Hips
An introduction to the hips and pelvis. May you find some food for thought, some inspiration for exploration and an impetus for movement.
Hips hips hips. How incredibly important, beautifully complex and how deeply emotional they are. And yet… How much tlc are you giving them?
I honestly think 99% of my clients have dysfunctional hips, whether they realise it or not. They often come in with lower back pain, tension in the upper back/neck, tight hip flexors and/or all of the above.
Our pelvis is a beautiful bowl holding our precious sexual organ system, the digestive system and of course, the base of our spinal column and central nervous system (amongst many other things).
It is the intersection of our trunk & upper body with the lower body. It is the site of greater functional movements like running, walking, sitting, rolling, crawling etc.
This region is responsible for the embodiment behind our movements in the wider world. It is literally responsible for walking the path we choose.
The hips are responsible not just for physical movement, but also the many movement capacities we have as thinking, moving, feeling community-based conscious beings. Movement as a concept can be applied not just to the physical body taking shapes or in locomotion, but also the energetic movement, emotional and psychological.
Life is one long movement narrative.
So for many, many, many reasons the health of our pelvis & hip region is pretty integral to the health of our entire system.
From an energetics perspective this is the seat of our sacral chakra. It is the chakra of our sexuality, creativity and primal desires.
When our sacral chakra is blocked we are restrained against acting or moving towards the direction of our desires. And by desires this is extremely broad, from aspects of our career path to our sexual and romantic desires.
It can present as tight hips and lower back pain, but it can also manifest as things like hormonal imbalances and menstrual issues… and even others like incontinence and pelvic floor dysfunction.
There might be some trauma stored in the hips, that unless we work to release, will remain stagnant energetically but as tension, tightness and dysfunction physically.
When starting to release the hips, I personally believe breathwork is pretty key, even on a purely physical level. Yes yes yes, stretching is important… but for a true hip release we need a systemic approach (in my humble opinion) that includes the following:
Breathwork (energetics)
Stretch
Strength
Movement (intuition)
Touch (feltness)
Play (creativity)
Nutrition
Herbalism
(This is not in any particular order of importance just FYI)
The line between the QL, psoas and hip flexor requires a neuromuscular awareness in order to release it. Yup, you can't forcibly stretch it and expect it to feel better. This line is deeply emotional, it is a storage system of emotional tension and also the victim of poor posture, lack of diaphragmatic breath and weak deep core.
As this line spasms and becomes painful a tendency can be to trap the breath in the upper chamber of the chest as it limits interaction with the site of pain. Alternatively, you might've originally had chest breathing patterns and the tension developed as a result (very common, this is an anxious-stress breathing pattern).
So as we exercise the use of our neuromuscular system, we strengthen our self-awareness. We can use the breath as a tool for self-inquiry by directing it into different regions of the body to scan and feedback to the central nervous system.
For example, we breathe deeply into our hips and pelvis, notice tension in the hip flexor and suddenly gain the awareness of some dysfunction or imbalance.
I invite you, the next time you work to stretch or release the hips… to place your hands on your lower abdomen and send your breath down there, to the extent in which you feel your belly expand. Just like a newborn baby.
A nice, deep inhalation and a long, slow exhalation.
The more time we spend slowing down our exhalation, the more time we slow down our heart. The slower the heart, the calmer our nervous system becomes. The slower the heart, the better your odds of longevity.
You can let the Buddha belly be soft and round, enjoy the feeling of a full breath and a full, soft, belly filling the pelvic bowl.
As we allow our diaphragm to drop with the breath, we also allow our pelvic floor muscles to soften and drop. We store tension here. Learning to disengage and release the pelvic floor is a step towards relearning how to restore this beautiful part of ourselves back to healthy function.
Stressed nervous system = stressed pelvis = tense pelvic floor = incontinence
I won't explain my entire list (as seen above) but I will touch on a few other points.
You might've been struck by play. Why on Earth is play on the list?!
Thank you for asking.
Hips are the site of creativity and creation. We literally create life from within the womb which is protected by the pelvis.
When we don't have enough sparkling joy, light and play within our lives we can become depressed and feel stuck. When we are traversing the path towards our true desires our hips might ache with a resistance to keep going.
How can you incorporate more creativity and play into your movement practice? How can you be more playful in life?
There's so much more I could write about the hips, I could expand each of my bullet points into an infinite number of chapters.
Instead I'll simply ask one thing of YOU (I know how cheeky of me)
I would like for you to sit, lie, walk, circulate, flow, dance or even undulate with your hands on your hips. Breath into the magnificent bowl of your pelvis and ask what your clever little body is trying to say to you.
What does it want to reveal?
What does it want to feel?
How do you feel?
What do your hips want to release?
Take note beautiful soul, your hips will tell you everything you need to know… just meet them with tenderness.
Healing the hips is like nurturing a rosebud. It will happen with a delicate touch and patient understanding that she will blossom when she's ready.
And before then if you need any support or have any questions, reach out.
Love always,
A 🍁