Three soft ticks and a bell when you're done, so you can close your eyes and stop watching the clock.
How to do it
Lie on your back. You can do this with nothing under you at all, or slide a low block or a folded blanket under your sacrum — the flat of the pelvis, not the lower back.
Draw one knee in toward your chest and hold it there, gently.
Let the other leg lengthen away along the mat, and let its weight drop toward the floor. The front of that hip is the shape.
Shoulders heavy, jaw soft. Stay three minutes, then swap.
Why practice it
Opens the hip flexors from underneath rather than from a lunge, so gravity does the work and the knees carry none of it.
Reaches the front of the hip that running and sitting both shorten — the tissue that tips the pelvis forward and quietly loads the lower back.
Being on your back, there is no balancing and no weight to hold, which is what lets it be held for three unhurried minutes.
A kind alternative to Dragon for anyone whose knees object to kneeling.
Before you go
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Take care
If the lower back arches uncomfortably, lower the prop or bend the extended leg slightly — this shape should be felt at the front of the hip, never in the back.
Ease off if there is any pinching at the front of the hip socket.
Coming in & out
Into the pose
From Constructive Rest, by drawing one knee in and lengthening the other leg.
From lying over a bolster in Supported Bridge.
Out of the pose
Draw both knees in for a moment, then extend into Corpse.
Straight into the second side.
Common questions
How is this different from Dragon?
Same target, opposite relationship with gravity. Dragon is a low lunge where you kneel and sink forward; Reclined Dragon has you on your back with the leg lengthening away, so the floor holds you and the knee carries nothing. It suits sensitive knees, and it suits the end of a practice when you would rather not be upright.
Do I need a block?
No. Flat on the floor is a complete version of the pose — draw one knee in, let the other leg lengthen away, and the front of that hip opens. A low block under the sacrum simply tilts the pelvis a little further, so the same shape reaches deeper without you doing anything extra. Start without, and add the block if you want more.
How long each side?
Three minutes is the working length in a restorative practice. Two is plenty if you are new to it.
Reclined Dragon is one shape among many. When you'd like to put a whole sequence together into one long, slow practice, pop your email in and I'll send you my free two-hour Yin, restorative and Yoga Nidra retreat. Yours to keep.
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