Back in September, I visited Disney World with my husband and toddler. After long hours in the heat, walking through hilly areas (and stupidly wearing flat shoes), I was suffering with tight hips and calves in addition to already having tight thigh muscles. My son would get sleepy and refuse to ride in his stroller, to which we would always respond with, “We can’t hold you right now baby. You’ll be more comfortable in your stroller.” But, we all know when a toddler sees things a certain way, there’s no stopping him until his goal is accomplished. Well, at least MY toddler is that way – after all, he was born from two very stubborn people. Towards the evening, we’d give in and hold him for a little while.  He particularly enjoyed sitting on my mommy shelf, the space where my hip bone and waist provided a little snuggled spot for him to relax.

I would go back to the hotel and stretch my hips and legs, but then the next day, I’d go right back to straining them again by walking around in flat shoes and not taking enough breaks. After losing over 50 lbs. (see my weight loss journey with yoga here), I don’t like to admit that I need to take a break. Breaks are for the weak, right? WRONG. And boy, did I learn my lesson. I ended up with a pulled Piriformis (the muscle across your bum that holds your sciatic nerve in place), pulled IT Band, and strained hamstring in my left leg.

For a dance teacher, this was like a death sentence. My left knee would hurt while teaching classes or during yoga. I couldn’t sit on the floor with my legs crossed as comfortably as before. It progressively got worse until one night, I couldn’t stand up straight or lay down without discomfort. I went to my chiropractor the very next day and began receiving the Graston Technique. It’s basically a series of titanium rods rubbed into the muscle by a practitioner while the patient works through movements that lengthens and shortens the muscle. The first few rounds of Graston on my Piriformis were torture, and the sliding down my IT band felt like my knee was on fire. I returned for treatment once a week for 6 weeks until it didn’t hurt anymore.

I’m finally feeling relatively normal in yoga again. This pose (the double pigeon or fire log pose) is particularly difficult because it gets into the IT band, but it was also a posture I had been working on getting “right” for some time. When it seemed I was almost there, injury struck. You can see in the photos that I’m significantly less open on the left side, but I’m working towards making each side equal. A few weeks ago, I couldn’t even get into this pose without knee pain! Progress is always a good benchmark for success.

This particular stretch is great for students who are working on splits or need more help developing turnout.  It’s also a great stretch for the end of the day, whether you’ve been sitting at a desk or on your feet all day.  In both cases, stretching your hips is necessary to maintain the proper range of motion in the hip joints.  Here’s a step by step breakdown:

1.  Bring your right shin parallel to the front of your body and flex your right foot.

2.  Take your left flexed foot and place your left ankle bone on top of your right knee.

3.  Check into your body to see if you need to move some of your flesh away from your backside or thighs.  Even the thinnest of people need to shift something around from time to time!  Every time I get in this pose, I have to reach around and move my backside so that my pelvic bones can find connection with the floor.  It always makes the gap between the top and bottom legs slightly smaller.

4.  Keep both feet flexed during this entire pose.  Also, make sure the ankle bones and knees are in line.  Often times, students want to rest their foot in the little nook made when your knee is bent.  Once of my yoga teachers called it her “knee pit,” which is just like your arm pit, except by your knees.  🙂

5.  If you’re feeling open enough to go further (obviously I didn’t feel open here), put your hands on the floor by your hips and force your body to sit up taller.  This can close the gap a little bit.  Then, if you’re ready to go a little further, you will reach your arms out in front of you, reaching with a flat back down as far as you can go, and then rest your forehead on your legs or on the ground.

6.  After holding the pose for about a minute, repeat on the other side.

There you have it!  I hope you enjoy stretching your hips out and (trying) to take breaks to care for your bodies (and your mommy shelves).  Until next time ya’ll!