If you were born with bow legs due to the shape of your thigh bones, you won’t be able to correct it. However, when bow legs are due to muscle imbalances in the hips, legs, and pelvis, you can work toward straighter legs by stretching tight muscles and strengthening weaknesses. In this step, begin stretching the outer hips and sides of the torso, and increase your capacity to take deeper breaths for full body symmetry.
Practice Guidelines
Before starting your yoga asana practice, please read the Practice Guidelines for helpful tips.
Yoga props
- Yoga strap for Cross Leg Pose and Hip Mobility Essentials A.
- Wai Lana Mini Yoga Ball for Side Lying on Ball.
Practice often
For best results, as you follow each step, practice the individual techniques as often as possible without causing strain, ideally at least once per day. When you have more time, add the longer session, or do the individual techniques and the session on alternate days.
Be patient
Postural improvements can take 6 to 24 months to become permanent.
In this step, strengthen the groin and inner thigh region as well as the pelvic floor and buttock muscles. Weakness in these areas can contribute to bow legs.
Yoga props
You'll need the block and ball for most of the individual poses listed.
- Yoga block.
- Wai Lana Mini Yoga Ball.
- Wai Lana Looped Band Set. You'll need a looped band for the Easy Hip Mobility session.
When working to bring our posture into better balance, we tend to focus first on the tightest areas. While this is important, so are other less obvious imbalances, which can contribute to discomfort and poor posture. These exercises strengthen your feet and ankles, helping to lift your arches and evenly balance your body from the feet up. Gradually, this can straighten bow legs.
Wai Lana Mini Yoga Ball
You'll need our small, air-filled ball for Get Stronger Move Better.
As flexibility and range of motion in your hips and pelvis improve, it’s also important to work on strength and stability. Building strength in your inner thighs and buttocks will contribute to the gradual change of shape in your legs. You will also learn how to breathe to release tension and increase subtle energy flow throughout your hips and pelvis.
Yoga props
You’ll need these props for the individual techniques and sessions:
- [Wai Lana Looped Band Set](https://shop.wailana.com/wai-lana-looped-band-set/)
- [Wai Lana Mini Yoga Ball](https://shop.wailana.com/wai-lana-mini-yoga-ball/)
- Yoga block
Develop full-body strength and flexibility through these multi-day courses. Strength without flexibility results in tension and stiffness, while flexibility without strength only temporarily relieves body discomfort. To create lasting changes, this step focuses on stabilizing the flexibility you gained in the previous steps.
Practice every day and keep going
Practice a full session each day from the course you are taking. As you work on changing your habitual posture, you are also remodeling the various tissues in the body, which takes time. For best results, after you have completed the courses in this step, don't stop. Continue practicing the techniques, sessions and multi-day courses recommended throughout this prescription.
