Yoga Big Toe Pose

Video Transcript

"Alright let's work on opening the hips. We've done some pretty intense back bending so far, hopefully you're feeling good. Now we're going to do a reclining big toe pose. Here is an appropriate place for you to use your strap. You might want to place the strap around your instep, bringing the knee into the chest you're going to extend the other foot long underneath you and exhale as you straighten this leg. The yogis like to use a yogi toe lock which looks like this, with two fingers right around that big toe. The goal here is to bring the heel to at least a ninety degree angle over the hip and the further the better. If it isn't appropriate for you to grasp your toe like I said, please use a strap. The important thing here is to allow the femur bone to descend. A lot of people in this pose, it causes them a lot of consternation because they're trying to press the foot away from them and they're not allowing the femur to descend into its socket. They're working against themselves, don't do that, let the femur sink and let the heel rise when you've done your twenty-five to twenty breaths here exhale and let that leg fall out to the side. Keep the opposite hip down, don't let it pop up and roll, keep it down, keep everything flat and engage that long leg underneath you. Press down through the heel as if you were pressing your foot against a wall. When you're done, exhale to release, bring both knees into the chest for a moment, switch sides and repeat. This is a miraculous pose for opening the hips, you'll see dramatic results if you do this correctly."