The low lunge or Anjaneyasana is another one of these yoga poses that look so simple yet they’re incredibly important to counter our mostly sitting life and increase our flexibility where it matters.
If you have knee problems or struggle with hamstring injuries, skip this pose!
You want to come on all fours to start with this pose. Again, keep in mind to have your hips over your knees, and your shoulders over your wrists.
And from here, you step your right foot forward, next to your right hand. Your right knee should be right above your right ankle.
At this point you want to make sure your knees are comfortable. You could put a blanket or pillow under the back knee here.
Now breathe in and come up with your upper body until your back is straight-ish.
Make sure to keep your hips leveled. That means, you want both hip bones to point straight forward.
And now, while breathing out, you can sink in deeper into the stretch. Sink your hip forwards, basically.
This should give you a nice stretch on the front of your left upper leg.
With every in-breath, you can come back a little bit. And with every out breath, you can sink a little deeper into the stretch. It shouldn’t hurt! But it can definitely be a very intense stretch.
What are we stretching here?
The low lunge doesn’t only open your quadriceps muscles (the muscles in your front upper leg), but also the hip flexors, which is where we store lots of stress. And unfortunately, these hip flexors also get super tight from sitting a lot. And when they’re tight our body thinks we’re stressed…
Point being: do this stretch regularly. Even if you don’t want to be flexible, it’s gonna be really good for your physical and mental health!
As with all the other stretches, it doesn’t matter how deep you go. It matters that you feel a stretch that it’s enjoyable, and that you slowly but surely opening up these muscles.
Hold the pose for a few breaths, and then return and do the same on the other side.
Don’t let this pose fool you: it might look super easy. But it is also super effective at loosening those tight hips and quads!