Yoga, Health, and Wellness Articles + Recipes

There’s a reason hips and hamstrings get so much attention in yoga—they sit right at the crossroads of how we move, feel, and function every day. When these areas are tight, everything feels harder: bending forward, walking comfortably, sitting with ease, even standing up straight. When they’re lengthened and supported, movement feels smoother, lighter, and more natural. That’s why this week’s YogaDownload theme is Hips & Hammies: The Sweet Spot—the place where flexibility meets comfort, and where a little focused attention can make a big difference in how your whole body feels. Your hips and hamstrings are among the largest muscle groups in the body, and they’re constantly at work. Long hours of sitting, repetitive movement, workouts, or even daily stress can cause them to shorten and tighten over time.

What yoga class would be complete without giving your hamstrings some love and attention? While most practices contain hamstring stretches, this week’s classes are specially designed to focus on creating strong, supple hamstrings. First, a quick anatomy review: Your hamstrings are comprised of three muscles running down the back of your legs from the hip to the knee joint. They are the biceps femoris, the semimembranosus, and the semitendinosus. The biceps femoris is located on the lateral/outer part of your leg and extends your hip joint and helps bend your knee. The semimembranosus is the middle hamstring and flexes your knee joint, extends your hip joint, and medially rotates your hip and lower leg. The semitendinosus is located between the other two muscles with similar duties to the semimembranosus.