Unlock Your Hips: Free Hip-Openers Yoga Chart With 36 Poses + Free Hip-Opener Yoga Lesson Plan
Greetings, my lovely Yogis, Yoginis, and Yoga teachers. I’m George Watts, a BWY yoga teacher and creator of the Online Yoga Lesson Planner.
In this post, I’ll be exploring the wondrous world of hips. It’s time to lubricate your hips, free your hip joints, unchain your hip flexibility, unwind your hips, unbind your hip movement, unstick your hips, and unleash your hip range.
Yep, that’s a lot for one post, so let’s unshackle our hip mobility.
Free Hip-Openers Yoga Chart
Here is a free yoga class handout with 36 seated and floor hip-opening poses that you can download, print and give to your students.
Hope you liked my hip-openers yoga chart.
Up next, now that you have an eye-catching hip-openers chart, I figure you might want a hip-opener-themed yoga lesson plan.
Hip-Opener-Themed Yoga Lesson Plan
Class Title: Embrace Hip Freedom: A Hip-Opener Yoga Lesson Plan
Class Overview: Guide students through a series of “seated & floor” poses (taken from the free Hip-openers chart above) that open the hips and improve hip flexibility and mobility. Encourage students to listen to their bodies and make use of the props and modifications provided. Remind them that the goal is not perfection, but rather to explore the unlocking of their hips.
Class Aims:
- To offer a yoga class for beginner to intermediate students that focuses on hip-opening poses that unbind your hip movement.
- To foster students’ understanding of proper alignment, body awareness, and breath control while performing hip-opening poses.
- To cultivate a safe and nurturing environment where students can explore their individual limits, using props and modifications as needed.
Class Objectives:
- Students will demonstrate improved body awareness by engaging in a “seated and floor” practice that targets the hips.
- Students will deepen their understanding of the alignment principles and techniques for practising hip-opening poses safely and effectively.
- Students will gain confidence in their ability to progress in their practice by using props and modifications that cater to their needs and capabilities.
Duration: 60 minutes
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Props: Yoga mat, strap, and yoga block (optional)
Yoga Lesson Plan Overview
- Warm-up (5 minutes)
- Start in a comfortable seated position (Easy Pose)
- Practice Alternate Nose Breath to centre the mind and body
- Cat Pulling Tail Pose (3 minutes on each side)
- Lie on one side, bend the top leg, and grab the foot with the top hand
- Bend the bottom leg and grab the foot with the bottom hand
- Gently pull both feet towards the body
- Switch sides
- Bound Angle Pose (5 minutes)
- Sit with the soles of your feet together, knees open to the sides
- Hold onto your feet. Gently press your knees towards the ground
- Maintain an elongated spine and relaxed shoulders
- Baby Camel Pose (3 minutes)
- Kneel. Raise buttocks. Raise arms sideways to shoulder level.
- Lower right hand to left heel (slight twist).
- Gaze at raised hand. Chin near sternum. Repeat on the other side.
- Camel Pose (3 minutes)
- Kneel with knees hip-width apart, feet flat on the ground
- Place hands on the lower back, fingers pointing downward
- Arch the back, press hips forward, and gaze up
- Bridge Pose (5 minutes)
- Lie on the back with knees bent, feet flat on the ground
- Lift hips and interlace fingers underneath the body
- Press into feet and shoulders to lift hips higher
- Bridge with One Leg Raised (2 minutes on each side)
- From Bridge Pose, lift one leg towards the sky
- Keep hips level and maintain engagement in the glutes
- Switch sides
- Child’s Pose (3 minutes)
- Kneel with knees wide, toes touching, and sink hips towards the heels
- Lower chest between knees and stretch arms forward
- Rest your forehead on the ground and breathe deeply
- Cobra Pose (3 minutes)
- Lie on the belly with legs extended and hands beneath shoulders
- Press into hands, lift the chest, and gaze forward
- Keep the shoulders relaxed and elbows slightly bent
- Cow Face Pose (3 minutes on each side)
- Sit with legs extended, then cross one leg over the other
- Stack knees and draw feet towards the hips
- Optionally, clasp hands behind the back for a shoulder stretch
- Switch sides
- Cool Down and Savasana (10 minutes)
- Lie on the back and relax the entire body
- Allow the breath to return to its natural rhythm
- Slowly awaken the body by wiggling fingers and toes, then stretch the arms overhead
- Roll onto one side and push up into a seated position
- Closing (5 minutes)
- End the practice in Easy Pose (comfortable seated position)
- Reflect on the experience of the hip-opener poses
- Thank the students for their participation and close with the Gayatri Mantra (or more Alternate Nose Breathing)
If you want to add different hip openers to your yoga lesson plan, click here to see the 200+ hip-opener poses in my free Yoga Pose Directory.
