Have you ever heard a yoga teacher say “We hold emotions in the hips?” There is actually a remarkable connection between your hips and emotions.

When you feel angry you unconsciously clench your jaw, and this same action of clenching happens in your hips when you feel threatened, which is the fight or flight response. Our natural response to stress is to use our hips to take flight. Or in fight mode, we bend forward and raise our knees up into a fetal position to protect our core.

These actions use the hips and when these muscles have been clenched tightly they shorten and the full tension is never fully released. It not only traps muscular tension, but also deep cognitive emotion felt at that time.

This unconscious tension can be held and stretching hip muscles causes a release and allows emotions to escape.

When we let go of things that no longer serve us (i.e. habits, relationships, jobs, muscular tension), we make room for other things to come into our life.

After exploring hip openers and “letting go” in our practice, we start adding in – introducing strengtheners of the supporting muscles.  January is a good time to “let go” of the previous year and be ready to receive what the New Year has to offer. But adding hip openers and strengtheners will always help serve a balanced practice.