yoga for hip opening

Yoga for hip opening : If you sit a lot, at desk, or in your car, you probably have ‘tight hips’. I find students tend to want to yank the hips open and this is not the safest approach. Tightness in this area is multi-dimensional, and who you are before beginning is important as well. I plan to teach some safe approaches tomorrow in the first of 6 class series starting with how to be attentive to the feet. The feet will act on the hips, and are actually a mirror of the hips.

This basic info graph shows how chronic sitters get extremely locked in the hip flexors in the front of the body so that these muscles, in constant contraction, shorten and tighten. A reasonable approach therefore is to use your yoga practice to lengthen these hip flexors which would provide a feeling of more ‘opening’.  In addition, your glutes, even though you are sitting on them all day, are in effect, underused whereas they are there to help with hip stability. Yoga can help this too, although walking is also good movement.

At the bottom of this info graph there are some useful tips. Even a few moments of yoga throughout your day can help severe tightness from taking control, so get proactive and get up more often even if just to shake your legs and do some foot circles

yoga for hip opening

Revolved Head To Knee Pose – Yoga Therapy Version

Revolved Head To Knee Pose – Yoga Therapy Version was written on a day I felt like experimenting….sometimes I get into a playful mood about being so tight ~ sitting, driving, walking…feel a bit seized up here: Quadratus Lumborum  – the QL – the hip hikers that never quit….so I try to mix in some inspiration from my trusty yoga props and get going to explore the terrain of the side waist. Here is a fun pose to try. One of the articles that I incorporated was a study of how to use the feet in asana by one of my teachers – this is why I have used the block on my extended foot – to keep doing the work in the feet and explore how that translated to working the hips

Revolved Head To Knee Pose - Yoga Therapy Version

Revolved Head To Knee Pose Rana Waxman

Revolved Head To Knee Pose Rana Waxman A

 

 

 

 

 

Revolved Head To Knee Pose – Yoga Therapy Version –

parivrtta = revolved

janu = knee
sirsa = head

Revolved Head To Knee Pose Rana Waxman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found using a strap and block made me really have to do the work of grounding the femurs, engaging my glutes and lifting through the spine to get the side bend.

Revolved Head To Knee PoseSometimes less is more

Benefits

Stretches the spine, shoulders, and hamstrings
Stimulates abdominal organs such as the liver and kidneys
Improves digestion

Therapeutic Applications

Mild backache
Anxiety
Fatigue
Headache
Insomnia

Tip- Before you work at a long hold, experiment with getting just the right amount of real rotation in the mid back….When you release, loosen anything that is straight and neutralize (center) the torso before moving to next sidestretch QL