Opening Up Your Hamstrings With Hot Yoga

Note to all: This is in response to a very good question from one of our members, Johnny. I thought the answer could be helpful to all, so I have included photos and published this as a new article. Hope you enjoy it!

Thank you Johnny for your message. I am so happy that my work has been a positive influence.

Your swimming progress because of your growing breath is evident and can only get better. Swimming and Hot Yoga are great partners both able to balance strength and flexibility. I find they help me with my stamina.

Regarding your inability to get a straight back in a forward bend. This could be related to your ‘hamstring’ problem. I would definitely need more information.

Perhaps you could tell me whether you know if you have tight latissimus dorsi (your lats) or whether you have a tendency towards rounded shoulders or anything else that could help me understand. When you bring your arms over your head and clamp them in do your shoulders rise up or can you lengthen your neck and lock out your arms? Does your neck feel tight or chin drop?

Answers such as these or sending me photos (to my email if you prefer) could help me!

Now to your hamstrings. Some of your issue could be related to the above. I will go on what I have right now.

There are specific techniques to loosen the hamstrings within the series. It is knowing specifically how to use these concepts that can escape us. I will try to help you determine whether your poses can be approached in maybe a better way. And give you some ideas to stretch your muscles using the heat (after a yoga class) or at home.

Reciprocal inhibition is one way our muscles work: one muscle works hard and the opposing one relaxes. There are a several poses in the series where you have the choice of having bent or straight legs.

The standing poses of this type are:

• Hands To Feet Pose, (Padahastasana)
• Standing Intense Stretching Pose (Dandayamana Bibhaktapada Paschimottanasana).

When you use your arms properly in these poses a reflex called the clasped knife reflex is activated and when you pull hard, with your biceps, so that your elbows point backward (and never out to the sides) then your hamstrings reflexively relax - even when your legs are bent.

With Hands2Feet you already know to keep your body on your legs. If you have even a little space then you start to use your arms in a different way. Your shoulders erroneously get engaged and the result is LESS STRETCH through the back of the body.

Same goes with Separate Leg Intense Stretch pose. You must engage your biceps to pull. When you do, the shoulders move away from the head, decompressing the neck, recruiting more power, and at the same time resolving tension.

Now that sounds pretty simple but you need to make sure of a couple of other details. The instructions in most studios are to step out 4 foot. But did you know you can have your feet too far apart for your body?

This is stepping out too wide

This is a friend of mine who practices yoga in another city. She wasn’t getting anywhere with this pose so I asked her to do it for me the way she has been taught. This is REALLY how this happened, honest!

When you step out too far your grip is compromised. When my husband started Hot Yoga years ago, he was stepping out too far and causing spasms in his adductor muscles. So you can acknowledge that the command to ‘step out further if your forehead doesn’t touch the floor’ doesn’t apply to everyone. Anyway, I digress.

What my friend was doing was following directions. Her step out was as commanded but then she could only reach the sides of her feet only able to slip her fingers in under her arches at a 90 degree angle.

This is the least effective foot grip. Ideally you want to be grabbing your feet from behind your heels. If you can’t manage that then from the sides of your heels, and if that is difficult as far to the back as possible and preferably behind the arch.

Try bending your legs quite a bit more than usual to get the grip. Then bend your elbow near your shins and pull with your biceps, trying to angle your elbows close to your legs. With your legs bent and the pull as described you begin to feel a lengthening stretch not only in your legs but also in your back. See below.

As soon as my friend took a slightly less wide step, she could grab her feet more from the back where they should be. Her legs were a bit more bent but immediately she could feel the stretch really WORKING through the back of her body.

See the more effective stretch (above)?

Photo above shows stepping out too wide

OK now look at the shoulder and hand positions in the photo below with the shorter step out - notice the difference?

This is the right way to do it!

The other issue is working out whether to keep your legs straight or bent. Mostly students straighten their legs before they are ready. In reality, most students should have their legs bent. Do you remember the stretch you get in Hands2Feet? That is for most students a bent leg pose. But you still manage to get your delicious stretch through the legs. This other Stretch pose uses the same concepts.

I suspect that your back will probably be rounded somewhat when you are pulling through this one because of your initial comments. When you have come down, arms out, bend your legs and slide your hands down the back of your calf muscles to reach around behind the heels.

With every fiber of your being, work on straightening your back. With your pull, work your chest through your shoulders. Try to feel an arch in your spine rather than a rounded element.

ONLY when your back is straight can you even contemplate straightening your legs. Most students should practice this pose with bent legs.

Johnny, there are other poses which require you to pull on your feet where you need to sacrifice the desire for straight legs and bend up the legs to pull with your biceps muscles. These include Pashimottanasana (near the end) and you can even use this principle in your sit-ups.

If you want to get some extra stretches then a great time is after class when the body is already very warm and more receptive to stretches. Make them long and slow. When I mean long I mean hold them for minutes at a time. Your body will open slowly. But more specifically your body recognises the safety in the stretch when the stretch is about 20 seconds long. On occasion I have taken 10 minute stretches in one position. Great! Perhaps before you embark on different styles of yoga, let’s ascertain whether your technique is serving in the best way possible.

I want to leave it here because if you would kindly give me that information I requested then I can see if there is anything more that I can add.

Posted by Gabrielle on 02/27 at 01:51 AM

Muscular • Permalink

Great photos! They really helped me see what you were explaining. I can see how there is less strain in the narrower stance for the “opening hamstrings” stretch. The hamstrings didn’t look like they could even relax in the too-wide stance, much less “open” and stretch. Thanks for this tip!

Liz

Posted by Liz  on  03/28  at  02:20 AM

I missed the at home stretching guide.  What may I do to receive a copy please?
THANK YOU!!

I am so grateful to be part of this community and feel the support!!
SO need it right now

Posted by MaryEllen  on  05/28  at  08:15 PM

Hi MaryEllen

And I am grateful to you for your contribution and participation. Please use the Private Message (PM) system or email me directly… and I will send you the Stretching Guide *pronto*

Namaste
Gabrielle

Posted by Gabrielle  on  05/28  at  08:20 PM

Register | Forgot password?