Sidonie (@sidoniegabriella) is back with us today to give you a specific climbing yoga follow along routine. This time we have a full hip opening routine to help climbers with perhaps the most important part of climbing flexibility. Sid has worked for years teaching yoga and working specifically with climbers to improve flexibility and strength. Her knowledge and skill is excellent! Go check out Sid’s yoga account Northern Soul Yoga (@northern_soul_yoga) for more.
Hi i’m sid from northern soul yoga I’m a yoga teacher and a climber and i’m Here to take you through a flow with a Focus on hip openers so this isn’t going To be a pre-session Flow because obviously we’re going to be Doing a lot of hip openers so we might Lose a little bit of stability there if You’re going to move on to the wall but This is a great session afterwards or if You’re already warm and just looking to Open up that area okay so we’re going to Start off in a child’s pose which is a Resting posture a little bit of a hip Opener here so we’ve got the big toes Together The knees are sitting at about mat width Distance apart We’ve got some space in front of us so We’re just going to start to walk the Hands forward Stretch the fingers to the top of the Mat and let the forehead come down Towards the floor If your bum is not reaching your heels You can take a pillow in this case i’ve Got a foam roller which is a little bit Too high but you can rest your bum there And bring yourself down And that’s a little bit less intense on The knees as well So once your forehead’s on the floor Think about pushing Your weight back towards your heels so
There’s a little bit of pressure on the Palms The shoulders are ever so slightly Turned on Just so that we can start to send our Weight back And just let your belly be soft here And just take a few deep breaths Breathing through the nose rather than The mouth Close the eyes relax the facial features And clench the jaw I’m taking a few moments here just to Ground down settle Onto your mat or settle onto the floor And if you want you can give your Forehead a little roll just from side to Side And think of this as though you’re Ironing out the creases the lines in the Forehead Just melting away a little bit of Tension Option to sway a little bit into the Torso And into the hips So you’re just seeing how you feel today Here On the mat maybe the hips starting to Open a little bit more Cool Let’s go back to center Keep the forehead down and just start to Walk your hands to the right side of the
Mat Stack the left palm on top of the right Gentle interlace of the fingers and We’re still sending that weight back Nice deep stretch up the side of the Body Into the lats the outer shoulder Breathing deeply here again just at your Own pace And then release and we’ll just take it Over to the other side Right palm stacks this time send the Weight back Notice if there’s a difference between The left and the right side Just observing that Beautiful okay let’s come back through Center now with the hands We’ll just start to peel the forehead Away from the floor And then as you start to gaze forward Rock up And we’ll just come here onto all fours For our tabletop We’ll do a little bit of movement again Into the spine So if you’ve done the warm-up flow Already you’ll be familiar with this cat Cow movement So palm spread drop the belly lift the Chest lift the gaze so we’re stretching Out the throat And then reverse this by rounding the Spine
Hollowing out the shoulders And again use your breath as your guide You can inhale to raise the gaze up And then exhale to push the floor away So we’re linking the movement with the Breath And what that does is it helps to build A sense of flow here into the body And starting to build the heat from the Inside out So you might feel yourself just starting To warm up A little bit more as you move with that Breath Okay Let’s come back into a neutral spine now And we’ll start to bring a little bit More focus into the hips so we’re going To start by lifting the right leg off The floor 90 degree bend at the knee it’s almost Like you’re pushing that foot towards The ceiling So we’ll start to circle into the hip Here so keep the foot flexed draw the Knee towards the chest squeezing the Glute as we open that hip back out That’s one circle Squeeze it in squeeze the glute for two And then we’ll go for three Beautiful okay let’s take it the other Way now so we opened it out Now we’ll roll it forwards So same big circles
But we’re moving in the opposite Direction Try and keep your core strong and the Weight equal between the hands Once you’ve done three circles take that Leg out behind you squeezing the glute And just roll into the ankle a little Bit release any cracks any pops And then we’ll drop the knee down Beautiful okay let’s take it on the Other side now so left leg flex the foot Almost like you’re pushing away the Ceiling A little bit of engagement into the Glute We’ll bring the knee into the chest Isolating that movement in the hip as we Bring it round Going for two big squeeze of the glute Don’t worry if your hip cracks It’s totally fine And three Cool let’s take it the other way Equal weight in the palms Keep the head steady here we’re just Moving into the hip Bringing that focus in Beautiful At the end of that third circle we’ll Take the leg out behind squeeze the bum And just take a couple of rotations here Into the ankle Just to release the joints Beautiful
