Yoga Hamstring Stretches

Video Transcript

"Stretching the hamstring is a must. It's a muscle that's always on in yoga poses, you've worked on a lot of standing poses, anything you're doing even seated is going to maintain stability in the hamstrings. So feet hip width apart, perfect your roll down, hollow up that spine, and try first with one leg bend so you see what level of flexibility you have to work with hamstrings insert into the low back. So you want to be really careful that you're working within your active brynju motion so you don't pull anything. We're going to come up and always up beginners is going to want to keep a slight bend in the knee and of course the more flexibility that you increase, you're going to be able to push your heel up towards the ceiling straightened that up more. Now as I come up, I'm going to try to grab here, not literally in the sense where I'm pulling but just kind of using that as a guideline in my calf, and then as I extend the opposite leg then I'm going to lower down with my shoulders towards the floor. Now if I can't maintain a neutral cervical spine and shoulders flat, I'm going to need to bend my knee. In this leg obviously, if I still can, then I'm going to want to bend the opposite leg and then try to straightened for the stretch from, really if you're pressing your heel, you're going to feel like an Achilles all the way up through the back of the leg. And release. And just make sure you that you get the other side so you balance it out. And beginners very important for you to keep a slight bend in the knee before you try to press that heel towards the ceiling for your hamstrings."