Windshield Wiper Legs

"Living your yoga is not just doing it, but being it." - Judith Hanson Lasater

Windshield Wiper Legs

Introduction to Windshield Wiper Legs

Windshield Wiper Pose

This very accessible asana is a great way to warm up the hip girdle for a yoga practice.

By creating internal rotation in one thigh and external rotation in the other, this simple shape warms up two sides of the same joint at once. 

Also, by starting lying flat on your back, this yoga posture allows you to soften into the earth as you prepare for your practice while also gently stimulating your physical body. You can focus on establishing a consistency in your breath while you gently awaken and open your hips and lower back.

How to do Windshield Wiper Legs

  1. Start lying flat on your back. 
  2. Bend your knees and place your feet flat on the floor roughly as wide as your yoga mat.
  3. Extend your arms out wide into a T-shape and soften the weight of your shoulders toward the floor.
  4. Take a full deep inhale and feel your lower back release toward the mat. 
  5. As you exhale, slowly release both of your knees toward your left. You may wish to place yoga props underneath them for extra support.
  6. Pause and hold for as long as you’d like with your legs relaxing toward the ground.
  7. On an inhale, bring your legs back up to their starting position. 
  8. On an exhale, release your knees in the opposite direction.

Practice Tips

Feel free to use yoga props (such as blocks, a blanket, or a bolster) underneath your knees for support or for a more restorative opening. 

Allow your hips to completely surrender to gravity in this yoga posture to fully let go of any excess tension that you may be holding there.

You may like the sensation in both of your legs, or you may find that either internal or external rotation feels more or less comfortable than the other. This could be due to tightness in your soft tissue, but it could also be due to your bone structure. So be gentle with this release and do not “push” yourself through any uncomfortable sensations.

Recommended Use

This yoga posture is excellent to use to prepare the body for asanas that involve either internal or external rotation in the hips, like Warrior Poses, Hero’s Pose, Bound Angle Pose, and many, many more. 

By inviting these movements into your body while lying on your back, it may help to prepare your muscle memory for similar shapes practiced with the force of gravity pressing down on you (i.e. in balances and standing postures). 

This is a great shape to use at the very beginning of a yoga practice to ground and center the practitioner while also preparing the body for the physical practice to come.

Try Us Free! Get a Sample Pose Report to Experience the Full Benefits of the YogaU Pose Library.

Click Here

Check out our premium content

Video practice examples

For every yoga pose

Learn Common Alignment issues

And how to deal with them

Tips for beginners

Learn the best prep poses for each yoga pose

sign up now

Try Free for 7 Days

FAQs

Curious to learn more?

See all FAQs

FAQs

How to personalize my practice?

The Yoga 2.0 Pose Library helps you fit yoga poses to your individual body. It provides tools for you to customize yoga poses to your body's needs in order to gain the benefits of each yoga pose. 

When working your way through the Yoga 2.0 Pose Library, pay particular attention to the Yoga 2.0 Poses section as well as the Preparatory Poses under the Teaching Tips tab. This is where you will find some of the juiciest content in the Yoga 2.0 Pose Library!

What do I get When I sign Up?

When you register for a basic account, you get access to basic pose information about each yoga pose. You can also view three Pose Library blog articles or three yoga pose video tutorials each month. 

If you choose to register for a premium account, you will have access to our library of 1000s of unique Yoga 2.0 pose modifications, video tutorials for each yoga pose, preparatory yoga poses and common misalignments for every yoga pose, precautions, and more!

If you choose to subscribe to our premium Plus membership, you will also get access to our Yoga Sequence Builder, which allows you to create a yoga practice sequence with any and all of the yoga poses featured throughout the Yoga 2.0 Pose Library!

What are Yoga 2.0 Poses?

The idea behind Yoga 2.0 is that yoga poses should be individualized for every person. 

Yoga 2.0 Poses give you a foundation to begin designing your own customized yoga practice that suits your body's needs.

Choosing the right Yoga 2.0 Pose begins with your relationship with your body and making healthy choices that respect your personal boundaries. 

Is this for beginners too?

The Yoga 2.0 Pose Library is for every body! 

Whether you are a beginner or already far along on your yoga journey, the Yoga 2.0 Pose Library has something for everyone. 

Are you looking for creative, fun ways to modify yoga poses? Check out our collection of Yoga 2.0 Poses, which features 1000s of Yoga Pose Modifications. 

Looking to expand your practice or teaching? The Teaching Tips and Deepen the Pose sections provide fun ways to challenge your yoga practice as well as practical tips for learning and teaching new yoga poses. 

Can't find a certain pose

Our Yoga 2.0 Pose Library is an ever-expanding library. 

We will be adding new yoga poses over time - keep checking back for our latest yoga poses!

Share

Check out our Mastery content!

Get access to all the Pose Library has to offer by signing up for our Mastery membership.

Includes Pose Precautions and special access to our state of the art Yoga Sequence Builder.

 

View options

Sorry, You have reached your
monthly limit of views

To access, join us for a free 7-day membership trial to support expanding the Pose Library resources to the yoga community.

Sign up for a FREE 7-day trial

You need a free account to do this

Register for a free account to save your Favorite Poses! You can return to them again and again!

Click below to join us!

Simply click below to register and join us. Your Favorite Poses will appear in your private Dashboard section of the site.

Get your free account

Login

Check out our premium content

Get access to all the Pose Library has to offer by signing up for one of our premium memberships.

 

1000s of pose modifications & more!

The Yoga 2.0 Pose Library features 1000s of yoga pose modifications, video tutorials, teaching and practice tips, best prep poses, and common alignment issues for every yoga pose.

 

View options