Hip Emotions: This is how to heal and be happy

Your hips hang onto your emotions and here’s why…

Everything really does go straight to our hips, even our negative emotions!

Our hips are the first line of defense when we are introduced to tension, fear, overwhelm and other negative emotions.

Fight or flight is our response to stressful emotions and when we are in this fight or flight mode, what do we do?

We tense up and clench our muscles.

Particularly in our legs, since our legs are the means we have to run from danger or fight it.

What emotions are stored in your hips?

Our hip region is also associated with our sacral chakra which processes emotions like fear, sadness, frustration, loss and worry.

As we clench and tense up when we are faced with these emotions, we lock and store them into our hips.

Hips store trauma

 Any time you experience a traumatic event, your hips lock the trauma in and store it for hours, days or often, years.

How?

When you’re stressed out, your body responds by tightening/clenching.

This is most visible in tight, hunched-over shoulders or clenched fists.

What isn’t visible is the tightening of your hips, but it’s happening.

Trauma causes a huge compression or tightening in the hips.

Just like people who are stressed a lot have extremely tight shoulders/neck, someone who has experienced trauma has extremely tight hips.

(This is especially true of sexual trauma because of the proximity to your reproductive system.)

Hips store stress

The tightening of your hips is more severe in a traumatic event than in everyday stress.

Stress will still build up over time though.

Which is why you feel much lighter and more relaxed after a yoga class.

You have worked out the emotions that you have accumulated over time that were being stored in the hips and wreaking havoc on you.

Knowingly or unknowingly.

Hips store anxiety

Anxiety will also cause tight muscles, especially in the hips because you are constantly in fight or flight mode.

When you repeatedly react to your environment with tension, defensiveness and stress, your hips will accumulate tightness fast.

Being that the hips are how we stabilize and ground ourselves the hips are constantly being agitated when we are suffering from anxiety.

This is what it means when you have tight hips

We stretch before and/or after a workout because we do understand that releasing tension in the body makes our muscles stronger and more resilient. 

Why stop there though?

If our bodies are responding to emotional and mental stress with tension the same way it responds to physical stress with tension.

Then why would we not stretch to prevent injury from mental and emotional trauma as well?

Our bodies are our vehicles for interacting with our environments; physically, mentally and emotionally. Maintenance and prevention is therefore needed for all three as well.

Yoga poses can release all the negativity we are hanging on to within our bodies, that are causing emotional, physical and mental pain.  

Hip opening yoga poses are very beneficial for releasing negativity

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Before you begin lets talk safety.

If you are not flexible, I really recommend using this yoga block to avoid injury and ease strain on your muscles.

Lizard Pose

Low lunge

Frog pose

Pigeon Pose

Forward fold

Butterfly

Happy baby

Retuning to your mat everyday is a commitment and one that you want to feel excited about.

Treat or reward yourself for all the good you are doing for your body with a beautiful mat.

Make your mat a gorgeous safe place you look forward to returning to day after day.

Opening the hips and emotional release

 As an energy healer and life coach it has been remarkable to watch my body change and react to my mental/emotional state as well as what events that are happening in my life.

My hips were so sensitive before I began healing my trauma and managing my thoughts and emotions

Now, I am so familiar with how my hips react and how to care for them that I can easily predict when my hips are going to feel loose and free.

When I am going to have an emotional release.

Or when my hips are going to give me hell and hang on with all they have to the negativity I am experiencing in my life.

This ebb and flow is part of life.

I don’t expect my hips to be perfect all the time.

I only want them to be as healthy as possible.

Incorporating hip openers into my routine brings me great physical and emotional relief.

I view my hips as one part of a complex system that I need to maintain so my whole body can work optimally.

Emotions after yoga

Our hips are another tool we can use to improve our overall well being.

They are yet another component to the puzzling process of healing our stress, trauma and anxiety.

Like any other tool it must be a compliment to help your healing process.

Do not expect hip openers to do all the work for you.

In fact, I find that hip openers are 100 times more effective when myself or a client is actively working on their mental space.

It is great for uncovering hidden emotions that are causing problems for you as well as coping with apparent stress and anxiety.

Releasing old trauma

So, don’t be surprised if hip openers bring up old unresolved trauma for you to deal with during your practice or after.

This is positive news!

You are uncovering hidden layers that you weren’t even aware were affecting you, on a deeper subconscious level.

If this hidden work that was wreaking havoc on you without your knowledge, rises to the surface of your mind while deep in stretch or afterwards, do not brush it off or fight it.

Allow it to wash over you and view it as a final cleansing you are ridding yourself of.

A layer being peeled off so you can go even deeper.

This is a beautiful and rewarding moment of taking the time to care for yourself in such a sincere and deep way.

We heal in layers and our body will let go only of what we and it are capable of processing at that time.

Don’t force or push your pose deeper to try and release more.

Yoga, like any form of therapy, is an individual journey.

A journey that when the time is right, our mind, body and souls will align for our highest and greatest good.

Yoga beautifully aligns the mind and body with one another.

Our mind and body are so intertwined and therefore must be seen and healed as one.

Resources:

• Desire More (Coaching )
• Rewire subconscious mind (Blog)
• Anxiety relief guide (free training)

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