Wide-Legged Forward Bend with Hands on Hips

How to do Wide-Legged Forward Bend with Hands on Hips

1. 1Stand facing the long edge of your mat and step your feet wide apart, roughly one leg-length distance, keeping your outer foot edges parallel.
2. 2Place your hands firmly on your hips with your thumbs pointing back toward your sacrum and your elbows drawing gently toward each other.
3. 3Inhale to firm your quadriceps, root through all four corners of your feet, and lift your chest tall.
4. 4Exhale and hinge forward from your hip creases with a long, extended spine, keeping your hands anchored to your hips.
5. 5Continue folding until your torso is parallel to the ground or moving deeper toward the floor, maintaining an upward lift through your elbows.
6. 6Shift your weight slightly toward the balls of your feet so your hips remain stacked directly over your ankles.
7. 7Hold for several steady breaths, drawing your lower abdomen in to support your lumbar spine.
8. 8Inhale to rise back up with a flat spine, leading with your sternum until you return to an upright standing position.

Benefits

• Stretches and lengthens tight hamstrings, calves, and inner thigh muscles
• Strengthens the spinal extensors and upper back by keeping hands on hips
• Tones the core stabilizers and deep pelvic floor muscles
• Encourages gentle spinal decompression through passive inversion
• Improves hip joint mobility and pelvic alignment awareness
• Promotes mental focus and down-regulates the nervous system

Common mistakes and cues

• Rounding the spine

  Maintain a flat, extended back rather than curling through your upper spine to force a deeper fold.

• Dropping the elbows

  Keep your elbows actively drawing upward and together to engage your shoulder blades and broaden your chest.

• Sinking into the heels

  Shift your pelvis slightly forward so your hips remain stacked vertically over your ankles.

• Locking the knees

  Keep a soft micro-bend in your knees to protect the joints and actively engage your quadriceps.

• Collapsing foot arches

  Press actively into the outer edges of your feet while lifting your inner arches to stabilize your ankles.

Modifications and props

• Knee micro-bend

  Softly bend your knees if your hamstrings or lower back feel strained during the fold.

• Shorter stance

  Step your feet slightly closer together if wide spacing causes discomfort in your inner thighs or pelvis.

• Halfway lift

  Stop folding once your torso reaches parallel to the floor to prioritize spinal extension over depth.

• Wall support behind hips

  Rest your buttocks lightly against a wall to learn proper hip stacking and balance.

Cautions

• Lower back injuries

  Avoid deep folding if you have acute disc herniation or severe lumbar strain, keeping a soft bend in the knees.

• Hamstring tears

  Limit the depth of your fold and avoid locking knees if recovering from hamstring tendonitis.

• Uncontrolled blood pressure

  Keep your head elevated at or above heart level if you experience dizziness or have high blood pressure.

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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