knee in towards your right shoulder , the more stretch you're gonna get on the outside of that left hip .

So use your breath to help you soften , gently releasing tension with each inhale and exhale .

Keep lifting up in your spine .

So you don't collapse in your vertebrae , but keep lifting , growing taller and taller .

And at the end of your exhale will gently return back to the front and then take a hold of your left foot and we start to extend your left knee forward .

Remember , your knee doesn't have to extend completely .

It's ok if it stays a little bit bent , just go until you find that personal edge , wherever you find that stretch in your hamstring , that's what we're going for .

So it's not about making your shape look perfect .

It's really just about finding that sensation in your own body like you just wanna feel it , that's it .

So if you're feeling it and your knee is still bent , no worries , just stretch right there and slowly , slowly over time , your knee will start to extend more and more and don't forget to keep lifting up in your chest .

You can use your upper body strength to pull your chest through just like we did in the first pose .

Breath here .

See if you can extend your knee even a little bit straighter and gently release that foot down .

All right , now , we're gonna move and do a little bit of standing work .

We're gonna start by coming to a forward fold .

So you'll come to your feet and fold yourself forward over your legs .

Now , if you have practiced yoga with me before , you know , you can always , always keep your knees bent as much as you need .

If your hamstrings or hips are very tight , it's gonna be next to impossible to straighten your knees all the way and that's totally fine .

You don't have to keep your knees straight in order to get a good stretch in your hamstrings .

It's more important that you allow your knees to bend so that your upper body can really relax .

So you want to feel the weight of your head dropping down towards the floor even feel the weight of your arms and your whole shoulder girdle dropping down to the floor .

So you feel the gentle pull of gravity stretching out your spine and your low back and even like up into these attachments at the back of your spine and the base of your pelvis .

So just soften here , allowing your spine to stretch , allowing your hamstrings to stretch .

This is one of my favorite , favorite postures because it stretches the entire back side of your body .

So if you think about how much time we spend sitting and hanging out at our desks and working on our phones and computers , you know , it's like our back just gets wrecked the whole backside of our body .

So this is an awesome stretch to open it up .

Then from here , step your left foot to the back edge of your mat .

You want to take a big wide step as big as you can and then lower your left knee down to the floor , lunge your hips forward as much as you can .

And so here my knee is coming in front of my ankle .

So I'm going to take a little bit wider step .

Your aim is going to be to have your knee stacked over your ankle as best you can .

This will give you a little bit more room to lunge even deeper , giving you even more stretch at the front of your left hip .

Now , from here , plant your left hand down on the floor and extend your right arm up towards the sky .

This is gonna give you a nice twist in your spine and even a little stretch along the outside of your hip and even outside the it band .

So taking a big twist here , if you like a little deeper stretch sensation , you can lift your back knee off the floor , but you don't have to take that variation .

It's totally up to you .

What's gonna serve your body the best today , then we come back to the front .

Now , here , if your back knee is on the floor , you're gonna rotate your back leg 90 degrees and then plant your right hand down and extend your left arm up overhead .

So you're getting a nice side body stretch along the left side of your waist and a big stretch along the inside of your right hip .

So go deep , really lunge in there .

All right .

And for those of you that are practicing with your knee off the ground , then you would plant your left foot flat on the floor and uh take this side angle pose so you can choose a variation that is best for you .

Now , from here , we're gonna sweep your left hand back to the back edge of your mat and extend your right arm up overhead , straighten your right leg and reach your body long , a long line from your tippy toes to your fingertips , stretching all along your side .

Body and the side of your waist and then sweep your right arm back around to the front of your mat .

We're coming back to our lunge here , lift your left knee and step your foot forward to the front of your mat .

Take a moment to fold over your legs and we'll do the same little sequence on the other side .

So you'll start by reaching your right foot to the very back edge of your mat , reach it as far back as you can .

And then you can go ahead and lower your right knee down , check to make sure your knee lines up over your ankle .

And if your foot needs to come forward a little more , you can just kind of scooch it forward there , then start to melt your hips forward , lift and lengthen through your spine .

So your chest is lifted , your heart is open , your hips are melting forward .

So you get a big , big stretch at the front of your right hip , right .

So from sitting all the time , our hips , hip flexor get shortened and tightened .

This will pull on your low back and cause problems in your hips .

This is where all this tightness comes from .

So opening the front of your hips is a really awesome and helpful practice .

Then plant your right hand down and extend your left arm up towards the sky .

So you get a twist through your obliques , you get a stretch through your outer hip and maybe even into that it band there and then notice if you're sinking your weight into your right shoulder , see if you can press the floor away from you .

