VIDEO: Easy Proper Pigeon - a piriformis workout for the rest of us!

(Re-produced with the blessings of the GalfromdownunderYoga blog)

Easy proper Pigeon pose: make a "box" with your arms to keep the front foot flexed

One of our more "obscure" muscles (in that, you're not really aware of it on a daily basis like your quads and hammies) is the piriformis. This muscle is located deep in your butt, running from the sacrum to the top of the thighbone.  It's one of the the many hip rotator muscles that collectively turn the hips and upper leg outward (called external rotation), and particularly for athletes, provides stability around the knee when twisting and changing direction.

If you sit in a chair, place the right ankle (flex that foot!) just south of the left knee and tip your body forward, you'll feel the piriformis wake up in that very spot. I call this the Piriformis Desk Jockey stretch, because it's an ideal thing to do at your desk. Sitting cross-legged also activates this muscle. 

Piriformis as viewed from behind.

The piriformis skates somewhat close to the infamous sciatic nerve - the one that often gives grief by sending shooting pains down the leg and sometimes numbing the butt.  This Wiki entry eviscerates the area impressively, showing how the nerve actually passes THROUGH this muscle for a certain percentage of the population. Stretching and strengthening this muscle is thought to help alleviate and and avoid sciatic pain.

VIDEO: Pigeon Pose (Eka Pada Rajakapotasana)

VIDEO: YoGanesh teacher Lynette Chiang demonstrates an easy way to get into Pigeon pose. 

Apart from sitting cross legged, doing the Piriformis Desk Jockey and a further variation of the latter lying flat on your back (loads of Google images of these moves here) you can kick things up a notch by doing Pigeon Pose.

In its easiest form, it's simply lying face down with one leg tucked under your body, grounding the same side hip down on the mat. 

In its more advanced or "proper" form, the shin is parallel to the end of the mat - rather difficult for all but the most malleably-hipped humans.

I made the video above to illustrate an easy way to get into "proper" pigeon. As you can see I am one of these humans who aren't super open-hipped by design - I'm also one of the child ballerinas who could never really do the splits! None of this genetic stuff need stop you from getting a good approximation to the essence of any yoga move and reaping the benefits.

Yoga Journal describes a more usual way of getting into the pose here. If that's not easy for you, try it my way!

Lynette's Easy Proper Pigeon:

1. Bend the back leg completely
2. Bring front leg shin parallel to mat, flexing foot
3. "Box" that front leg in with the arms as shown below, keeping the front foot flexed to protect the knee
4. Keeping upper body low to the mat, manoeuvre it squarely over your front leg (with flexed foot!)
5. Now - with care - knee-toe the back leg to straighten it, with the entire front of the leg facing the mat. Don't over strain! Drop forehead to mat and exhale to deepen. Stay there a while, all the while "scootching" your back leg to be as straight and long as possible.
6. To come out, the first thing you must do is release the back leg completely, i.e. bend it acutely at the knee. This "unlocks" everything.
7. Stretch out and do the other side.

Just remember 3 things:

1. The FIRST thing you do going INTO the pose is bend the back leg completely.

2. Keep that front foot FLEXED (that's what the boxed arms are for) to protect the knee

3. The FIRST thing you do coming OUT of the pose is bend the back leg completely.

Happy piriforming/pigeoning!

Lynette Chiang aka GalfromdownunderYoga teaches Vinyasa for the rest of us at YoGanesh Manhattan 

Hipper than hip!

Video: Phil demonstrates Utthita Hasta Padangustasana (Extended Hand to Big Toe Pose)
More Photos here!



 Thank you to YoGanesh teacher Phil Lynch for a eye-and-hip opening workshop last Saturday, "Hips & Hamstrings." Phil enlightened the group on exactly what goes on behind closed hips and how to free them up!

Here is an example of extension of the thigh bone (femur). From a seated position, the thigh bone is considered fixed or stationary. The stretch is activated when the practitioner lays back on the bolster or floor. It is there that one starts to feel the intensity of stretching the thigh muscles (quadriceps) as well as the flexers, illio-psoas and tensor fasciae latae (TFL).



Here is Phil describing the neutral or "fixed" position of the hips with the use of the floor to give each student a point of reference to feel neutral. The feet are firmly planted on the floor to create a slight flexion (knee moving up towards the chest) to the thigh bones to better support the pelvis in its neutral or balanced position. If the legs were laid out to ground (straight knees), the pelvis would begin to tip forward (anterior tilt) create a more pronounced lower back arch inward. This is why students often place a bolster beneath their knees during Savasana to lessen the pressure or pain to the low back.



Supta Padagutasana with the use of a belt, pictured from the practitioner's point of view, thanks Lynette! With the hips fixed, the thigh bone has moved into flexion. The standing variation of this pose is much harder to maintain the fixed position of the hips (see video above for more details).



This is a standing variation of flexion with abduction (moving away from the body - think of "abduct" as meaning "taking away") and a slight action of turning the thigh bone outward (external rotation) to offset the lateral tilt of the pelvis (again, see video above).



The above photo is a great example of several actions at once: Thigh bone turning inward (medial rotation) with a slight extension and knee moving into the mid-line of the body (adduction) of the bottom leg and external rotation with some moving the knee away from the mid line (abduction) to the top leg.



It helps to use the top foot to lengthen the outer thigh and hip for the bottom leg's expression of the extension and medial rotation.



Don't think that these students are just laying around for an afternoon nap! No way, these guys and gals are getting a lot done, in a very intense but relaxed way. This particular stretch is helpful in opening the hips by accessing both sides of adductors (pectineus, adductors: brevis, longus, and magnus and gracilis) at the same time. It takes a few minutes to begin to relax but it's worth it and as well, it makes opening the forward knee in Warrior 2 a lot easier.

This is a good example to adduction to the thigh bones while moving the pelvis into a forward bend (anterior tilt). It's a great stretch to feel the rotators of the outer hips while isolating an intense hamstring stretch to the back leg. Whoa, don't forget to breath for this one!

More photos of this workshop on the Yoganesh Facebook page

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Thanks Phil Lynch for a great workshop! Phil teaches Monday nights at 6PM for a Hatha All Levels and 7:30PM Hatha Level 2

Feel free to place a comment below.

See you in class!

We've got a big new heater, but as we head into winter perhaps bring along warm sox and a sweater for a cozy Savasana.