Butterfly Stretch: Loosen Your Inner Thighs and Groin
Sit with the soles of your feet together, let your knees fall wide, then fold forward from your hips. A broad stretch for your inner thighs and groin.
Long hold · Lower back · Hips · Inner thighs · 2 min read
Why it works: Chapter 23, Stiff people work harder for every stroke
How to do it
- 1
Soles together, knees wide
Sit down, bring the soles of your feet to touch, and let your knees fall out toward the floor. Hold your feet or ankles.
- 2
Sit on something if you need to
If your lower back rounds backward the moment you sit down, put a cushion or folded blanket under your sitting bones, high enough that your hips sit above your knees.
- 3
Choose your depth with your feet
Feet further away from you is gentler. Feet drawn in close to the body is much deeper. Move them, don't force the knees.
- 4
Tall first, then fold
Lengthen up through the spine, then hinge forward from the hips. As you go further, let your back round and your head hang. With no weight on it, a rounded back is safe here: this is a resting fold, not a flat-back one.
- 5
Let the knees go, don't push them
Never press down on your knees: the push lands on the inside of the knee before it reaches the hip. If they stay high, that is your range today, and a cushion under each one lets your legs rest. Breathe out slowly and let them settle.
- 6
The test
A broad, dull stretch along your inner thighs and groin. Anything sharp on the inside of a knee means walk your feet further away.
Watch for
- Pressing your knees down with your hands or elbows. The strain lands on the inside of the knee, and the hip opens no faster.
- Sitting flat on the floor with your pelvis tipped back. You start already slumped, so you cannot hinge forward from the hips at all.
- Pulling yourself down with your arms. You fight the stretch, hold your breath, and your inner thighs tighten against it.
- Bouncing your knees. Each bounce makes the inner thighs tighten, so the stretch never gets to settle.