Yoga Alignment 101: So what exactly is shoulders and/or hip width distance apart?

I am sure anyone who has ever attended a yoga class before must have heard of this at some point in their class: separate your palms shoulder-width distance apart or have your feet hip-width apart. To take a few poses as examples: downward facing dog, upward facing dog, plank, chaturanga etc, all require these specific palms and feet positioning. But what exactly is shoulder-width and hip-width and how do you find them on your yoga mat?

As a yoga teacher, I have verbally used this cue more than I can remember. And I have seen so many different variations of these positioning - most people don't get too far off from the actual position but there are a handful who always make me wonder if they really did not have an understanding of their own body structure at all or they just simply didn't think that I was serious about my alignment cue. I mean I have seen how some students' shoulder-width distance are actually determined by the width of their face towels? Like seriously? My guess is that they have really slippery, sweaty palms and having them on a non-slip towel is more important than the alignment itself? Similarly, I have got students whose hip-width distance could be as small as feet together distance or as wide as mat width distance apart.

A downward facing dog with palms shoulder-width and feet hip-width distance apart allows you to stay comfortably in the pose as a resting position.

So let's talk about shoulder-width apart first.

To find your exact shoulder width apart, grab a friend or just anyone available who knows how to use a measuring tape and a measuring tape. From the back, measure the distance from the outer edge of one acromion to the other. In case you are not too familiar with anatomy terms which most people are, the acromion is the highest point of the shoulder that is formed by part of the scapula. Or you can simply refer to this picture here:

Image from commons.wikimedia.org

And here's a picture to illustrate better how to find your shoulder width apart.

And so now that you know your shoulder-width distance, how do you then translate it onto your yoga mat? To do so, you will again need your measuring tape or a long ruler and a marker. Measure the width of your yoga mat. Mats usually come in standard width of 24inches but some of us might have purchased other sizes so just do a quick check on it anyway. So here are the steps:

1. Measure the width of your yoga mat eg. 68inches.

2. From there, divide the number by 2 to find the centre of the mat ie 24/2 = 12inches

3. Make a few markings along the centre of the mat and then connect the markings together to get the mid-line of the mat.

4. Next, half your shoulder-width measurement eg. 14inches/ 2 = 7inches

5. Now place your measuring tape/ruler such that the reading which correspond to your half shoulder-width distance is in the mid-line of the mat.

6. Make 2 other markings: one at 0inches and the other one at your shoulder-width measurement, in this case 14inches. These markings will be where your middle fingers going to be the next time you hear that shoulder-width apart cue.

Well, although you can repeat step 6 a few times and then draw 2 other lines down the length of the entire mat to mark your shoulder width distance, there usually isn't a need to. Instead just come to your downward dog position (we will discuss downdog alignment in another separate post because this is actually another one that most people get it wrong!) and mark just those 2 points. After some practise even without the markings you will be able to feel your shoulder-width distance apart.

Okay, now how about hip-width distance?

A quick estimation of hip-width distance apart.

Many people tend to interpret it as the width of the flesh of their hips, on the outside of their body. I guess this is not wrong when you are buying clothes. But as far as yoga is concerned, that interpretation actually creates a stance that is too wide. Compared to shoulder-width , hip width is a little more tricky when it comes to the actual measurement. This is because what we are looking for is actually leg alignment that comes straight down out of the middle of the hip joint, and the hip joint is much closer to the midline of the body than most of us imagine. It is actually located deep inside the crest of the hip bone.

So instead of directly measuring the distance between the middle of the hips, this is what we are going to do instead.

1. Stand with your feet slightly apart, with the toes and knees facing forward

2. Feel for the bony part of the hip bones that stick out from the front and move your fingers an inch or two inside to really locate the crest of the hip bone. You might have to really dig and push your fingers inside to feel for it.

3. Now adjust your feet such that you can imagine a straight line drawn from the crest of the hip bone through the middle of your knees and the middle of your ankle.

4. Measure the distance between the middle of the ankles to get your hip width!

Again, if you would like to mark your hip-width distance on your mat, on ahead and use the same method above as I have shared for marking your shoulder-width.

There are other easier methods you can use to measure hip-width distance:

1. Some yoga teachers simply put their 2 fists in between the feet snuggly to get the distance;

2. Instead of locating the crest other hip joint, use the bony structure that stick out from the front instead. From here, imagine a straight like through the knees and the second toe.

   
   

The take home message

Now whichever method you use, be it to determine the shoulder or hip-width, do remember that these are just guidelines. Everyone of our body is unique and there is no one universal alignment. After you have found your position, you should always still adjust your palms or feet until you find the place where you feel balanced and the weight evenly distributed.