I am very flexible except for any kind of hip opener like lotus–forget about it! How can I stretch this area without hurting myself? What does it mean that I am sooo tight this way. My hamstrings are very flexible. I am not sure what the muscle is that is so tight. Do you know?
I’m exactly the same, (too) flexible in al other areas and REALLY tight in my hips. I’ve become very happy about my tightness, because my body is protecting itself from overstretching there at least.
Supta padagustasana with your hand pushing your thigh away works for me, as well as baddha konasana with something heavy on your thighs to get the knees down. “pigeon prep” is also a very intense hip opener, without the big strain on the knees.
Good luck on your journey to the lotus pose!
I can get my knees wide if I am lying down, but the minute I sit up they come up. What specific muscle is tight? I do not know human anatomy very well.
Without seeing you and assessing you it is pure guesswork. That having been said, my guess is glueteus minimus and medius which are assistive muscles for internal rotators during abduction. Though targeting the piriformis might better explain why the tightness when the hip is flexed but not when you are fully supine.
Supta Padangusthasana will open the hamstrings safely but to be clear it is only hip/knee extension in that particular pose. Baddha konasana is a god posture for working external rotation and abduction however the knees should not be pressed to the floor, ever. The action instead is to extend the femurs away from the hip socket (acetabulum) and reach them into the knees. This releases the groins and facilitates the knees dropping but does so without making the knees the receptacle for the action. Since they are hinge joints they do not take side impact well and such things place undue strain on collateral ligaments.
Please look for one of my other posts on the hip complex and if they are not clear request that I clarify whatever it is that I’ve not thoroughly explained.
How do you find the standing side-bends: Trikonasana, Virabhadrasana I & II, Parsvakonasana? Or Janusirsasana? If you find these challenging then Padmasana will be too.
Lotus is mostly difficult for the people who have stiff ankles, stiff knees or less rotation in hip socket. You can injure your knees or ankles if you try too hard. Hip openers like happy baby, rocking baby, half lotus and bending forward will be very helpful. Dont forget to warm up with butterfly for at least 1 min before starting above, good luck.
Lots of great yogi?s who have been doing yoga for decades still have difficulty with lotus pose.
I was in the same situation as you but now I can probably sit in lotus for half an hour if I wanted to without pain. For me consistency is what got me to this point… (If I only did lotus once a week I imagine it would always be very painful, but doing it every single day as best I can without pushing myself to the point of actual pain as well as doing other yoga postures on a daily basis just resulted in a lot of flexibility.)
Now I?m in a sitation where moves like ?Spear Pose? and ?Goraksha Pose?give me bad knee pain, so I?m having to be careful not to push myself with them. All poses can be dangerous if we are impatient for results or if we don?t warm up to them by trying similar, but less advanced versions… (Like in this case ?Easy Lotus?pose, which if I?m not mistaken was the first actual yoga posture.)
As your practice deepens doors open up
don’t force it ,it will happen in time
All good things are worth waiting for
The effects of asana are cumulative
Half lotus is a good and beautiful start
Cheers love
[QUOTE=chezron;83076]I am very flexible except for any kind of hip opener like lotus–forget about it! How can I stretch this area without hurting myself? What does it mean that I am sooo tight this way. My hamstrings are very flexible. I am not sure what the muscle is that is so tight. Do you know?[/QUOTE]
Dear Chezron,
full lotus pose (with ankles on our laps) is very hard and not required in yoga practice:) btw it is hard not to get hurt in this pose. there are few tricks to protect yourself, but for certain anatomical differences some people are never able to do this pose without hurting themselves no matter how flexible they are . I would rather concentrate on something else. not giving up… but do not make a big deal of padmasana:)
to answer your question “why”: some muscles, ligaments or tendons might be too short or too tight to let your legs in the position; or hip joints might be designed the way that they do not permit to much external rotation without extra props; or who knows what else:))
yoga is not just about putting the body into pretzel:)
Profound and useful information thank you.
Thanks for the advice Fixed, Athelete and Monk. Its taken time and patience for me to get into lotus. I just cant stay there long 
Good luck chezron!
Great advice above. This is a difficult near impossible pose for me but it’s worth persisting sensibly.