The long pigeon

I have done pigeon pose, on and off, for fifteen years. For most of that time the version I did was the short version — a few minutes per side, in the context of a longer yoga class, with the body moving on to the next thing shortly after. The pose did what short pigeon does, which is provide a small temporary stretch to the hip that does not, in any meaningful way, change anything.

About two years ago, on a recommendation from a yin yoga teacher, I started doing pigeon for ten minutes per side, as a standalone practice, once or twice a week. The ten-minute version is a different pose. It does different work. It produces different results. I am writing this in the hope that more people will, on the basis of this small note, try the long version.

The pose itself

From a hands-and-knees position, bring the right knee forward toward the right wrist. Slide the right foot toward the left wrist, so the right shin is roughly perpendicular to the body — though it does not need to be exactly so. The right hip is on the floor, supported by a folded blanket if needed. The left leg extends back behind, with the top of the left foot on the floor. The body folds forward over the right leg, the arms extending in front or folded under the forehead.

Hold for ten minutes. Switch sides. Hold for another ten.

What ten minutes does that three minutes cannot

Reaches the fascia. The short pigeon pose stretches the muscle, which lengthens and shortens easily. The long pigeon reaches the fascia — the connective tissue around the muscle — which only responds to sustained loading over the order of minutes. The first three minutes is the muscle. The next seven minutes is the fascia.

The fascial release is the part that produces lasting change. A muscle stretched and released returns to its previous length within minutes. A fascia stretched and released, given enough duration of stretch, slowly settles at a slightly new length. Over weeks of long pigeon, the fascia around the hip joint accommodates to the new range, and the hip becomes, structurally, more open.

What happens at minute six

There is, for most people who do this consistently, a small specific moment around minute six or seven when the pose changes. The first six minutes is the body negotiating with the pose — small adjustments, small complaints, the gradual release of the surface muscle. Then, somewhere around minute six, the negotiation ends. The body has, in some specific way, agreed to the pose. The remaining four minutes is the actual work — the slow fascial release, the deeper opening, the small structural shift that the pose was designed to produce.

If you have only ever done three-minute or four-minute pigeon, you have only ever done the warm-up. The pose itself is what happens after minute six. The pose itself is the reason for the practice.

On the discomfort of long holds

The discomfort is real and it is part of the practice. The mind, at minute four, will start to suggest that the pose has gone on long enough. The mind, at minute six, will be quite insistent. The mind, at minute eight, will have moved into a kind of grudging acceptance. By minute nine the discomfort has, mostly, faded — the body has settled, the fascia is releasing, and the last minute is, often, the most peaceful minute of the pose.

The discomfort is not, in any structural sense, harmful. The pose does not damage the body. The discomfort is the small psychological resistance to staying in a position that the mind would prefer to leave. The work of the practice is, partly, the work of staying anyway.

What I do during the ten minutes

Set a timer. Get into the pose. Close the eyes. Bring the attention to the breath. When the mind wanders — and it will, repeatedly — bring it back to the breath. Do not try to make anything happen. Do not push deeper into the pose. Stay where the body has settled, and let the slow release happen on its own timeline.

Ten minutes. Switch. Ten minutes on the other side. Twenty minutes total, one or two times a week. The hips, over months, become a different set of hips. The lower back, which has been doing the compensatory work that tight hips required, slowly stops needing to compensate. The whole structural relationship between the lower body and the spine begins to shift.

If you have one yoga pose in your weekly practice, make it ten minutes of pigeon per side. The investment is small. The return, over months and years, is substantial. The hip is one of the most consequential joints in the body, and a hip that is properly open changes everything that sits above it.