Most often, the buttock muscles get overly tight when you spend a lot of time sitting. The solution is to do stretches and yoga poses that lengthen these muscles and teach them to relax.

The muscles of the buttock can be divided into two layers: the gluteus maximus (often called ‘the glutes’), which forms the rounded shape of the buttocks. When it contracts, it extends the hip – it contracts when you stand up.

The second and deeper layer of buttock muscles is made up of six deep rotators. The piriformis is the best known of these, originating on the sacrum and the ischial tuberosities (your ‘sitting bones’).

If you sit on the floor, tight buttock muscles — often in partnership with tight hamstrings — will tile your pelvis backward, causing a slumped spine and reversing the normal lumbar curve. Over time, this can contribute to lower back strain, disk injuries and sciatica.

If you’re just starting yoga, the struggle to sit upright can be eased by sitting on a block, or one or more folded blankets until you’ve had time to stretch the buttocks and hamstrings.

The cure!

Seated twists such as Ardha Matsyendrasana (Half Lord of the Fishes Pose) and its variations can be excellent tools.

1. Sit with your left leg bent on the floor, either sitting on the foot or, if that’s not possible for you, placing the left foot just to the outside of the right hip.
2. Then cross the right leg over the left, with the sole of the right foot on the floor outside the left thigh.
3. Sit tall (on folded blankets as needed) and rotate your spine to the right as you draw the right knee toward the left armpit.
4. Wrap the left elbow around the right knee, or even hook it on the outside of the knee, and use that leverage to pull the left chest up and toward the knee.
5. This pose isolates the posterior hip muscles, and they have no choice but to lengthen and to stretch.
6. Repeat on the other side, crossing the right leg with the left foot.

You can also practice a couple of variations lying on your back (in a ‘supine’ position).

When you work on your back, it’s far easier to stay in the pose without struggling to sit upright. This way, you can experience a long, deep, relaxing stretch.

1. Start by lying on your back and draw the right knee up and across your body until you feel the stretch in the back of the right hip.
2. Or, from the start position, bend your knees and cross your right knee over the left.
3. Lift the left foot off the ground and hold the left knee with your right hand, pulling it toward your chest.
4. To deepen the stretch, hold the right ankle with your left hand and pull gently until you stretch the back of the right hip.
5. Repeat the stretch on the other side.

MOVE MINDFULLY GRADUALLY INTO EVERY hip stretch, listening to your body.

The hip is a strong joint, and when it has moved as far as it can, continued pushing can pull the lower back and SI joints (the joints above it), as well as the knee and ankle joints (the ones below) into directions that cause pain and injury.

If you can, try practising hip stretches two to three times each week; be sure to stay for a minute or two to breathe and relax into each one.