Category: Balancing
Level: beginner
Hold: 5-8 breaths per side
Type: Asana
Breath: Exhale to sit a little deeper; keep the breath unhurried.

Standing Figure Four

Eka Pada Utkatasana — "one-legged fierce posture"

Also known as: Standing Pigeon

Cross one ankle over the opposite thigh and sit back as if into a chair — a strong outer-hip stretch you can take anywhere, no floor required. The deeper you sit, the more it opens.

Step by step

1Stand tall and shift your weight into your left foot.
2Cross your right ankle over your left thigh, just above the knee, and flex the right foot.
3Bend your standing knee and sit your hips back, as if lowering into a chair behind you.
4Bring your hands together at your chest, or rest them on your shin.
5Keep your chest lifted; let the right knee ease toward the floor without pushing it.
6Fix your gaze on one point ahead and breathe into the outer hip.
7Press down to stand, uncross, and repeat on the other side.

Benefits

✓ Stretches the outer hip and glute of the crossed leg
✓ Strengthens the standing leg, ankle, and core
✓ Improves balance from a stable, adjustable shape
✓ A practical stretch for hips that sit in chairs all day

Make it yours

· Hold a wall, counter, or chair back with one or both hands.
· Do the same shape seated in a chair — ankle over knee, hinge slightly forward.
· Sit only a little; even a shallow bend gives the outer hip a real stretch.

Take care

If you have balance issues, do the same shape holding a wall or chair back — nothing is lost.
Take care with knee injuries on either side; keep the sit shallow and the crossed foot flexed.
Take care with ankle injuries on the standing side.

This is general practice guidance, not medical advice. If something hurts, ease out of it.

Practiced in

Props that help here

Manduka PRO — The buy-it-once option — dense, stable, famously durable. Heavy, so it lives at home, which is where practice happens anyway. find one
Cork blocks (set of 2) — Bring the floor closer in lunges, folds, and triangle — and a block between the shoulder blades turns a backbend into something you can hold. find one

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