Trying to Square the Hips in an Asymmetrical Pose

 Excellent question from a teacher training graduate:

Ok this is something that was brought to my attention during our training and I asked but I don't think I asked the question correctly. And this seems to be a practice done at several studios.  But my question is based upon my own body observations.

When instructing to do Virabhadrasana I, we are told to spread our feet 3-4 feet wide and to turn our front foot to the top of the mat and our back foot is turned at an approximate 45 degrees towards the side of the mat.  Then the next instruction is to square our hips to the front of the mat and then the student is instructed to bend the front knee to a 90 degree bend with the Knee lining up directly over the ankle.  Also your thigh is to be parallel with the floor.  The back leg is to be kept straight with the quadricep engaged.  But when I do all the above my back ankle doesn't bend at the correct angle due to compression and just stops (so the heel of my foot isn't quite on the ground).  So during class if this happens the instructor tells the students to shorten their stance between their feet.  However when I do this I lose the stretch to the front of my hip which I felt was some of the point of this pose.  

So out of curiosity I reviewed the pose in Light on Yoga.  He never mentions anything about making sure your hips are square (not that he would use a mat in his description).  But he doesn't mention the hips at all and if you look at the pictures his hips are not square with his front foot.  His back knee is slightly turned out in an external rotation which seems to be allowing for him to go deeper into the stretch of that hip.

So my question to you is there a benefit to squaring the hips and does squaring the hips create a compression in the hip joint that prevents you from going deeper into the pose.  But I feel that my compression in my back ankle is what is stopping me.  

In my mind the solution that seems to benefit me is that my hips are not square to the top of the mat which allows for me to turn my back foot out more hence allowing me to go deeper into the pose with a steadier base. And then I can actually get the benefit of a stretch to the front hip connected to the back leg.

Ok so next question let's say there is nothing more to stretch in this pose, is the next step just for strength and to just experience the pose?

My answer:

I see multiple issues with these particular instructions.

1. I never use the word “spread” when I instruct students about stance or how wide to be.  It’s a triggering instruction.  Instead I say “take a wide stance” or “step the feet wide” or “step the feet as wide as your own leg length”.  I don’t give a particular width of the feet because students are different heights, ages and levels of flexibility.
2. It’s physically impossible for human hips to be squared unless the feet are parallel, such as in Uttanasana or Prasarita Padottanasana.  Trying to do this in asymmetrical poses such as Virabhadrasana, Trikonasana, or Parsvakonasana puts undue stress on the hip joints.  Some teachers in the Iyengar system still use this instruction, but none of the Iyengar teachers with whom we have studied like Ramanand and Francois Raoult use it.  It’s a bad instruction.
3. I don’t tell students to turn their feet by degrees.  I think everyone knows what a 90 degree angle is, but 45 degrees?  60 degrees?

Here are simple instructions I use when I teach in the Rope wall room, right side first:

Let’s go to Viradhadrasana, Warrior 2, so take a wide stance facing the Rope wall, arms wide.

Turn the left foot in slightly and the right foot out toward the back of the room.

Look toward the rope wall and take a moment to square the shoulders and stretch the arms as much as possible.

The hips will be slightly rotated – this is normal.

Look toward the left hand and reach it back toward the windows.

Then look toward the right hand, take an inhalation and on the exhale, sit, and slide the right knee forward above the ankle. 

At Holiday Manor, we have a long mirrored wall, so I ask the students to look at themselves in the mirror and notice that the hips are turned, but the shoulders are square.

To build strength, hold it longer, but don’t teach that unless you see that students have properly set their foundation.

For your ankle, maybe leave it pointed toward the side (right angle, 90 degrees). Experiment and see what feels best for you.

There are more complicated and subtle instructions, but those are for very experienced students who are established in the pose.