Bound Angle Pose is a simple and safe hip opener. When I chose this posture of the month, the film Tightly Wound was in development and was a great tie in. Tightly Wound film is about the patient struggle of being diagnosed and treated for vaginismus and pelvic pain. The film is a labor of love, so please consider supporting them as they continue to promote their film to educate the world.

To practice Bound Angle:

  1. Sit on your floor, mat, or cushion with your the spine long, feet together and knees apart.
  2. Allow your sitz bones to sink into the surface as you balance on the diamond shape that the pelvic outlet creates.
  3. As you settle into the posture, imagine your pelvic floor muscles softening and releasing into the cushion as you inhale.
  4. Keep lengthening thru the top of your head and allow your shoulders to settle down your back.

Why choose bound angle?

Bound angle helps release the inner thigh muscles (adductors) and pelvic floor muscles via the fascial connections.

Who is this posture good for?

All of us! We all need to move, but this posture might be especially helpful for those with interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome, vulvar pain, and menstrual pain.

Make bound angle pose work for you

Here are some ways to tailor your posture to your needs:

  1. Unable to find a straight spine? Sit on the edge of a tapered meditation cushion.
  2. Vulvar pain with sitting? Pudendal neuralgia? Recline this posture and practice Supta Badha Konasana.
  3. Pain laying on your back and with sitting? Modify with frog on your belly, supported with a bolster under your chest.

Want to mix it up?

Try these variations:

  1. Seated pelvic clock
  2. Rock back and forth from spinal flexion to extension (seated cat/cow)

Be careful if you have:

  1. sacral pain
  2. pain with sitting
  3. limited hip range of motion, especially flexion and external rotation