This image demonstrates hinging at the hips while maintaining a neutral spinal position. We often flex forward, rounding our spine, leaving the hips behind. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this, it’s called a forward fold in yoga, but I don’t think it’s something we should be doing all the time. For some variety in your forward bending endeavors, try 3-point hip hinging for a change.

3-point PVC hinging – Place a PVC pipe in line with your spine on your back so it makes contact with the back of your head, mid-back and sacrum (tailbone). With your neck long, hinge from your hips while keeping all three points of body contact with the pvc pipe (a broom handle will work too). Start with a small range of motion at first and build up as you get the hang of it. Let your knees soften naturally as a result of the hinge. Notice when you bend your knees a lot it loads the front of your thighs, and if you keep your legs straighter, the back of the thighs are more engaged. Let it be natural, keeping your hamstrings involved. As you get better at hinging from a basic standing position, try stepping side to side or doing lunges. Try one-legged hip hinges, extending one leg back, hinging from one hip, balancing on one leg. The purpose is to maintain full, neutral stature while moving, avoiding habitual scrunching, shortening or rounding yourself unnecessarily. Take a video and be pleasantly surprised if it looks different than it feels. Go slow, make corrections and as always pay attention to the process and nuances.

Next we’ll do some happy mapping of the knees.