Healing Our Hips

Have you ever heard someone say “I store a lot of emotions in my hips/shoulder/back etc.”? To some people that may sound strange or not make any sense, but there is actually more and more evidence coming out to support the fact that emotional traumas can have an impact on our physical bodies. One of the best books I have read about this is “The Body Keeps the Score” by Bessel van der Kolk. Traumatic experiences, whether big or small, can affect your body physically if they are left unprocessed. Our muscles, fascia, cells, and other body systems can actually store the unresolved energy of trauma as tension. Yoga Therapy helps us to process through these stored emotions AND our physical tension together. Hips in particular hold a lot of tension for most people. Whenever I offer my class the opportunity to make suggestions for what they would like to focus on, I often receive hip openers as a suggestion. Here are three poses that you can try at home!

**If you have sensitive knees, place an extra mat or a folded towel under your knees to provide more support**

Frog Pose

1. Start in a table top position on your hands and your knees.

2. Place your forearms on the bolster,* add a blanket or pillow to raise the height if needed. You can also relax your belly onto bolster to make it less work for your upper body.

3. Slowly walk your knees out to the side, separating them as far as you can until you find yourself at a comfortable edge. Your heels should be as wide as your knees.

4. Hold yourself in the pose for 3-5 minutes, deepening farther as your edge softens and you feel less of a stretch.

5. To exit the posture, press your hips back towards your heels into child’s pose, or slid forward onto your belly and straighten your legs behind you.

*If you do not have a bolster, you can use 2 or 3 pillows instead and they work just as well!

Supported Pigeon Pose

1. Start in a table top position on your hands and your knees.

2. Slid your right knee up to your right wrist and bring your right foot toward your LEFT hip.

3. Extend your left leg straight behind you. Center your weight to ensure you are not leaning towards one hip or the other.

4. Lower your forearms or upper body onto the bolster. Stay here for 3-5 minutes and then switch sides, bringing the left leg to the front and extending the right leg back.

Low Lizard Lunge

1. Start in a table top position on your hands and your knees.

2. Place your right foot in between your hands with your knee directly over your ankle.

3. Extend the left leg behind you until you find a comfortable edge.

4. Lower your forearms onto the bolster, or place your right hand on your right knee to deepen the pressure on your left leg.

5. Hold the posture for 3-5 minutes and repeat on your left leg.

Throughout each of these postures, use your breath to help you stay focused, present, and aware of the sensations that are happening in your body in the moment. If unpleasant thoughts or emotions arise, let them be there. Allow yourself to hold the posture longer if it feels like that’s what you need and do not ever be afraid to come out of a posture if you feel uncomfortable. Listen to your body if it is telling you something!

If you live in the Denver area and would like to learn more about processing stored emotional trauma in the hips, join me on Saturday Feb. 23rd for a workshop called Healing Hip Openers at Revive Colorado in RiNo! It is from 9:00-10:30 AM. Class is limited to only 8 people so you can get extra attention.