How to use a little lizard to improve your hip flexibility

Bob is struggling to get into Padmasana, lotus pose. He can get his right foot part way up his left thigh but it does not make it all the way to his hip. His left leg just barely gets off of the floor and on his right thigh before the knee starts to complain. Bob abandons the pose fearful that he is going to hurt his knee.

His teacher tells Bob that he can protect his knees by increasing the flexibility of his hips.

Bob can use Lizard Pose, Utthan Pristhasana, to increase the flexibility of his hips and protect his knees at the same time.

What is Lizard pose

Lizard pose, is a standing pose that focuses on the external rotation of the thigh in the hip joint. Utthan Pristhasana is the Sanskrit name of the pose.

Lizard pose focuses on increasing the flexibility of your hips. You avoid the twisting of the knees in Lotus pose that Bob was struggling with.

You can stay in this pose for an extended period of time and let gravity help to increase the flexibility of your hips.
You should warm yourself up first with a series of Sun Salutes before you attempt to embrace the Lizard.

How to do the Lizard

You enter Lizard Pose from downward facing dog. Your hips are up in the air and your hands and feet are on the floor with your hands near the front of the mat and your feet near the back of the mat. You look like a dog stretching.

Now bring your right foot up beside your right hand with your right knee above your ankle. Once you have your right leg set up turn your attention to your left leg.

Turn your left foot about 45 degrees to the side by bringing your left heel towards the centre of the mat. Move your left ankle back and above your left foot. These two movements protect your knee from injury and increase your balance.

Now that the foundation is in place it is time to move on to the rest of the pose.

Move your hands forward until your right elbow is above and beside your right big toe.

Bring your elbows down towards the floor as you lower your hips towards the floor. At the same time lower your head towards the floor as well. These two movements will cause your hip and thigh joint to rotate a lot.

Hold here in this position and let gravity help you move a little deeper into the stretch around your hips.

You can use your Edge here to improve your flexibility

Finding that comfortable but challenging place in the pose is where your edge is. Move away from and then towards this place a small amount as you breathe in and out. This small movement increases your flexibility over time.

After several breaths repeat on your other side. But first you need to get out of the pose and return to Downward Facing Dog.

To exit the pose lift your elbows up off of the mat, lift your torso up as well and take your right foot back beside your left foot.

Adjust your left foot to point forward once more. You are now in Downward Facing Dog and ready to do the pose on the other side.

You will discover that you are more flexible around the hip on one side when you do this pose. This is normal and happens in a lot of yoga poses. You may want to spend more time in the pose on the side that is less flexible.

As your flexibility improves you can get more benefit from Lizard pose by trying a few modifications.

How to get more benefit from the Lizard

Once you have your right elbow resting comfortably on the floor beside your right big toe it is time to move on in the pose.
To increase the flexibility in your hip move your elbow backwards. Now bring your elbow to the floor beside your right heel. Once your elbow is on the ground here move backwards again.

Repeat this action of moving your elbow back towards your left foot until you are able to hold your right heel with your right hand. Your thumb is on the inside of your heel, your fingers are on the outside.

When you are able to hold your heel and put your elbow on the mat it is time to lower your head to your mat beside your right ankle. Bring the top of your head to your mat beside your ankle and look back at your left foot.

I can get my outside elbow down is that good enough?

Lowering your outside elbow, in this example that would be your left elbow, to the mat is not a good idea. Doing this introduces a twisting action to your torso and hips. This decreases the amount of stretching that you are doing in your hip joint.
To get the most benefit from this pose you lower both elbows to the floor at the same time keeping your shoulders and hips level.

I can get my elbow down if I round my back

This is a another common mistake in this pose. Rounding your back to get your elbows to the floor takes the pressure off of your hips and moves the stretch to your lower back.

This can cause you to stress your lower back muscles and risk injury to them.

Remove this risk by bringing your awareness to torso as you lower your elbows towards the floor. Bring your lower ribs forward.

This movement of your ribs causes your back to straighten and protects it from injury. Now the stretching is in your hips and not your lower back.

Summary

Lizard pose, Utthan Pristhasana, is an excellent pose for Bob. It will increase the flexibility of his hips without putting his knees at risk.

Bob will be able to do Full Lotus with ease once he is able to hold his heel with his hands and put his elbows on the floor behind his foot.

Getting the foundation set up right will insure that his knees are not at risk.

Bob can use his Edge to increase his flexibility.

Next Steps

Talk to your yoga teacher about Lizard pose, Utthan Pristhasana. They can recommend more yoga poses to increase your hip flexibility while protecting your knees.

Additional Reading

To learn more about your edge read How to use the 3 parts of your Edge to improve your yoga experience

One legged King Pigeon pose is another excellent pose that increases your hip flexibility safely.

There are several variations of Lotus that you can do while your hips are getting more flexible.