The term “hip opening” is used a lot in yoga, but no one ever talks about what it is that we are attempting to open here! The hip bone? The hip socket? The hip joint? Or maybe Pandora’s box… 

What most people associate with this term is external rotation of the hip joint. Therefore the ‘hip opener’ category includes Warrior 1 (Virabhadrasana I), Cobbler’s Pose (Baddha Konasana), Pigeon Pose (Eka Pada Rajakapotasana) and Easy Pose (Sukhasana), to name just a few. There are so many yoga asanas that involve a large degree of external hip rotation.

External rotation is an important hip joint movement and a lot of students have a limited range here, but all of the other movements of the hip are just as important to focus on. In my experience most students tend to complain of ‘tightness’ in each direction of their hip movement but ways to explore our full range of active internal rotation of the hip joint, for example, is often missing from many asana sequences. 

So, let’s try to focus equally on all hip movements, including adding in some targeted strengthening work, and we’ll be on the way to healthier and happier hip joints.

Here is a link to an accessible, short practice focusing on active internal rotation of the hip joints:

https://youtu.be/4OMUQL9u7Dc

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