Hip square or open during three legged dog?

This is Ashtanga Yoga Tech Support. Real questions from the yoga community, answered.

Our Response

Square the hip.

Here's why. When you open the hip, yeah, your leg goes higher. Feels great. But you're borrowing that height from your lower back. Your pelvis tilts. Your spine rotates. You're not actually getting more flexible in the hip—you're compensating.

Squared hips keep your pelvis level. Both hip points facing down. That's the position you need for runner's lunge anyway. So why rehearse something different?

The open hip version? That's fine for a vinyasa flow class. Creative sequencing. Feels good. But in Ashtanga, we're training a specific pattern. Squared hips. Neutral spine. Then step through.

You'll feel less stretch at first. That's the point. You're isolating the actual hip. Not the whole kinetic chain.

So keep the lifted leg lower. Keep both hips even. Build strength there.

That's the shape that serves the practice.