How to Do Goddess Pose to Strengthen Your Legs and Mobility in Your Hips

What is the goddess pose and what are its benefits

Goddess pose, or utkata konasana in Sanskrit, is a yoga pose in which a person supports their body weight in a squat position with their thighs wide apart. Ideally, the knees are directly over the feet and the shins are vertical. The position of the arms can vary.

Holding this pose allows you to improve several physical qualities at once.

1. Muscle strength. Holding a pose is an isometric exercise, in which the muscles do not change their length, but they are tense. According to research , static loading of muscles helps to increase their volume and strength.

The isometric squat works the quadriceps, the muscles on the front of the thigh, as well as the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius . Since the goddess pose rotates the hips outward, which is what the glutes are responsible for , they will get even more work than a regular squat.

Of course, you shouldn’t expect a big increase in the size of your thighs or buttocks, since the volume of the load must be more than 30-60 seconds of tension per day for noticeable hypertrophy. But some increase in strength, endurance and muscle size is still possible.

2. Hip mobility. In the goddess pose, the adductors, or adductors , located on the inner thigh, are in a stretched position. In everyday life, this range of motion is not useful, but if you plan to do a side split in the future, this pose can help you.

According to one study , even holding the pose for 30 seconds three times a week can provide significant benefits to joint mobility. Granted, the study tested the muscles on the back of the thigh rather than the adductors, but it’s safe to assume that the adductors would respond similarly to regular stretching.

3. Balance. Although the goddess pose is performed on two legs, it is quite unstable due to the strong rotation of the hips to the sides. By making an effort to maintain balance , you will tense the core muscles and train your balance.

How to do the goddess pose correctly

Place your feet twice as wide apart as your shoulders, with your toes pointed out at a 45° angle. If you are practicing on a yoga mat, you can use it as a guide: your toes should point toward the corners of the mat.

Squat down until your thighs are parallel to the floor, if your flexibility allows it . If not, go as deep as you can. Turn your knees out to the sides and make sure they are over your feet and your shins are vertical.

Pull your stomach in and tilt your pelvis back – imagine that you want to touch your pubic bone to your navel. The latter is necessary to eliminate excessive deflection in the lower back.

Make an effort to turn your hips out to the sides as much as possible. If your knees are turning inward and you can’t get them back into the correct position, lift yourself up. It’s better if your posture is not so deep, but correct.

Straighten your back from the tailbone to the neck, stretch the crown of your head to the ceiling. Raise your arms to the sides to shoulder level, then bend them at the elbows at a right angle and turn your palms forward.

There are also several other options for how you can hold your hands: fold them in front of your chest in the “namaste” position, simply stretch them up, or join your palms above your head.