Yoga for cyclists: Seated cross-legged forward bend pose by Total Women’s Cycling a Road Cycling video by Total Women’s Cycling
The seated cross-legged forward bend pose gently releases the back of the hips, stretches the back, shoulders, knees and ankles.
It is an incredibly calming pose that relieves fatigue and quietens the mind.
How to do the seated cross-legged forward bend pose:
- Start sitting with the legs straight out in front of you
- From there cross the right shin in front of the left shin
- Look at your feet and try to get the feet underneath the knees, shins crossed halfway up
- Lengthen the spine up away from the hips and breath smoothly
- If you find that your lower back is rounding and the pelvis is tilting backwards then you need to sit on a lift – use a folded blanket or a block underneath the sitting bones to elevate the hips
- Take a long inhale
- As you exhale start to walk the hands out in front of you as far as you can, keeping the sitting bones on the floor
- Let the head and neck completely release
- Stay for 5 – 10 breaths and inhale to come up
- Straighten out the legs and repeat with the left shin in front.
What to watch out for:
- Donʼt worry about how far forward you get – just get to your maximum amount of stretch and stay there
- If you have any pain in the knee joint during this pose as always just release off straight away.
Our instructor is Polly Clark; yoga teacher and founder of Mountain Yoga Breaks who offer weekends combining mountain biking and yoga in the beautiful Welsh countryside.
