“Oh no! Did I hurt your hips? The one place where you store all of your emotions?”
My partner was making a joke, but it was true. On the days when I felt the most unstable, my hips hurt to touch them. I moved away from the couch and onto the floor to do a frog pose.
Ever since I was a child, I was always in some variation of a split, pigeon, or other yoga poses that made others around me wince. I don’t know why, but I always sought to open my hips up and release my stored emotion as soon as I felt any pain.
As I grew up, my hips started to lose the flexibility I had created with years of splits and stretching. Now, I’m still in yoga poses, but as a way to combat the pain that already exists, rather than prevent it. I’ll often watch TV from a frog position or randomly lift my leg up on a walk, thinking I look like a ballerina at a barre, but knowing I look like a dog about to pee.
Our bodies are so wonderful and unique and everything in them is connected. Someone once told me that I had lower back pain because I was ‘emotionally or financially insecure.’ Some people come out of injuries and their knees start to act up when it rains. I know the second my menstrual cycle has changed and how to fix it. Our bodies often know something is wrong or right before our brains do. Frequently, different areas of mental/emotional stress will manifest in our bodies. This is why knowing about and opening up your chakras is imperative to having a healthy mind/body connection.
But of all the parts of the body that are affected by our minds and emotions, the hips are one of the most intriguing.
Emotions And The Hips
Every part of the body has a unique design and purpose but, this week, I focused on the hips and how they’re so prone to holding emotion.
The hips house the iliopsoas muscles (psoas) that are the connecting points to the lower and upper body. These muscles filter out toxins as well as hold the adrenal glands, which are responsible for our fight or flight responses. I know, your hips really don’t lie.
Because our hips house our fight or flight responses, they often are the part of our body to respond to a situation.
The hips are also part of the sacral chakra, so they house creative and sexual energy. The sacral chakra is (unsurprisingly) also linked to how you relate to your and others’ emotions. Any blockage in your sacral chakra might lead to emotional instability and less pleasure sexually.
My Week
Hip health is imperative to whole-body health. If you’re allowing your emotions to store up in your hips, you’re not going to function well. I’ve allowed my hips to store up way too many emotions, so I focused on freeing my hips from those burdens this week.
I began the week with a sacral chakra release yoga class. I went into the yoga session with way too much confidence and was shocked that the video almost killed me. Don’t mess with chakra release videos – they will destroy you in the best way. I think my favorite moment was when the instructor said, “Now we’re going to put our legs behind our heads!” And proceeded to look like a creature out of my worst nightmares for the next 10 minutes. I felt extremely opened and balanced after, even though I opted for easier stretches than the teacher. I would 100% recommend trying this class out if you need a quick (but difficult) release.
@shesafullonmonet_ When was the last time you stretched your hips and released the emotions they stored? #hip #hipstretch #hipstretches #shesafullonmonet ♬ original sound – shesafullonmonet_
I worked out throughout the day and the next morning, I woke up and felt tight in every part of my body. I decided to switch my normal morning yoga class to one that focused on my hip health. While this yoga class wasn’t the most hip-opening one I’ve taken (the more challenging, the more opening), I still loved it and it felt like a wonderful way to start the day by releasing the old emotions from yesterday and cleansing my body of them.
The next day, I realized I was becoming more aware of my hips and kept trying to honor and respect them by listening to them. I chose a barre M/BODY healing hips class for the third day. I loved it because it was both a workout and a hip healer infused in one. There is something so powerful about starting the day by wringing out the emotions from the previous one.
I woke up in a bit of a tizzy, so I knew I would need to open my hips and release all the toxins that they stored. I loved doing the barre class the day before because I felt the strength and elongation of my entire body as well as the stretch. I opted for a challenging Alo Yoga class that morning. By this time in the week, I’d settled into the challenge and fallen in love with it.
My next hip stretch came on accident. I started my morning with a vinyasa yoga workout and it ended up stretching my hips more than some of the other hip-centered ones. Within 10 minutes, my hips were open and various other parts of my body were cracked open as well (in the best way). I loved focusing on my hips this week because I was able to tell just how much they’re affected by everything I do and every workout I chose.
For my second to last workout, I chose a Detoxifying Flow. I love doing this challenge in the morning because it sets a tone and intention for the rest of the day. It’s a wonderful feeling and a great way to be reminded of how your body can come into alignment with itself every morning.
For my final hip stretcher, I went with a low-impact floor barre routine. My energy was low and while most barre routines see you stretching and releasing your hips, I wanted a slow stretch rather than a fast-paced burn.
My Review
You don’t necessarily have to go out of your way to do hip-opening classes or workouts. I felt the most joy and the most openness on the days when I didn’t just stick with hip-specific yoga or stretches. After all, as I’ve already said, each part of your body affects all the others.
But if you haven’t taken the time to dedicate a day or a workout to your hips, do it.
I’m not going to claim that all my worries and fears vanished when I opened my hips, but they did disperse, a lot. I was also able to find myself taking in tension in my hips and feeling tighter when something negative came up. It was a wonderful practice to strengthen my mind/body connection throughout the week.
My hips and my mind were much improved by taking a mindful step back and really acknowledging what parts of my body felt the most sore. I would recommend focusing on your hips for a week to anyone.
Have you tried to stretch the emotions out of your hips? Comment below!
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