Shoelace Pose

I’ll be honest, I don’t sequence shoelace pose very often. Especially in my online yin yoga classes as I typically like more time to work into the hips. I more often opt for square pose, but shoelace also has its place and may even feel better than square for you or your students.

Table of Contents

Get into Shoelace Pose Step-by-Step

Option #1

Begin in a tabletop position.
Guide your right knee forward until you can draw it back on the outside of your left leg. You’ll end up with your legs crossed.
Separate your heels and sit back between them. Your knees should be relatively stacked over each other.
Guide your heels to an equal distance away from your hips on both sides.
Option: Fold forward over your legs.

Option #2

Begin sitting on your bum, hands behind you, and feet planted on the mat.
Lean back to cross your right leg over your left.
Lean forward as your hands help your heels widen to the outside of your hips.
Option: Fold forward over your legs.

Benefits

Physical: A wonderful hip opener through external rotation. When you fold forward it also decompresses the spine and massages the internal organs.
Energetic: Stimulates the Gallbladder meridian through the hips, and the Urinary Bladder meridian if folded forward.
Emotional & Mental: Shoelace is said to provide clarity while also energizing and relaxing the body. It activates the sacral chakra and solar plexus chakra when folded forward.

Contraindications

May irritate sciatica. Try elevating the hips by sitting on a prop so that your hips are higher than your knees.
For knee injuries, extend the bottom leg so that it’s straight. Or sit in meditation pose (cross-legged) and fold forward.
For back injuries, avoid folding forward and keep the spine as straight as possible.
If pregnant, avoid practicing the folding forward variation after your first trimester.

Variations

Reclined shoelace: Lay on your back, feet on the floor. Cross your right leg over your left. Hug your knees into your chest and grab hold of your ankles.
Reclined Figure Four (or Eye of the Needle): Lay on your back, feet on the floor. Cross your right ankle to the outside of your left knee. Lift your left foot off of the floor and hug your left thigh or shin towards your chest.
Single-Legged: Keep your bottom leg extended toward the top of your mat. Step your top leg to the opposite side of your extended leg. Guide your crossed foot to the outside of your hip. Option to fold forward.
Sit up on a block or bolster. This encourages your pelvis to tilt forward to avoid rounding the spine.
Place a block or stacked fists under your forehead if folded forward.