What's CYF?!? CYF stands for Chow Yun Fat, a Hong Kong action-movie star famous for flying sideways with two guns a-blazin'. I know that's not very yogic... but he is the inspiration for this pose. This variation will challenge your balance, rotary core stability,  and hip mobility and hip stability all at the same time. Give it a shot today (pun intended)!

Are you forgetting about your backside? If you spend most of your day sitting, there's a good chance that you are suffering from glute amnesia.

We've finally made it to the third and final part of my hip opening anatomy posts! In this post, we'll take a look at how we can open the hips in the transverse (or horizontal) plane. If  you missed the sagittal and coronal planes, please check out  part I and part II of this series. Remember that the transverse plane is all about rotation, so we'll be looking at internal and external rotation of the hips.

Have you ever seen a hiked up back hip in Virabhadrasana II (warrior 2 pose)? I call it the "sassy hip" because it has some life and attitude. It pops up like the hips of a runway model taking a stroll down the catwalk. What's going on with these sassy hips in Virabhadrasana II? Let's take a look at the anatomy behind it.

In part I of my hip opening posts, we took a look at opening the hips in flexion and extension in the saggital plane. Remember the hips move in several directions, so let's talk about the next ways that we can "open the hips."

When we think about hip openers in yoga, we often think about a folded Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (half pigeon pose) to stretch some of the hip rotators, but don't forget that the hips do more than just rotate!

What are we stretching with a pigeon leg or a figure 4 position? You may think of it as the front leg in half pigeon pose. My friend Hana calls the leg position a 7. Anatomically, it is hip flexion, abduction and external rotation. Whatever you call it, taking a look at the functional anatomy will help us determine what is happening in our pigeon-legged poses.

Yoga teacher, Melina, recently asked me, "Why can't my student straighten her knees in Paschimottasana (seated forward fold) when she can in Uttanasana (standing forward fold)? Her hamstrings seem pretty open. What are the mechanics behind this?"