Yoga Glossary · Joint Actions
Abduction
Moving a limb away from the body's midline — the leg stepping wide, the arm lifting sideways.
Abduction moves a body part away from the center line: stepping the leg out to the side, or raising the arm sideways to shoulder height. (The easy mnemonic: abduction is being 'abducted' — carried away.) Its opposite, movement back toward the midline, is adduction.
Wide stances are built on hip abduction, and the gluteus medius is the star abductor of standing yoga — it also keeps the pelvis level in every one-legged pose. At the shoulder, abduction is the middle deltoid lifting the arm out to the side, as in Warrior II. Naming it matters because abducted positions change which muscles stabilize a pose and where the stretch lands.
In practice
- Stepping wide for Warrior II abducts both hips; reaching the arms to a T abducts the shoulders.
- Half Moon's lifted leg is held in abduction by the standing leg working and the lifted leg's own abductors.
- If the pelvis will not level in Tree, train the abductors — that is their job description.
Poses built on this action
- Warrior II
- Reverse Warrior
- Extended Side Angle
- Triangle Pose
- Tree Pose
- Wide-Leg Forward Fold
- Half Pigeon
- Reclined Bound Angle
- Happy Baby
- Supine Twist
- Side Plank
- Easy Pose
Related terms
Test yourself
Pose IQ's Anatomy rounds quiz this term and its neighbours — ten questions, explanations after every answer.
The Yoga Glossary is an educational study reference. Definitions are standard yoga and anatomy knowledge in plain language; nothing here is medical advice.