Okay Let’s drop the knee down a little Movement of the hips and shoulders So thinking s shape here side to side Almost like you’re squeezing the side of The body This is just going to help to neutralize The spine Okay Let’s tuck the toes underneath at the Back of the mat now Gently finding downward dog so lift the Knees lift the hips Press the chest towards the thighs Focusing more on alignment with the back Than having perfectly straight legs So release tension around the shoulders Looking for that external rotation of The shoulder blades And you can just take a little pedal Into the legs Ease the carbs and the hamstrings Maybe sway your hips slightly Taking it into The intercostals Maybe even the outer shoulder if we are Particularly stiff there today Beautiful Okay Find stillness with the legs walk your Hands in here Once we get to the back of the mat Soften the knees chin to chest on your Inhale we’ll slowly un-kill the spine
Bring your palms together overhead And then exhale hands are going to come Down into heart center Okay so take a look at your feet they’re Probably sitting at hip width apart now We’re just going to bring them a little Bit closer So we’re zipping up through the legs Squeeze the knees squeeze the ankles Squeeze the inner thighs Let’s take a side body opener and it’s Also going to work a little bit into the Outer edge of the hip so take your arms Together overhead Interlace your palms leave your index Leave your index finger pointing out Squeeze the biceps together behind the Ears legs are active Hips stay where they are and just start To Lean towards the right side So imagine your bottom arm is pulling Your top arm as you reach overhead Getting that beautiful side body opener Look forwards or to the ceiling a little Bit more balance required And then gently raise your way back up Take an inhale to extend Exhale we’ll take it the other way make Sure your legs stay active Beautiful opening into the spine here as Well look forwards or to the ceiling Stay strong through your legs And then gently raise your way back up
Beautiful Let’s release the hands now we’ll bring The feet back to hip width distance Apart So before we take some passive opening Into the hips we’re going to build a Little bit of stability around the Joints So when we’re climbing we’re using Active flexibility Rather than passive flexibility so we Want to make sure that we’ve got that Strength there Take both hands onto the hips spread the Toes of the right foot on the floor and Then just lean to the right here What we’re looking for is not dipping The hip and letting the glute move out To the side we want to keep everything Stable So eyes Eyes of the hips hip bones pointing Forwards So take the weight to the right foot Left knee is lifting up to 90 degrees Keep the toe flexed in front of you Let’s match this with the right arm Extending forwards and then we’re coming Into a warrior three so thinking of a t Shape with the body Lean forwards offer a bit of softness in Your standing leg and start to tap your Fingertips down to the floor Lovely keep the arms straight let’s work
Our way back up Knee comes into the chest And then we’ll do this again a little Bit slower this time The standing leg stays soft so we’re not Locking out the knee Gently raise it Back up Beautiful let’s swap hands for the third Side Right hand right hip left arm extends Forward let’s take it down this time you Might want to hold it just for a little Bit longer See if you can pause here option to make It a little bit harder is to take both Hands onto the hips And keep that stability there so a Little bit of wobbling is fine in the Ankle And the knee Cool let’s bring ourselves back up This time interlace your hands around The front of the left knee let’s just Draw the knee into the chest a little Bit of compression for the hip flexor Just to squeeze And then when we release that leg back Down rush of blood comes into this area Improving circulation Let’s take it on the other side so hands On at the hips We know what to expect this time so Spread the toes of the left foot
Take your weight onto this foot notice If the hip rolls out or can we keep it Forwards Take that right knee in towards the Chest Find your balance point And then right arm is extending forward To match Let’s start to bring it down into that Little warrior three transition so keep The chest lifted Right leg extends back A little tap of the fingers And then coming all the way back up To squeeze that knee in So we’re building stability here around The hips Before we start to open them up later a Little bit of heat coming in here as Well Okay for that third one we’re going to Swap hands Right hand right hip left arm extends Forward Softening your knee And we’re going to try and hold it this Time so as you come down make sure your Back toes are flexed towards the floor Belly button drawn in you can stay here Or take both hands onto the hips Look for a little bit more balance here Make sure that right hip isn’t peeling Up Hip bone pointing down
