This week, it’s time to unpack those saddlebags and release the heaviness and stress weighing you down and impeding your emotions. It takes a lot of work to create the tight hips many of us are experiencing these days.
Almost everything we do in our daily lives create tension: from sedentary activities like sitting at a desk and driving to running or even simple everyday stress. We accumulate unprocessed emotions in our hips and we’ve all got one or maybe fifty of those, right? Let’s unpack them.
When your hips are both open and strong, you have a balanced center of gravity and are able to maintain not just a healthy spine, but also a happy heart and mind.
Physically, your pelvis houses several ligaments and muscles. If these are too tight or too weak and your pelvis isn’t stable, issues can arise with your lower back, your legs, ankles, and feet.
The most important flexor is the psoas muscle, which originates in your spine’s thoracic region, extends down the lower back, and attaches through to the top of the femur bone at the front of your pelvis.
Sitting is a huge culprit in creating overly tight hip flexors and this imbalance often manifests as lower back pain and/or knee pain. It’s all connected. Making sure you stretch the psoas properly in yoga poses like Apanasana or Wind-Removing Pose, Low Lunge is vital to keep your hips and spine healthy.
In the Subtle Body, the layer deeper than the physical body in yogic philosophy, the hips are where we store past trauma, stress, and negative emotions. The two lower chakras are housed here: the Muladhara or root chakra is at the base of the spine or perineum and the Svadhistana chakra is located between the hipbones. These chakras are associated with issues of family, survival, sexuality, relationships, and creativity.
So, if you’ve got unresolved problems with one or both parents, if you haven’t forgiven an ex-partner or friend, if you’re struggling to put a roof over your head, for example, your hips may feel tight and uncomfortable until you address the emotions underlying these issues.
When addressing hip health, consider taking a two-pronged approach to feeling your best. Use appropriate asanas and pranayama techniques to open and stabilize your hips and take the time to work through troublesome emotions, which could be causing you physical pain. Happy hips equal a happy heart and mind. We can all benefit from more hip opening in our life.
If you’re not sure where to start, try one or all of these four classes to release stress and tension and open to happy hips.
1. Keith Allen - Hip Opening Heaven
2. Shy Sayar - Posture Therapy: Glutes
3. Bhavani Maki - Yin / Relax: Hip Openers, A Key to Freedom
4. Rob Loud -The Heart & Hips: The Beauty of Assymetry