Bend to Right Leg with Rotation

How to do Bend to Right Leg with Rotation

1. 1Begin seated in Dandasana, then bend your left knee and place the sole of your left foot against your inner right thigh.
2. 2Open your right leg out at a comfortable diagonal, actively flexing your right foot with toes pointing toward the ceiling.
3. 3Inhale to extend your left arm overhead, finding maximum length along your left flank while anchoring both sitting bones.
4. 4Exhale to side-bend over your right leg, resting your right forearm along the floor inside your right calf.
5. 5Reach your top left arm over your ear toward your right toes, spinning your ribs and heart upward toward the sky.
6. 6If available, hold the outer edge of your right foot with your top hand and turn your gaze gently past your top armpit.
7. 7Keep extending through the underside of your right waist rather than collapsing your weight into your thigh.
8. 8To exit, release your grip, engage your core, inhale to lift your torso upright, and gently switch sides.

Benefits

• Deeply stretches the quadratus lumborum and lateral spinal stabilizers.
• Elongates the hamstrings and calves of the extended leg.
• Expands the intercostal muscles to encourage deeper, fuller breathing.
• Stimulates abdominal organs and supports digestion through gentle rotation.
• Alleviates deep stiffness in the lower back and outer hips.

Common mistakes and cues

• Collapsing the chest

  Dropping the chest toward the floor turns this into a slumped forward fold rather than a revolved lateral stretch.

• Lifting the opposite hip

  Allowing the bent-knee sitting bone to leave the floor robs the flank of a deep, anchored stretch.

• Compressing the lower waist

  Crunching into the right side body stresses the lower back; focus on lengthening both sides of the torso equally.

• Forcing the foot grip

  Straining to hold the extended toes collapses the top shoulder; hold a strap or keep the top arm extended in space instead.

Modifications and props

• Yoga strap around foot

  Loop a strap around the ball of the extended foot and hold it with your top hand to maintain an open chest.

• Block under forearm

  Rest your bottom forearm on a yoga block inside the straight leg to support your spine and prevent rounding.

• Blanket beneath pelvis

  Sit on the edge of a firm folded blanket to tilt your pelvis forward and ease strain on tight hamstrings.

• Hand behind the head

  Place your top hand behind your neck and use the elbow as a lever to spiral your chest open without shoulder strain.

Cautions

• Acute hamstring strain

  Keep a micro-bend under the extended knee or reduce the depth of your side bend to avoid overstretching the tendon.

• Lumbar disc issues

  Avoid combining deep forward flexion with spinal rotation if you have active herniations or sciatica.

• Sacroiliac joint pain

  Keep both sitting bones firmly rooted and minimize aggressive rotation to avoid shearing forces on the SI joint.

If you are working with an injury, pregnancy or a medical condition, check with a qualified professional before practising this pose.

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