Pigeon Pose
Flexopedia > Hip External Rotation & Glutes
Pigeon Pose
Muscle Group Stretched: Glutes
Muscle Group Strengthened: Hip External Rotators
Type of Stretch: Passive Static
Difficulty: All Levels
Suggested Prerequisites: none
Pigeon pose is a classic passive hip opener, stretching the glutes and working our hip external rotation - but it can be challenging for students with tight hips find a comfortable, productive stretch without tweaking their front knee. So let’s take a look at different modifications for our pigeon pose to help make it comfortable-but-challenging for your current hip flexibility level.
How To
Step 1
From kneeling on the floor, bend one knee and place it on the ground in front of you, and extend your other leg straight behind you. Bring your front foot snug in towards your groin so the front thigh is rotated towards the outside.
If this already feels like an intense stretch, or is uncomfortable on the front knee, add a yoga block (or two!) under the front leg’s hip to help support your hips.
Step 2
Once you’ve got your legs in position, add as much of a forward fold as you’d like. Generally the deeper you forward fold, the more intense the stretch in the outer hip of the front leg (the glutes) becomes.
Hold for 20-60 seconds.
Modifications
Need to make it easier?
Kick the back leg out to the side instead of extending it straight behind you.
Want to make it harder?
“Square” your hips so that both hip bones are pointing straight forwards, and not opening up out to the sides.
Bring your front foot away from your groin, starting to bring it towards the outside of your mat (eventually working towards bringing the shin parallel to the front edge of your mat (only if that feels ok on your front knee!)
