Benefits: This simple seated pose opens the hips and abductor muscles of the thighs. If Lotus Pose is not yet achievable for you, Easy Seated Pose is a comfortable position for meditation and pranayama.
Step by Step
1. Sit on the floor in an easy cross-legged position. Move the knees closer together so the feet move farther away from each other. Each knee will be more in line with its respective hip. Flex both feet, little toe sides contact the earth, rather than the tops of the feet. This position, with your shinbones parallel to each other, is more opening. If your knees are higher than your hip joints, you’ll find it hard to sit with the spine erect. In this case, raise your seat with a cushion or block.
2. To work deeper into the hips, come into Easy Pose with Forward Stretch. Take your hands to the floor in front, inhale, and lengthen from your pubic bone to the base of the throat. Exhale and slide the hands away, maintaining the openness of the chest.
3. Keep the front edges of your sitting bones pressing into the floor and the heart lifted as you use the breath to release and gradually walk the hands farther forward. Let the breath dissolve any tightness or holding around the hip socket as your stay in this position for up to a minute. When you come up, change the crossing of the legs and repeat on the other side.
4. Counterpose: Child’s Pose.