And if you want to add my famous blue yoga stick figures to this plan, take a quick peek at my Online Yoga Lesson Planner. All the poses in the lesson plan above are available within the Planner (along with 3000+ other poses).
Up next, are nine themes you can apply to a hip-opener focused yoga lesson plan.
9 Themes You Can Apply to a Hip-opener focused Yoga Lesson Plan
Below are ten themes you can use in your class for a class that focuses on hip-openers:
Hip-opener Theme 1: Journey to Inner Freedom
Focus on releasing emotional and physical tension stored in the hips, encouraging students to let go of past experiences and find inner freedom.
Hip-opener Theme 2: Beautiful Balance
Explore the balance between flexibility and strength in the hip area, emphasising the importance of stability and mobility for overall well-being.
Hip-opener Theme 3: Cultivating Change
Use hip-opening poses to symbolise the process of embracing change and adapting to new experiences with grace and resilience.
Hip-opener Theme 4: Root Chakra Rejuvenation
The hip-openers stimulate and balance the root chakra, fostering a sense of security, groundedness, and connection to the Earth.
Hip-opener Theme 5: Fluidity and Flow
Encourage students to move with fluidity and grace through a series of hip-opening poses.
Hip-opener Theme 6: Cultivating Compassion
Connect hip-opening postures to the practice of self-compassion, teaching students to approach their practice with kindness and understanding towards themselves and others.
Hip-opener Theme 7: Cultivating Creativity
Use hip-opening poses to stimulate creative energy, inspiring students to explore new ways of expressing themselves on and off the mat.
Hip-opener Theme 8: Valuing Vulnerability
Use hip-opening poses to help students access and embrace their emotional vulnerability, which lays down the seeds for emotional healing and self-awareness.
Hip-opener Theme 9: Happy Hips
Create a restorative yoga class plan focused on gentle hip-opening poses, allowing students to deeply relax, rejuvenate, and release tension in the hip area.
George’s Conclusion
Well, there you have it, my lovely fellow yoga teacher.
We’ve explored the rejuvenating world of hip-openers. Hopefully, your student’s hips will soon feel lubricated, unchained and unstuck.
If you want to create themed yoga lesson plans quickly and easily, take a quick peek at my Online Yoga Lesson Planner.
Oh yes, I almost forgot, click here for 10 beginner yoga lesson plans with peak poses which are ideal “themed” yoga lesson plans.
And click here for an article I wrote called: 1001 Yoga Class Planning Tips & Handouts For Yoga Teachers.
Hey, while you’re here, you might as well get your hands on 37 free yoga lesson plans.
37 Free Yoga Lesson Plans
Below are 37 free downloadable yoga lesson plans that I’ve created for my own yoga classes using the Online Yoga Lesson Planner.
Feel free to use them for your own yoga classes, or as inspiration to come up with your own yoga class themes.
Become A Peaceful Warrior Yoga Lesson Plan
Caterpillar To Butterfly Yoga Lesson Plan
How Heavy Is This Glass Of Water Yoga Lesson Plan
Surrender To Slowness Yoga Lesson Plan
You Don’t Need Permission To Shine: Just Show Up, Shine & Be Yourself
Abiciously Delicious Core Yoga Lesson Plan
Chair Yoga For Seniors Lesson Plan
Sun Salutations Chair Yoga Lesson Plan
Sun Salutations A Yoga Lesson Plan
Sun Salutations B Yoga Lesson Plan
Sun Salutations C Yoga Lesson Plan
Camel Peak Pose Yoga Lesson Plan
Downward Facing Dog Pose Variations Lesson Plan
Plank Peak Pose Yoga Lesson Plan
Revolved Poses Yoga Lesson Plan
Twists-Themed Yoga Lesson Plan: 41 Twist Poses To Whip Your Student’s Cores Into Shape
Yoga Therapy: Arthritic Spine Yoga Lesson Plan
Yoga Therapy: Asthma Yoga Lesson Plan
Yoga Therapy: Hips Yoga Lesson Plan
Yoga Therapy: Opening Upper Back, Neck & Shoulders Yoga Lesson Plan
Yoga Therapy: Restorative Yoga Lesson Plan
