Lower back, upper back, hips, knees and shoulders

Camel: Side-Lying

The gentlest way into the Camel family: lying on your side lets you explore a little hip extension and chest opening with the floor doing all the supporting.

How to do it

1. 1

   Lie on one side with both knees bent

   Rest your head on your lower arm or a cushion, and stack the hips one above the other. Nothing is holding you up here, which is what makes this the gentlest way into this family.

2. 2

   Slide the top knee back behind you

   Keep the knee bent and let the thigh drift behind the line of your hip until you feel the front of that thigh and hip. Go a small distance only.

3. 3

   Take hold of the top ankle if it comes easily

   If reaching back is a stretch in itself, leave the hand where it is and let the leg simply rest behind you. The floor is doing the supporting either way.

4. 4

   Stay 20 to 45 seconds, then change sides

   Roll through the back rather than pushing up from the shoulder, and set the second side up in the same way.

What to watch for

The lower back doing the moving instead of the hip. Keep a long, quiet line from your ribs to your pelvis and take the knee back only as far as the waist can stay still. Lying on one side also presses through the underneath shoulder and hip, so use a cushion and come off it if that contact becomes the loudest thing.

Other ways to do this movement

Every version below is the same movement set up differently, so one of them usually suits. See all Camel Pose versions in one place, ordered from gentlest to strongest.

• Camel: Chair
• Camel: Classic
• Camel: Hands on Lower Back
• Camel: Hands on Pelvis

Before you try it

Move within a range that stays comfortable. Stop if this brings on sharp pain, dizziness, or symptoms that travel down an arm or a leg, and speak to a clinician before repeating it.

From the clinically authored Vinys movement library.