Don’t let the featured image fool you: you’ll be doing some lunges today, but they might be nothing like the ways you’ve done lunges in yoga before!
While I’m a big fan of constructive rest for hip flexors, it’s definitely only one piece of the puzzle. I bet you can relate to the feeling of “I’m sore–I should stretch!”and sometimes, stretching isn’t the needed solution. If that’s the case, give your hip flexors a break in one of the rest poses from my last post, and then give this awesome hip flexor magic that I learned from Jules Mitchell a try.
When you give this a go, move slowly. Slooooooooowly. Even if you don’t have someone’s hand there, pretend someone’s hand is pressing on the back of your thigh and you’re trying to move it. Create your own resistance!
As I mention in the video, it could be really helpful to have a teammate or partner around to place their hand at the back of your pelvis so that you have some resistance and become aware of when you’re actually moving! That will help with proprioception–knowing where you are in space–and won’t let you cheat.
And last but definitely not least, don’t worry if your movements are really, really tiny when you try this. (I’ve taught this in a lot of classes already, and most of my students don’t go very far.) Over time, as you strengthen and stretch your hip flexors in this new and exciting way, you’ll have more control and range of motion.
Like I said: magic!