Hip Openers and Strengtheners

What Does ‘Hip Opener’ Mean?

1. Any stretch that lengthens any of the 22 muscles that cross the hip. For example, hamstring, inner thigh stretches, wide leg standing poses like warriors and lunges.

2. Anything that stretches the hamstrings, calves, and thighs. Also strengthens the thighs, knees, and ankles and stretches the back of the leg, the front thigh and groin.

But hips do not ‘open and close’ like a door. It is not about how wide we can spread our legs. Hips are ball and socket joints, which means they are able to move in a circle. So ‘opening our hips’ actually means creating mobility in all directions. Mobility is influenced by both:

1. Flexibility of the muscles, tendons and fascia in and around the joint. Yoga poses can, to some degree, increase this.

2. Skeletal differences. These are the non-negotiable limits to our range of motion in all poses. Bone will not move past bone, no matter how much yoga we do.

Why are tight hips so common? Partly due to our excessive sitting. Partly because our legs are always working to support our upper bodies and this constant effort can make hip muscles chronically tight.

Hips and Emotions

When the sympathetic nervous response is triggered, when we are angry, stressed, threatened, scared, or even surprised, we—often unconsciously—clench our jaw or fists and we mobilize our hips to take flight or fight. When these muscles are not then released the tension becomes habitual.

Stretching the hip muscles causes a release; and so pent-up emotions may resurface, suppressed memories may arise, unconscious tensions held may bubble up. All of which may result in emotion and even tears.

• Maha Sacral Mudra – activates breath in the pelvis, aids in emotional processing

• Second chakra, water element

Maha Sacral Mudra

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Highly Recommended Poses

Supine

1. 4 square stretch – can do pigeon instead

2. Supta baddha konasana – can do seated

3. Variations on cross twist (good for sciatica)

4. Happy baby pose

4 Square Stretch

Supta Baddha Konasana (Seated)

Happy Baby

Prone

1. Gentle Quad Stretch (one bent knee, lift foot

2. Frog legs, belly rest

Frog Legs

Seated – with enough height that knees are below hip bones

1. Cross legged, baddha konasana, firelog (can do on chair)

2. Garland Pose (squat)

3. Wide leg forward fold (can do supine or on wall wall)

Wide Leg Forward Fold (Seated)

Table

1. Wide leg child pose

2. Low lunge

Low Lunge

Standing

1. Warrior 2

Warrior 2

End with Hip Stabilizing (to breath)

1. Clam – 10 times each leg

2. Bridge – lift (not roll) 10 times

Clam

Bridge

Yoga for Managing Stress

A goal of yoga practice is to apply what we do ‘on the mat’ with what we do in our lives ‘off the mat’. A good opportunity to use our yoga skills in daily life is in managing stress. There’s no question we all have some stress in our lives, and now, in Covid-time, we all have more. We experience stress in various ways: physical (tension, headaches, bellyaches… ) emotional (moody, distracted, despondent… ) and mental (negative, circular and catastrophic thinking… ). How can yoga help?

Physically

Get grounded!

Sitting or lying down, take a few minutes to feel where your body is connected to the floor/bed/couch/chair. Notice the points of connection and release your weight into them (heels, thighs, buttocks, shoulder blades, back of the head)

Mentally

Observe Your thoughts but don’t engage with them.

Sitting or lying down, choose to be quiet and still. As thoughts or distractions come into your mind notice them but do not follow them.

For example, as you start to think about plans for dinner, label this a future thought and blow it away. It will come back again later—you can count on that!

Energetic

Use the breath as the bridge between mind and body.

Focus on conscious breathing by counting the breaths in and out. 4 counts to inhale and 4 counts to exhale. Mind is focused (1-2-3-4) and body relaxes.

Yoga for Sleep

Insomnia is a real physical and mental health problem and not to be underestimated. “Coronasomnia,” as some experts now call it, has created a huge new population of chronic insomniacs. The pandemic has heightened stress and upset routines. Days lack rhythm and social interaction. The future is uncertain; the end of the crisis indiscernible.

Amongst all the advice out there to address this issue one always stands out: exercise!

And in particular: yoga!

Research from The National Sleep Foundation—leading expert voice in the world of sleep science and health for nearly thirty years—claims: Yoga isn’t just beneficial for improving core strength, flexibility, and stress levels; it can also help you sleep better—When people who have insomnia perform yoga on a regular basis, they sleep for longer, fall asleep faster, and return to sleep more quickly if they wake up in the middle of the night.

And for the mind, “Mindfulness meditation evokes the relaxation response,” which is a deep physiological shift in the body that’s the opposite of the stress response. It helps you break the train of your everyday thoughts to evoke the relaxation response.

In addition to the well-documented, long list of causes of sleep disruption add these:

• You're a woman. Hormonal shifts

• You don't have a regular schedule.

• Aging - You're over age 60. Changes in sleep patterns.

• Changes in activity.

• Changes in health.

• More medications.

How can Yoga help?

The Practice:

Pranayama. So Hum.

1. Sit comfortably and breath through your nose.

2. In your mind, on the inhale say SO, and on the exhale say HUM. A Sanskrit mantra of presence: I am here.

3. Repeat for a while.

Asana sequence:

1. Seated on mat or chair

   • Head rolls, Namaste hands, nose to hands, open between shoulder blades, lengthen back neck, one leg extends to side, other bent into thigh

   • Soft overhead stretch

   • Then head to knee pose (very soft)

   • Then arm stretch to opposite side and toe points

2. Wide-Knee Child's Pose (Balasana)

   • This resting pose provides a sense of calm and stability

3. Legs Up The Wall Pose (Viparita Karani)

   • Hands to belly, feel the breath

4. Reclining Bound Angle (Supta Baddha Konasana)

   • Pillow under head, knees in circles, cross twists

5. Corpse Pose (Savasana)

Research into Yoga and Sleep

• Impact of long term Yoga practice on sleep quality and quality of life in the elderly

• Yoga Can Help with Insomnia

• Can't Sleep? Try These Evidence-Based, Drug-Free Techniques 

• Relaxing music and images 

• Progressive Relaxation as an Insomnia Aid

• 5 Minute Guided Meditation for Sleep 1 

• 5 Minute Guided Meditation for Sleep 2

• Hyperarousal 

Happiness Rules to Live By

The following comes from 40 Tips for a Better Life by Deepak Belani.

1. Take a 10–30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate anti-depressant.
2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Buy a lock if you have to.
3. Live with the 3 E's — Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
4. Make time to practice meditation, yoga, tai chi, and prayer. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives.
5. Spend more time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6.
6. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
7. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds and walnuts.
8. Clear clutter from your house, your car, your desk and let new and flowing energy into your life.
9. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.
10. Smile and laugh more. It will keep the energy vampires away.
11. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
12. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
13. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
14. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
15. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
16. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
17. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
18. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and family will. Stay in touch.
19. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
20. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.
21. You only have one ride through life so make the most of it. Enjoy the ride.