Most hip openers ask something of you. Pigeon asks for tolerance. Lizard asks for patience. Supta Baddha Konasana — reclined bound angle pose — asks you to lie down with your feet together and stay there. It is the rare yoga pose where doing less is the entire technique, and for hips that have carried you through a long week, that is exactly the point.
The Sanskrit breaks down plainly: supta means reclined, baddha means bound, kona means angle. It is the lying-down version of butterfly pose, and the horizontal change transforms it: gravity does the opening, your back gets to rest, and the pose shifts from stretch to restoration.
Setting it up
The basic version — Supta Baddha Konasana
How: Lie on your back. Bend your knees and bring the soles of your feet together, then let your knees fall open toward the floor. Slide your heels as close to your pelvis as is comfortable — closer means more groin stretch, farther means less. Rest your arms wherever they settle: by your sides, palms up, or one hand on the belly and one on the chest. Close your eyes.
Why: The position gently opens the inner thighs and groins while the floor fully supports your spine. Because nothing has to be held, the nervous system gets the message that it can stand down — this is why the pose shows up at the end of so many classes, right before savasana.
The bolstered version — the restorative setup
How: Place a bolster or a firm stack of blankets lengthwise behind you, touching the base of your spine. Sit with soles together, knees wide, then lie back over the support so your head and chest are slightly higher than your belly. Put a block, cushion, or folded blanket under each outer thigh or knee — this is not optional decoration; it is what makes the pose restorative instead of a slow groin strain. Stay five to fifteen minutes.
Why: The gentle chest opening counters a day of slumping, and supporting the knees lets the inner thighs genuinely release rather than hover in protective tension. A muscle that feels unsafe guards; a muscle that feels held lets go. Props are how you tell it the floor has things under control.
With a strap — the belt-and-bolster version
How: Make a large loop with a yoga strap. Step into it so the loop sits around your lower back (over the sacrum, not the waist) and around the outer edges of your feet, then lie back. Cinch the loop until your legs are lightly held — the strap carries the weight of the legs so the inner thighs can stop working entirely.
Why: For long holds, this is the deluxe option. The strap prevents the slow, sneaky drift of the knees toward the floor that turns a restful pose into a groin negotiation at minute eight.
How long to stay, and how to get out
In an active practice, two to five minutes is plenty. In a restorative context, with full support, ten to fifteen minutes is reasonable. Longer is not better by default — past a certain point, you are just lying on the floor feeling your left foot fall asleep.
Getting out matters more than getting in. Do not let your knees spring closed, and do not sit bolt upright. Instead, use your hands to gently lift your knees back together, roll to one side, pause there for a breath or two, and press yourself up. The inner thighs have been passively lengthening for minutes; treat them like a guest waking from a nap, not like an employee late for a meeting.
What it pairs with
Reclined bound angle sits naturally at the end of a practice, after standing poses or before legs up the wall in an evening sequence. If the inner thighs are your project, pair it with happy baby for a gentler active option, and browse the pose library for the rest of the hip family. For context on why one pose never opens hips in every direction, hip anatomy for yogis is worth ten minutes of your time — hips move in six directions, and this pose covers one of them beautifully.
Who should modify or skip this: Sharp groin pain is a stop sign, not a stretch — back off the heel distance and add more support under the knees. Knee pain in this position usually means the hips are not ready for the depth; raise the knees higher on props or do the pose with the legs straighter and feet farther away. If you have a groin strain, skip the pose until it heals; passive stretching of a healing strain is how it stops healing. In pregnancy, the bolstered version is often comfortable, but check with your care provider and keep the chest well elevated. As with any pose, sensation is fine and pain is information.