Lovely let’s take it all the way back up Nice smooth transition to take that knee Into the chest So you might be getting a little bit of Fatigue in your standing leg now Maybe in the calf And then on your next exhale let’s just Release that right leg back down cool Feet sitting now About mat width distance apart let’s Just take a figure of eight movement Here To ease into those hips Beautiful Okay bring the feet back to hip width Apart let the arms just rest beside the Body We came up with a roll so let’s come Back down with a roll start by dropping Your chin to your chest And then roll into the shoulders And we’re on Rolling here just soften the knees once You reach that halfway point Take hold of opposite elbows let the Head hang heavy Ragdoll style here as we just sway from Side to side Nice and gentle keeping the joints soft Awesome Okay let’s come into a downward dog Again So feet stay grounded this time just a Little walk forward with your hands
Towards the top of the mat Beautiful okay let’s take the right leg Up to the ceiling Toes flex to the floor a little bit of Activation the glute this is called a Three-legged dog We’ll start to bend into the right knee Now and as you roll forward step the Right foot to the outer edge of the Right hand If it doesn’t quite make it there you Can use your right hand to bring it Forwards or hop it forwards Shuffle the left foot back a little bit Here And we’re easing into a lizard lunge so Look to have your chin vertical knee Stacked over the ankle Let’s just take a bit of movement here For a moment so rocking forwards and Back On your left foot Seeing how you feel into the hips today You can take quite a lot of weight away From the hips just by pushing away from The floor Once we’ve done a couple of those rocks Take your back knee down And untuck the toe At this point we’re starting to relax Into the hips a little bit more So we’re getting length through the Front of the left hip and a little bit Of compression in the front of the right
Hip same as we did when we were standing For that balance earlier on if this Feels okay for you and this is enough Stretch you’re going to stay on the Hands If you want to come a little bit deeper You’re slightly more open Option is to drop the elbows all the way Down to the floor if you’re somewhere in Between i’m gonna grab my roller again You can use a pillow whatever you want And come into that halfway point Just let the head drop here relax into The neck And we’re breathing into this new fan Space in the hips If you’re someone that struggles To Sit in a stretch or you want to add a Little bit of movement you can opt just To sway slightly from side to side Easing into that space a little bit more If you’re really open Back toes can tuck and you can float That left knee as well But be aware you can always drop it down If it’s too much Use the longer breaths And every time you exhale the exhale is Going to help you to ease into the Stretch So think of that breath out is releasing Tension So perhaps you can unclench the fists
Unclench the jaw And use that breath out to sink Okay Let’s peel our way back up onto the Palms this time we’re adjusting the Angle of the front foot so instead of The toes pointing forward spin the foot At a 45 degree angle Naturally here we’re going to want to Peel onto the outer edge of the foot So just let the sole of the foot lift From the floor and we notice that Sensation has moved into the outer edge Of the hip Again you can pause here maybe sway a Little bit Or assist by placing your right hand on The inner thigh and very gently just Pushing To the point that suits you Open the chest if you’ve gone for this Option right shoulder blade drawn in a Little bit of a gaze over the shoulder I’m going to give another option here if You’re quite open in the hips and you Want to also bring that focus into the Chest you can reach your right hand back Bend into your left knee and take the Outer edge of the foot And then again you have the control if You want to take that in and that’s Going to release into the quadricep as Well Know your limits though just take your
Time You can always reel it back Okay Let’s drop the right hand down Spin the toes forwards and we’re going To step back into that high plank so Tuck your left toes lift the knee right Foot comes back to meet the left okay From here drop your knees to the mat Bend the elbows lower your belly all the Way down Untuck the toes we’re going to go for a Gentle back bend baby cobra so no weight On the hands lift your chest squeeze the Elbows together nice and strong And then on your exhale we’ll come down Tuck your toes press the hips back to The heels Brief moment in a child’s pose to Lengthen the spine And then we’ll make our way back up into That downward dog So raise your hips Sink the heels Press the weight back to the thighs Beautiful Okay let’s take the left heel nice and High this time looking for three legged Dogs so flex the toes Nice active position and then we’ll Start to bend the knee as you roll Forward guiding that left foot outside The hand remember you can assist if Needed
