Hips & Emotions

Let´s take a closer look at emotions and muscle memory.

I recently did a wonderful course called Hips like Honey by Manuela Mitevova which inspired me to dedicate this months podcast to the hips and also focus on it on my live online yoga class in June.

As always you can listen to the podcast and enjoy a guided meditation at minute 11 >>>HERE<<< Or you can read the blog, whichever you prefer.

The hips are an important energy centre. They are closely connected to your mood and your ability to calming your Nervous System when you need to.

If you practice Yoga or you have experience with Feldenkrais Methode, Alexander Technique or other practices that focus on the body-systems, you may have noticed that in some sessions emotions come up, tears want to flow. Sometimes you have not even been aware of them at the beginning of the session. How is that possible? Everything we experience in life is stored in our memory system: the mental/cognitive memory and the muscle memory.

I find this deeply fascinating and would like to take a closer look at the hips and their correlation with emotions.

BUT LET´S START AT THE PHYSICAL LEVEL: WHAT IS A HIP?

A hip is a ball-and-socket joint. The head of the fumer (head if the thighbone) is shaped like a ball and fits into the shape of the acetabular cup (hip cup). It allows a wide range of motion like flexion and extension, abduction and adduction as well as rotation. But the hip is primarily designed for stability and weightbearing and absorbs shocks from running and walking. This is why it is held in place my very strong ligaments and muscles.

Directly involved in moving and stabilizing the hips are 21 muscles. To keep the hips in balance it is important that these muscles are not only strong, but also flexible. Instead of naming these 21 muscles (honestly I would have had to google them myself), I want to introduce the 6 muscle groups they are structured in:

The Hip Flexors (also called the Psoas)
Hip Extensors ( for example glutes and hamstrings)
External Rotators
Internal Rotators
Adductors (inner thigh muscles)
Abductors (outer thigh muscles)

You have already heard, the muscles around the hips need to be in balance. If they are very strong but not flexible, they will stabilize the hip but in motion throw the skeleton out of alignment. This is why it is not seldom the case, that the adjoining joint structures like knees or lower back take on extra strain which can cause pain & injury to these regions.

But the list of unpleasantries from hips not in balance unfortunately does not end here. Tight hip muscles reduce the amount of blood and lymph fluidity that runs through the body. Blood transports oxygens and nutrition to the cells in our body while the lymph removes waste and detoxifies the cells. A reduced stream of blood and lymph can weaken the immune system and cardio vascular system causing a decreased metabolism, high blood pressure to name but a few.

On a physical level it is very important to keep your hips in balance – so they can stabilize but also allow the body to move freely as well as allow unobstructed necessary bodily functions.

LET´S MOVE INWARDS TO MORE SUBTLE LAYERS OF THE BEING

Lets not stop here. Yoga talks a lot about the subtle layers of the body – one of them being the emotions. I would like to take a look how body and mind are connected and how this correlates to our emotional state.

As I have already touched upon in the very beginning of this podcast: our muscles – especially in our hips - store stress, tension, trauma. Although hips are much more then just the hip flexor – the PSOAS – I would like to talk about this massive muscle and how it is connected to the nervous system and how this relates to our emotional state and ability to self-regulate.

As you know by now, Psoas is the Hip Flexor – the muscles connecting the upper and lower body. Because of the Psoas we can sit, stand, walk, bend forward … It contracts when we get startled and tightens when we feel stressed or emotional pain. It originates (left and right) at the 12^th thoracic vertebrae (mid-back) and 5^th lumbar vertebrae (lower back) and connective tissue connects it directly to the diaphragm (which is a big part of our breathing system). But it is also linked to the oldest part of your brain – the brain stem and spinal cord, which in turn is the neural region for survival.

When we are in danger, our Sympathetic Nervous System activates the stress response also called the fight/flight/freeze response. With this stress response (besides many other things like release of specific hormones into the blood stream, heightened oxygen levels in the blood and nourishment of the muscles for physical action….), the hip flexor gets activated as well: be it for flight, fight or freeze. To protect the body the hip muscles tighten and contract. In the freeze response it would look like rolling up in a ball to protect the vital organs. Which means, this position is linked to the stress response which would also trigger feelings of stress, anxiety, anger and store them in the muscle memory.

On a side note: this is also why sitting can have a negative effect on your emotional state. Over a long period of time the hip flexion activates your Sympathetic Nervous System triggering a stress response.

This is a great example for how the body and mind are constantly communicating back and forth.

As tight and locked hips can store tension and emotions, stretching your hip muscles can release these tensions and allow stored emotions to surface. This is why movement can be cathartic.

HOW TO KEEP YOUR HIPS BALANCED

Your body loves to move. And so do your hips. To keep your hips healthy and balanced it is great to strengthen the muscles but also to stretch them for flexibility. It is great to work on mobility as well to allow your hips the full range of motion. And finally, it is great to learn how to incorporate both – MIND & BODY when you practice yoga. Strengthening your self-awareness and self-acceptance will help you notice what you need. Using your breath to connect body and mind and regulate your Nervous System will give you a great tool for self-regulation on an emotional level. To practice with kindness will deeply nourish your wellbeing. Be curious, explore your hips, open up space, release and accept emotions that want to surface.

But be mindful. If you have experienced trauma in your life, maybe it is best to embark on this journey with professional help. Let someone guide you, who is able to provide a save space, so you are not alone with what comes up.

So remember, your body and mind are connected. If your body is not well, you will feel more vulnerable (in body and mind). If your emotional life is out of balance, your body is more likely to hold tension.

So use the time on your yoga mat not only as a physical practice. See it as a chance for your body and mind to take a breath. Movement systems like your hips get a chance to open and release tension and with it emotions. Sometimes tears will flow – because you release and it feels good, or because of emotions surface that have been locked in. The release is accompanied with happy hormones like endorphins, because your body enjoys to move, to open up and to release tension.

Yoga will not only help you to release and relax. It will also help you to break old patterns in movement, thinking and feeling. If your usual response pattern is to fight, maybe you can learn to soften into a situation for example at work. But more about this in my next podcast on Neuro Science and Yoga.

11:00 MEDITATION Visualizing Space in your pelvic region