Pigeon pose is a key hip opener in yoga for athletes that stretches the hip flexors, piriformis and glutes and can help to alleviate lower back pain. In Yin yoga, this posture is called Swan, or Sleeping Swan when you fold forward over the front leg. If this pose isn’t accessible to you, you can get a similar stretch in the outsides of your hips in Dead Pigeon or Standing Pigeon.
PIGEON POSE BENEFITS
- Stretches the glutes, piriformis and external hip rotators of your front leg as the hip flexes and rotates externally.
- Stretches the hip flexors of your back leg as it trails behind you in hip extension.
- Can help to alleviate lower back pain.
CATEGORY
SKILL LEVEL
- Intermediate
INSTRUCTIONS
- Set-Up
Come into Downward Dog.
- Action
Step your big toes together. Inhale, sweep your left leg up to the sky. Exhale, bring your left knee forward, place it on the mat behind your left wrist and position your left foot underneath your right hip. Release your back foot and slide it back.
- Refinements
Look behind you to check that your right leg and foot are straight. If your hips are not level, you can support the hip of your bent leg on a block or bolster.
- Next Level
Inhale, press into your fingertips to lengthen your spine. Exhale, walk your hands forward and come down onto your forearms.
- Duration
Stay in the pose for 2-5 minutes.
- To Release
Bring your hands to the mat, tuck your back toes, lift your hips up and step back to Downward Dog for the other side.
ALTERNATIVE
- Pigeon is inaccessible to some athletes—due to injury or tightness in the hips. In which case, Dead Pigeon is a great alternative.
ADVANCED VARIATION: Sleeping Pigeon Pose
- If you’d like to go deeper, cross your arms and rest your forehead on the mat.
YIN VARIATION: Bound Sleeping Swan
- From Sleeping Swan, extend the arm of your straight leg across your body and out to the side. And reach the arm of your bent leg behind your back and take hold of your bent leg big toe, adding a bind that deepens the stretch through that leg and opens your shoulder.
CONTRAINDICATIONS
- Avoid Pigeon pose if you have a knee, hip or foot injury.
MASTER PIGEON POSE
If you’d like to practise Pigeon pose as part of a sequence, watch Peak Pose: Pigeon—a 15-minute guided practice designed to teach you how to master this pose. This video can be accessed along with my full library of 360+ videos as part of the 14-Day Free Trial.
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