Yin Yoga – Swan Pose

Swan pose is great as a backbend on its own, and a great pose to lead into Sleeping Swan Pose (more on that in a future post). Of the Yin Yoga poses, Swan is a bit more on the Yang side, so the hold time isn’t as long. In general, 1-3 min is good, but of course, if you are an experienced ‘Yinnie’, you’re welcome to hold for longer.

Swan pose is a great backbend, and also awesome at opening up the hip, butt, and IT band area of the front leg, even in its upright position. It’s also a sweet little stretch for the hip flexor of the back leg.

If your front knee doesn’t like this pose, sometimes moving the knee towards the mid-line of the body can take the pressure off. If it still hurts, you’ll want to skip this pose and choose a different hip opener like shoelace pose.

If it’s the knee of the back leg that is the issue, a small rolled up towel or a blanket under the thigh of the back leg will often do the trick, or curling the back toes under to take pressure off the knee cap.

In the video below, I’ll walk you through the complete how-to for Swan pose, including variations and modifications.

Happy Practicing

ox nyk