How to Do Supta Baddha Konasana Yoga Poses

Sitting for a long time in your car, or at your computer, can tighten your hip flexors, muscles on the sides of your hips. Tight hip flexors can contribute to low back pain. Supta Baddha Konasana, or Reclined Bound Angle Pose, is a restorative pose that can help relieve that stiffness.

Things You'll Need

• Yoga mat, 2 yoga blocks, yoga strap

Instructions

1. Start with "Resting Pigeon" by lying on your mat at the wall and placing your heels on the wall, legs straight. Now cross your right ankle across your left thigh, flexing both feet. Press your left foot flat onto the wall. Allow the right hip to feel "heavy" as it moves more towards the floor. Remain for 1 minute. Repeat to the left side. This is a passive "hip opener" that is non-weight bearing.

2. Stretch the hamstrings (muscles on the back of the thighs) and create flexibility in the hip flexors and hip joint with Supta Padanagusthasana. Move your mat back to the center of the room and bring your yoga strap with you. Lie on your back, feet flat, hip's width distance apart. Hook your yoga strap over the right foot and bend the knee. Extend the heel to the ceiling until the leg is almost straight. Remain for 5 to 8 breaths.

3. Turn the right foot to the right and lower the leg halfway down towards the floor. Remain for 5 to 8 breaths. Unhook the yoga strap and repeat to the left side.

4. Sit upright and bend the knees so that the soles of the feet are touching. Sitting on top of your sitting bones, lift the chest tall away from the hips. Wrap your hands around the feet and draw the shoulder blades down towards the waist.

5. Take the yoga strap and make a belt of it, looping it around your low back. Add the two yoga blocks for the final pose of Supta Baddha Konasana. Bend the knees and bring the soles of the feet together. Loop the other end of the yoga strap around the feet. Now, start to lie back down and place one yoga block below the bottom tips of the shoulder blades. The other yoga block is behind the base of the skull. The two yoga blocks have become "furniture" on which to lie back in a supported backbend. Remain for 1 minute.

6. Exit the pose by taking your feet flat and placing your hands flat behind your hips and lifting your chest up to come off the blocks. Remove the yoga strap and move the blocks to the side. Lie back and hug the knees in, rolling from left to right to massage the low back. Lie flat with straight arms and legs, eyes closed for 2 minutes. Then roll off to the right side to come up sitting.

Tips & Warnings

• Reclining Bound Angle Pose is not for people with neck or low back injuries. Pregnant women in their first trimester may be okay to practice this, but only with their physician's approval.