What Is The Right Amount Of Pelvic Tilt In Yoga?

Transcript of: What is the right amount of pelvic tilt in yoga?

Hey everybody! Welcome to this month’s question of the month. As you know, every month I answer your questions if you go to yoganatomy.com/myquestion. This month’s question comes from Konstantine, and it’s about pelvic tilt in yoga.

The Question:

My question is regarding anterior pelvic tilt in yoga. There are many different opinions regarding anterior pelvic tilt in yoga and if it is an issue or not. Should there be a curvature at the lumbar region, or should the back remain upright from pelvis until shoulder blades? For instance, in poses like pigeon or half split, should the belly be extended forward to create more arch in the lumbar area or tucked in causing more roundness in shoulders and lower back? From personal observation, I feel as if I go lower (for instance in forward bend) when I round my back, but that could be a compensation for tight hamstrings, or other limitations. How can the problem be identified correctly and what would you recommend as correct approach regarding the flexibility of the lumbar area?

The Answer:

Well, what I would say is you don’t want to focus on creating too much flexibility in your lumbar area. So I’ll just start with the last thing. But, let’s go back up. Let’s answer the first question.

How much lumbar curve?

Can there be too much lumbar curve? Sure. Of course there can be too much lumbar curve. We call this excessive lordosis or excessive lordotic curve. But here’s the thing. Just remember that some people have this as a natural occurrence like that’s their genetics. That’s just how they’re built. That’s a possibility.

For others, it’s because of—and you kind of alluded to this—muscular tension. You can have tight hip flexors or arguably weak hip extendors creating some of that. And, if you go above, you’re talking about abdominal muscles and back muscles. So, basically everything above in the front and below in the back, hamstrings, abdominals, etc., are working together, just like erector spinae in the back of the spine along with the hip flexors in the front. All of these need to be in balance for the pelvis to be in its “ideal place” for an individual.

Curves belong in the spine

That ideal pelvic tilt in yoga always includes lumbar curve. That’s normal and natural. I think there is a tendency to overdo the pelvic tilt in yoga—some argument that the spine needs to be straight in order for the energy to flow and all that stuff. You know, sitting upright and being erect is important. But, you’re never going to make the spine perfectly straight. It’s designed with curves. It’s supposed to have curves in it. So, don’t try to remove all the curves in your spine please. It’s just not a thing that I know of in anatomy. Sorry, I’m getting riled up a little bit. These are the things that we say that are more of a felt sense that has somehow become this sort of literal thing—sitting upright and straightening your spine. Not literally. But in the felt sense of things, you’re straightening your spine.

The pose affects pelvic tilt in yoga

So when you get into postures, as you mentioned, like pigeon or half split, just remember that there’s this sort of back-and-forth play going on with pelvic tilt in yoga. And of course, as soon as you take a leg back, the front of your pelvis is being pulled down and under which is an anterior pelvic tilt. So, it’s natural that when you do that, your lumbar spine is going to have more curve in it. Should you fight it? You could argue fighting it.

The other way of looking at it is, you need to open your hip flexors more. The more flexible the hip flexors are, the less the pelvis is going to get pulled under. The same thing is true, as you identified, in reverse. Let’s say the problem is too strong of a posterior pelvic tilt in yoga, like when you do your forward folds. What do you do? You loosen your hamstrings. As you loosen your hamstrings, your pelvis is then able to do more of an anterior pelvic tilt and go back towards neutral.

So, I think I answered your question. Hopefully, I did. If you’ve got a question, anybody else out there watching, go to yoganatomy.com/myquestion.