Hips. Somehow, they are always a topic for me. When I started practising yoga, the pigeon was my absolute enemy. Internal and external rotation and stretching the psoas (hamstring muscle) have always been difficult for me. That's just the way it is: Some movements, openings or strength come naturally. Others make it difficult to keep your breathing constant. But that's not really the point right now.
I keep hearing in yoga classes that the emotions are located in the hips. I always wondered what that meant. Until my anatomy teacher taught me a very physical explanation: there is a lot of fascia around the hips.
Fascia is a fibrous connective tissue that surrounds our muscle tissue and connects it to the central nervous system. Fascia runs through the entire body and is responsible for keeping the body upright and tight but is also responsible for flexibility and elasticity. There are numerous studies on fascia and how to counteract »adhesion« of the fascia. An important aspect of this is the effect of emotional stress or emotional trauma on the tissue. This can also affect the adhesion of the fascia.
Through various exercises that include strengthening and stretching to stimulate the fluid in the fascia, physical blockages can be released. And: many people also feel an emotional release in the process. I've experienced this myself: you're hanging in the splits or in the lizard and suddenly sadness, anger or other resistance arises. And sometimes it feels like something has been released. And on other days, the resistance is so strong inside, e.g. when you feel anxious or insecure, that your body can't soften.
When I did my yoga teacher training, I had built up a small and very stable emotional wall around myself. To be precise, after a crisis, I put all my feelings in a pretty deep drawer. There was a moment when it all came loose. Of course, this moment was the result of a number of touching, moving moments. In addition, there was the strain of the training and the physical exercise, all the learning, the new environment, etc. But when I was hanging in Hanuman Asana - the splits - and my teacher said to me: »Come on Hannah, let go more. Let go of everything«, I had tears running down my face and my emotions were unstoppable. Whether it had to do with the hips, the little push from my teacher or everything that had happened before, I don't know. But from that moment on, I was able to get more involved with hip openings.
Great hip openers that you can practise:
It takes time to work the fascia. Ideally, hold your breath for at least 10 breaths. And repeat the exercises regularly.
