Pretzel legs: Flexible hips and low back

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Introduction

All of these movements help you sense how the hips function in relationship to the spine. The series starts with clarifying the foot bones and the toes, which is wonderful for balance. It’s truly ingenious the way the lessons slowly flip-flop the idea using the hips in sitting. Just keep going…you’ll see how the puzzle fits together!

Eventually, you will soften the back and hips enough to move more and more towards sitting cross-legged. Even if you can already sit that way, there will be eye-opening moments in this series.

This lesson starts by sinking the left knee out to the side and sliding the foot to the right of the standing right leg. You are slowly guided to retrain the spine to turn and lift to allow the left leg more freedom.

Then, the right hand reaches for the left toes and all kinds of fun things ensue, like pushing into each toe and pushing the toe back into the finger. Clarifying the neurological connection the the toes is phenomenal for balance and walking. You could say this is a “toe lesson,” or a hip lesson, or a back lesson, depending on the day and where your awareness goes.

(The pretzel legs series is from the San Francisco training, June and July, 1976)

After more toe action on the left foot, this lesson guides you to turn the foot bones toward the face and voila! the left knee is free to move further away from your belly. Why? Because turning the foot bones frees the hip. Really, it does. Test it for yourself.

I often teach this pattern to people who have a hard time sitting cross-legged, or even upright. It’s very, very helpful to wake up the connection between soft ankles and flexible feet to the ability to use the hips.

This lesson gets a little more complicated, believe it or not. There are some fun rolling moves that make you say, “What?” until they make complete sense, what Moshe calls "the elusive obvious.”

Again with the left foot on the right thigh, you tilt the left knee down and to the left many ways. You play with your balance and locate the shape of your spine many times, all the while clarifying the circuit through the left leg and right arm.

Finally, the right leg! This lesson is different, it’s not a repeat of the previous movements but rather moves on with the idea of sitting cross-legged.

I left this lesson in its long form, but you can absolutely pause in the middle and do it in two parts. Although, you might be surprised by how time flies when you’re figuring all this out!

This lesson slides the standing foot around the bent leg and then toggles the leg in the hip joint, using the thigh as a fulcrum for the ankle. When you do it, you’ll see what I mean. It also helps you reshape the back to support sitting. You can’t continue to brace in the ribs or contract in the back and slide one foot around the bent leg, so something beings to yield, soften, and relearn how to adapt, gently and slowly.

This two-sided lesson clarifies the connection between pushing the knees away, opening the hips, and the shape of your spine. This is an advanced lesson in paying attention and taking care of yourself.

You will explore holding the feet and bending the hips, at one point even holding a single foot with BOTH hands!

There are lots of interesting “rolling up to sit” strategies, as well as sitting between the heels and holding the feet, sensing the sit bones to the tippy top of the head, always a good thing to do.

This is one lesson where I will never forget the first time I did it! The criss-crossing of the feet and rolling up to sit takes some new coordination. Once you get it, your brain won’t forget.

You’ll play with rolling and sweeping the arms to the side, then bringing the legs overhead and rolling up to sit at the end. It’s a good reminder of how to weight shift.

(If you have knee issues, just approximate the movements and be gentle.)

This lesson returns to sliding the foot through the gap and tilting to the side. Now, we will lengthen the leg with lots of new variations. Discover how the chest and back support the connection of the leg and arm. At the end, you roll to the side and come up to sit over a long leg.

It’s a lot of fun to figure out this puzzle as your self-image gets clearer, regardless of how you position the leg.