You can move your pelvis in many ways – just think of a salsa or hula dancer. Last week we looked at anterior/posterior (front and back) tipping. You can also tip your pelvis side to side, or laterally. And just like last week, tipping your pelvis to the side can pull the attached muscles into a slightly deeper stretch.
To feel how your hips can tip side to side try this simple exercise:
- Stand with feet hip-width apart.
- Put your hands on your hips so you can feel that your hips are level.
- Don’t let your hips twist forward or back.
- Then bend your left knee and let your left hip drop. You should also notice the right hip lift.
- Or start again with both legs straight. Keep the knees straight and lift your right heel, you should feel your right hip lift and left hip drop.
We commonly do this action without thinking when we hold a small child on one hip to the side of our body.
So how can you use this movement to stretch more?
In this picture, Mark is leaning his body to the right to stretch the left side of his waist. He’s kept his hips level – which can often feel better if you have back injuries.
If you don’t have spinal injuries, you could try lowering the left hip to stretch and pull the muscles on the left side of the body.
Sometimes it’s hard to figure out how to get the muscles to move your body that way. So try with both knees slightly bent, pulling your right hip towards right armpit – notice anything on the left side?
How can you do this in yoga?
Let’s look at parsvakonasana – in the photo if I pulled my right armpit towards my right hip, the left hip will move away from the left armpit – pulling and stretching the muscles on the left side of my body. In this way, I get a deeper stretch without moving my shoulder.
The next time you’re stretching sideways, think about the position of your pelvis. If it’s ok for your spine, try gently tipping your pelvis to either side to see how it changes the stretch.
