A sequence for the hamstrings
Every route into the back of the thigh — standing, seated, supine and supported — in one practice.
25MINUTES ON THE MAT · 9 POSES
The whole practice, posted the way a timetable is posted: 9 poses across 25 minutes, each one holding for as long as the ruler below says it holds. At 2.5 MET that is about 77 kcal for a 70 kg adult, at once through.
SOURCE·YogaPath sequence data — stay times as taught·one breath ≈ 5 s · ruler spans the published 25 min·REVIEWED JUL 2026
Hamstrings respond to the same stretch done in different positions far better than to one position held longer. Standing folds load them with gravity and body weight; supine holds with a strap take the back out of the equation entirely; seated folds sit somewhere in between. Doing all three in a session gives the tissue several different arguments.
The sequence, in order
Every pose name links to its full page — steps, muscles worked, common mistakes and who should skip it.
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1
Downward-Facing Dog Pose Adho Mukha Śvānāsana
1 minute
Pedal the heels to warm the calves and hamstrings.
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2
Standing Forward Bend Uttānāsana
1–2 minutes
Standing fold with the knees soft.
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3
Half Standing Forward Bend Ardha Uttānāsana
30 seconds, three times
Flat back, hands on shins — hamstrings with the spine long.
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4
Intense Side Stretch Pose Pārśvottānāsana
1 minute each side
One leg forward, hips square, folding over the front leg.
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5
Wide-Legged Standing Forward Bend Prasārita Pādottānāsana
1–2 minutes
Wide fold — both hamstrings and the inner thighs.
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6
Reclining Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose Supta Pādāṅguṣṭhāsana
2 minutes each side
On the back with a strap around the foot; the other leg stays down.
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7
Head-to-Knee Pose Jānu Śīrṣāsana
1–2 minutes each side
One leg out, one knee bent, folding forward.
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8
Seated Forward Bend Paścimottānāsana
2–3 minutes
Both legs out, sitting on a block, folding from the hips.
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9
Corpse Pose Śavāsana
4 minutes
Let it all settle.
Before you start this sequence
- Read the cautions on the individual pose pages. Between them, the poses here rule themselves out for pregnancy, high blood pressure, glaucoma, and neck, knee, shoulder and wrist injuries — the details differ pose by pose.
- A sequence is an order, not a prescription. Leave out anything that hurts and the rest still works.
- If you are pregnant, recently post-surgical, or managing a health condition, get your doctor's view before starting, and learn from a qualified teacher in person.
General information only — not medical advice. Some asanas are unsuitable during pregnancy, injury or specific conditions. Learn from a qualified teacher and stop if anything hurts.
Notes on practising it
If the hamstrings are genuinely short, the low back will round to compensate in every seated fold. Sitting on a block fixes more of that than another six months of trying will.
How the ruler above was set out
- Each pose gets the stay time it is taught with — a count of breaths, or an inhale and an exhale where the movement is the transition.
- Breaths become clock time at one stated convention: one breath ≈ 5 seconds at an even practice pace. Nothing else on the ruler is assumed.
- The stays are laid across the published 25 minutes in proportion, so the seconds spent moving between poses sit inside the poses rather than vanishing.
- The energy figure uses the nearest published style code in the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities — 2.5 MET here — through the standard ACSM relationship for a 70 kg adult.
kcal = MET × 3.5 × kg ÷ 200 × minutes
= 2.5 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200 × 25
= 77 kcal for the whole practice
SOURCE·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·2.5 MET · 70 kg reference adult·REVIEWED JUL 2026
The wider activity dataset, covering everything that is not yoga, is at BurnLab.
Asked before class
How long does the Hamstrings sequence take?
About 25 minutes for 9 poses at the stay times listed. Suggested volume: once through. At 2.5 MET — the nearest published code in the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities — that is roughly 77 kcal for a 70 kg adult.
Do I have to do the poses in this order?
The order is the point. Sequences are arranged so that each pose prepares the next one and answers the one before it — a backbend followed by a forward bend, a long hold followed by something that unloads it. Reordering them is fine once you know why they sit where they do.
Is the Hamstrings sequence suitable for beginners?
Yes. Every pose in it is a beginner-level shape with an accessible version, though you should still read each pose's own cautions — a beginner pose can still be wrong for a specific pregnancy, knee or neck.
What do I need for it?
A mat, and for several poses a block and a strap — a folded blanket and a belt do the same job. Nothing here needs a studio.
Other hours on the timetable
Asana names are traditional. Every step, benefit and caution on this page is written for YogaPath rather than reproduced from any book, studio or other library — see how this site is written and what it is written from. General information only — not medical advice. Some asanas are unsuitable during pregnancy, injury or specific conditions. Learn from a qualified teacher and stop if anything hurts.
SOURCE·Published asana references·asana names, alignment and cautions as taught·REVIEWED JUL 2026
The people behind these sites
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This site and nine others like it are built and photographed by two people: Amit Sharma — behind the build; Geeta Patel — the poses, demonstrated. New work goes up on Instagram and Facebook before it reaches a page here.
Amit Sharma
@amitsharmaofficial
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@geetapatelnz
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GeetaPatelYoga
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