So you're lifting up out of your pose , this will make your arms and shoulders a lot stronger at the same time , then we come back to the center and then if you've got your knee on the ground , you're gonna rotate your back leg 90 degrees .

Then with your left hand down , extend your right arm up overhead .

So you should feel a nice long stretch along the right side of your waist and a good juicy deep stretch in your inner left hip .

And if you're not quite getting that stretch in your hip , you need to lunge deeper , go really deep into that front knee until you find that edge in your hip , really stretching it open .

And then we're gonna sweep your right hand all the way back to the back edge of your map and extend your left arm overhead , straighten and extend your left knees .

So you get a nice full side body stretch from your left toes to your left fingers all the way through your waist and your hips and your shoulders .

And then we'll slowly come back around to the front , returning to our lunge .

You can lift your right knee and step your foot forward to the front of your mat , fold over your legs here and take a couple of deep breaths and slowly lower your hips all the way down to the floor .

You're gonna come back into a seated position and then recline yourself all the way down onto your back .

Then draw your knees into your chest with your feet right side by side to one another , hug your knees into your chest as close as they can comfortably go .

This will help to decompress your low back and uh released any tension through the si joint right there where your sarum connects with your pelvis , then cross your right ankle over your left knee , reach around your left knee to draw your leg closer to your chest .

Keep pressing your right knee open to the side to maximize your stretch in the right hip .

If you notice that your pelvis wants to come up away from the floor , your hips are very tight , use your abdominal muscles to press your sarum down towards the ground .

This is gonna give you a lot deeper stretch even more sensation .

Just remember to use your breath , stay calm and relax .

The more you can slow down , the deeper you can go in your stretches , the more benefit you're gonna get .

So just be patient with yourself , be compassionate and give yourself a little love as we work into these tight places , gently release your hold and change the cross of your legs .

So you bring that left ankle on top of your right knee and draw your right knee , a little closer into your chest , press your left knee away from you .

So here I'm even using my elbow a little bit to kind of push that knee open .

Uh , that's a position that works comfortably for me .

But if it's not comfortable for you , it's ok .

You just want to keep opening that left knee out to the side .

So wherever you feel that personal edge , wherever that stretch is happening , that's where you want to send your attention .

That's where you want to send your compassionate , gentle breath .

One inhale at a time , one exhale at a time , feel your body pay attention to your body .

If your hips are curling up away from the floor , press your low back and your pelvis down to the ground .

So you're using your abdominal strength here .

This will increase your stretching sensation in your hips .

And that's a good thing .

So just take a couple more cycles of breath here giving it your best attention , giving your most loving compassionate breath .

Then we gently release your hold , hug both knees in towards your chest .

One more time , giving it a nice good squeeze , then release your legs down to the end of your mat .

We're just all the way down to the floor , close your eyes and take a moment to allow yourself to relax completely .

You know , we can get so caught up in our day to day lives .

So many things to do , answering emails making phone calls attending to the needs of others .

I know how it is .

I can get really busy in my life too .

And then we lose sight of these precious little moments to just let go , even for a couple of minutes just to come back to yourself to come back to your breath .

So in this precious little moment right here , there's nothing else you need to be doing right now .

There's no one that you need to be answering to just be here for right now , for this breath for this moment .

And I invite you to stay in this resting position .

As long as you can give yourself permission to truly unwind .

Then whenever you're ready , you can wiggle your fingers and toes , reach your arms overhead , stretch your body long and roll yourself over onto one side , coming to a comfortable fetal position .

It's resting on one side and from here you can press yourself up to a seated position , sitting up nice and tall , feel the flow of your breath as it moves through your body .

Notice your quiet and calm state of mind , bring your hands to prayer at heart center and just take an opportunity to give yourself some thanks and some gratitude for setting aside this time to take care of yourself .

Nobody else is gonna do it for you .

This is a gift you give to yourself .

And I would like to thank you for letting me be your guide .

It's my pleasure to share this practice with you .

So I hope that you've enjoyed these little hip openers .

And if you haven't already leave me a thumbs up , leave me your comments below .

I always love getting your feedback and hearing from you guys don't forget to visit yoga TX dot org .

We've got tons of great stuff up on our website now , including some full length one hour DVD S that you can download .

And uh again , I will be posting new videos every Thursday .

So I look forward to sharing more with you and you can visit my website Jen hillman dot com for some updated information on some new workshops and retreats I have coming up so you can find an opportunity to come and practice in person .

I would love to share with you and meet you face to face .

Thank you so much for joining me today .

I hope you're feeling better and that you'll come back and practice again with me soon and I must exhale , die and come all the way up to center .

Bring your right hand across to your left knee , your left hand behind you and just take a gentle twist through your spine .