Wiggle the right toes back a little bit Once we found that lengthened stride We’ll start to take those rocks Forwards and back Again nice stretch for the sole of the Foot For the cast for the achilles And we’re just playing around seeing how We feel on this side We’ve all got one side that’s slightly Stiffer than the other So we’re trying to create that balance That harmony in the body Okay Once we’ve had some play around playing Around here drop the knee untuck the Toes And again just start to relax into the Hips a little bit so releasing a tiny Bit of weight from the hands and just Sinking into the hips seeing how you Feel today Again option is just to stay up on the Hands if that works for you Or you can come down to that halfway Point on a block on a roller on a pillow Or we’re coming all the way to the floor If you’re quite open in this area today Again just relax into the head And you can take those sways if you like Option is stay in stillness as well If you want to pause the video and hang Out here for a bit longer you’re more Than welcome to do that as well
Just pinpoint here Where you feel this the most in the hips Is it the right hip is it the left hip And that’s a bit of an indication Where we hold the most stiffness If you find that you’re Sitting a lot all day most likely the Tension is going to be here and the Outside edge which will feel more in the Next stretch if you’re walking a lot It’s going to be more in the front of The hip And attendance here Okay Beautiful let’s start to take it back up Onto the hands now whatever assist that You’ve used you can just pop it to one Side Let’s adjust the angle of the front foot Again so looking for that 45 degree Rotation As you peel the foot up and roll onto The outer edge you can stay here with The hand on the floor or the gentle Assist Is to gently press and then open the Chest Think about it as if you’re trying to Roll the flesh of the thigh outwards so If you were to grip here and roll out That’s going to help with the rotation Of the hip as we draw the shoulder back From the ear Again just an option if you’re looking
For that deeper variation back leg can Bend you can draw it in And you get that nice opening across the Pectoral muscle as well Check in with the breath are we holding It in the chest Or is it flowing freely Beautiful Okay let’s release we’ll come back to The front of the mat spin the toes Forward step back into your plank again So back knee lifts first Left foot comes to meet the right Let’s again drop the knees untuck the Toes elbows squeeze into the ribcage as We lower down Back bending again you can take that Baby cobra same as last time If you have discomfort in your lower Back just stick with this variation Otherwise high cobra a little bit of a Deeper backbend weight on the palms Shoulder blades slide down the back as We lift the chest forwards Beautiful let’s come here down to the Floor We’ll take it either Back into that child’s pose that we Found earlier on Or i’m going to give an option for a Frog here So if the hips are feeling a bit tighter Already you can stay in that child’s Pose
Otherwise come on to the elbows turn Your feet out to the side And you’re just going to start to ease Into a stretch across the groin So things to look out for here one of Them is leaning too far forwards And one of them is leaning too far back So ideally you want your hips to be in Line with your knees i’ve got some Markings on the floor here that can help But just take a little check Notice if we’re in the right place So if you have tightness across the Groin again this is really Going to come to the surface here Try and slow down the breath Not clench not resist too much Easier said than done in these stretches If you’re quite open you can create a Pillow with the hands maybe come down Or walk the hands out in front And the forehead can touch the floor Again if you want to stay here for Longer you can pause the video [Music] And stay for as long as you’d like you Can take some little rocks very gently Here as well If that feels okay And it’s not the most graceful posture To get out of if you’re in this frog so Let’s come up onto the elbows Big toes are together Press away from the floor to bring space
For the knees Okay let’s sit back onto the heels let’s Wrap the arms around the body for a Moment Like we’re wiggling the fingers together On the back And just drop your head So the scapula drawing away from each Other here And then as we release A little cactus of the arms 90 degree Bend lift through your chest open your Heart space And then just drop it down Cool Okay so we’ll just take the legs to one Side now Come on to the bum And just shuffle a little bit further Forwards on the mat Take this opportunity just to wiggle Into the knees And release the back of the legs Okay so take a bend Into your knees here feet are sitting About hip width distance apart We’re going to drop both knees to the Left just keep the weight on the hands See how that feels Come back through center And then take the knees to the other Side So we’re just releasing here around the Joints freeing up a little bit of
Movement So we’re keeping the weight on the hands For now Just so we can focus on that hip Movement If you feel you can do this without Keeping the weight on the hands It’s a little bit harder naturally we Are going to want to lean back And away from the hips But just see how that feels The next level up is as you drop the Knees can you bring the hips forward Drop it down Take it the other way And then lift up So we’ll just do this a couple of times Easing into the hips Okay Cool Let’s come back through center And we’ll just keep the feet at about Hip width distance apart A little bit of a gap between Your feet and the groin reach the arms Forward and then just very slowly we’ll Start to unravel the spine Coming down onto the mat Let’s walk the legs forward arms reach Behind take a nice deep full body Stretch you can interlace the fingers if You want And then just gently on an exhale Bend into the knees little squeeze as
You hug them in Okay Drop the feet back down to the floor Let’s cross the right ankle Over the left knee so this is a reclined Pigeon pose you may be familiar with a Regular pigeon posture where you’re on The elbows and the leg is across the mat This just gives a bit more control and It’s not quite as intense around the Knee joint So with that right ankle hooked we’re Going to take the hands on an interlace Either behind the left thigh or on the Front of the shin it’s just personal Preference Softening at the right hip draw that Left leg a little bit closer in And then just close the eyes here And like i said before you have the Control of how deep that you want to Take this So the closer that that leg is going to Come in towards the chest the deeper That will find that stretch in the right Hip Try and keep your lower back on the Floor where you don’t want to raise it Up Because that’s just going to take away From the stretch So there’s a bit more space in the hips Already And we’re just breathing into that a
Little bit more Okay Keep the ankle hooked over the knee Release the left leg and just let the Foot drop back down onto the mat From here We’re going to open up the arms into a T-shape Lift your bum away from the floor and Take the hips to the right side of the Mat So naturally here the legs are starting To lean to the left So we’re just going to go with this Dropping both knees to the left And then just look to the right hand So we still have that hip opener on the Right leg same leg that we had the Recline pigeon with We get the benefits of a spinal twist Here as well So wringing out tension Stiffness from the spine As we slow things down On your next exhale We’ll gently bring the legs back up use The hand to assist if you need And then we’ll just uncross that right Ankle Okay taking this on the other side now Left ankle hooking Just around the right knee a little bit Lower on the thigh Interlace around the right thigh or the
Shin it’s totally up to you And we’re gonna go for that recline Pigeon again on the other side So again this is going to address any Imbalances that we have For me my left hip is a lot tighter than The right And it does actually impact the way that I walk the way i stand So i’m looking for a bit more release on This side But this does mean because it’s tighter I can’t quite take the leg in as close So just listening to your body if it Hurts If we’re scrunching the face we’ve gone A little bit too far Use that breath that exhale To relax into the pose Okay so releasing that right leg keep The cross of the ankle Arms are opening up into a true into a t Shape Lift the hips Take them to the left And we’re looking here for our twisted Root pose as the knees come to the right You can gaze towards the left hand maybe Close the eyes Again another option is to Place your right hand on the top leg and This just allows a bit more depth A little bit more weight We’re not pressing or forcing it’s just
Simply using the weight of the hand Soften into the belly To release either assisting with the Hands Or just lifting those knees back up And cross the leg re-center the hips And then as you draw the knees into the Chest this time We’re going to separate out the legs and Just draw some individual circles here So moving the knees apart And then together Just oiling into the hinges here of Those hips that we’ve released And then take these circles in the Opposite direction Cool Okay So a little final posture here we’re Coming into a relaxation So you can either fully out stretch the Legs Keeping a bit of distance between the Feet Or if you’re still looking for a hip Opener we’re taking a reclined butterfly So soles of the feet are together Knees just dropping away from each other And then just let the arms fall beside The body Palms facing the ceiling [Music] Looking for a nice open chest And close the eyes
[Music] And this is your time just to maybe Reflect On the practice take a little scan of Your body Is there anything that we are holding on To that we can maybe let go of And just soften here So if you’re looking for a longer Relaxation today you can just stay here For as long as you’d like Or otherwise take the hands outside the Knees Gently press the legs together Knees come into the chest and we’re just Gonna very gently sit Or roll up into a cross-legged position You can pause here Or just walk the hands forwards a little Bit drop the Head and find a bit more release into The outer hips [Music] Cool Okay So hopefully Nice and open into the hips now a bit More elsewhere in the body as well Thank you for joining let me know how You get on
