The Yin Yoga Podcast
The Yin Yoga Podcast
Yin & Somatics: Activate to Release Tight Hip Flexors
So many of us suffer with hip flexors that feel stiff, tight, sore or even painful. it's not uncommon for me to encounter clients and students that are even plagued with a reduced range of motion and trouble fully extending the hip.
So it makes sense to just stretch right?
Though it seems plausable that lenghening what feels tight is the best course of action, the hip, the self are far to complicated to reduce this experience to just the state of our biological tissues.
So in this practice we will observe the biopsycosocial-spiritual nature of self. Rather than some stretches for the sensitive area, we will activate to release. In your practice, you will engage in myofascial release techniques, mobility drills and yes, yin yoga poses, to embed a profound sense of safety into the hips as well as a new confidence.
Props needed: Bolster, Blocks, Blanket
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Welcome to the Yin Yoga Podcast. I'm your host, mandy Ryle, and I am thrilled to be able to offer for you this week a pod practice which is all about the front of your hip. Sometimes we refer to this area as the hip flexors, but of course, it's much more than that. It is a much more holistic experience. So, just like probably every yoga teacher on the planet, I often get requests for stretches for the hip flexors, for the front of the hip. This is an area which is often very tight, can sometimes be sore or even painful. I have clients who, in fact, have some mobility restrictions around even extending their hip because of some problems in this area, and so I certainly do understand the compulsion to stretch. However, what I always try to impart to my students and to my clients is that your lived experience in your body is more than just the state of your tissues. The experience of the body is influenced by, yes, our biology, but also our psychology, our thoughts, our beliefs, our feelings, our fears, our memories. It is influenced by our social setting. Our experience of our body also has a spiritual component, so the biopsychosocial, spiritual model of experience is what I'm trying to bring forth in this practice. I want to let you in on a little bit of a secret. I'm going to give away my trade secret here, okay, so when we have tightness accompanied by pain, what we need is not stretching. What we need is to provide a profound sense of safety in the area and a profound sense of confidence, fearlessness in the area, and as far as I'm concerned, there's really no better way to do this than by activating. So that's what we'll do in this practice you will activate to release and you will find this beautiful awareness and this safety and this confidence that you really need to feel better in your hips. So if you're someone who is struggling here with the front of your hips, you're going to love this practice. You should definitely save it. But even if you're just somebody who likes a practice that feels really freaking great, you will enjoy this practice. You will need to have a bolster, a couple of yoga blocks and a blanket for this practice.
Speaker 1:Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to do a masterclass webinar all about sequencing. I find that listeners to this podcast whether you are a student of VN and you love to practice at home on your own, like with this podcast, or you're a teacher of VN. Finding that extra special magic in your sequences is not easy, so I wanted to provide some really simple tips and tools that you could use to create your next sequence and make it really truly magical. Obviously, the masterclass has already occurred. However, the replay is still available. So if you would like access to that replay, it's really simple Just quickly scroll down into these show notes for this show, click the link for the masterclass webinar. You'll have to then register it's just your email and your first name and then I'll send it right over, no strings attached. You'll have it in your inbox before you finish your practice. Okay, thank you so much, everyone for being a listener to the Yan Yoga podcast. I really hope you enjoy this special practice.
Speaker 1:As you're facing the front of your mat, put your blanket on the left, bolster on the right blocks go behind that bolster, and the blanket and the bolster are kind of mid mat region. We got it. And now you're going to come down to your belly with your head toward the front of your mat, head toward the front of your mat. So you're on your belly and as you're coming down, you get to establish how you'd like to rest your head. Will you be on your forehead, will you be on your cheek, will you rest your head on your palms or right on the mat? And this is kind of a difficult position in some ways to start in, I think. So you have my permission to kind of fidget around and make sure you're happy with the way your ribs are placed, your feet, so that you can find some level of contentment, and as you begin to deepen the inhales and the exhales just a little, notice your back ribs, notice your back ribs, yeah, and then maybe you'll change a little something about the back ribs. So, on the inhale, maybe you'll let those ribs kind of float up, expand, and the exhale is really a very slow collapse assisted by gravity. Really, inhale, feel those ribs widen and expand, exhale, feel that slow collapse assisted by gravity and perhaps resisted by your will. Right, you don't want the ribs to just fall, you want a slow release.
Speaker 1:And now transfer the attention to the front of the pelvis, to the front of the pelvis so, as you breathe in, notice if anything changes about its position as you breathe out, notice if anything changes about its position or if everything stays the same on the inhale, the exhale, in between all of it, and you might also be aware that things are not exactly the same on the right and the left. Maybe one hip feels heavier, wider, higher, and if that's what you find, of course, there's no need whatsoever to try to change it. Just notice it. Now I'd like for you to begin to rock your pelvis side to side, just right and left, and let go of the expectation that you're going to get a lot of movement out of this. In fact, something smaller might be better. Something smaller might be better, and begin to establish a tempo, almost like walking right, how the pelvis kind of tilt side to side when you walk, something like that. So just a really quiet effort, but a whole lot of attention, right, you might notice, in doing this without your legs swinging.
Speaker 1:That's actually pretty complex. There's activity in the front of the hip, back of the hip, sides of the hip, activity in your spine, other parts of your legs, and the next time you've rocked over to that right side, just stay. Stay there and plant the palm of your left hand onto the mat beside your chest and bring your right leg a little closer to your left leg, just for balance here for a second, so that you can bring your left knee and shin out onto the blanket which I had you set a moment ago, and so it's going to look like a half frog, right the left leg, like in a half frog. Now keep your left knee and your left toes turned out, but send your heel toward that back left corner of your mat. So it's just going to go straight back. It's going to slide on the floor on the blanket, and then bring your left knee back to the half frog and then overshoot it, bringing your left knee toward your left elbow, and then let that left arm rest If you haven't already, it can just rest and then re-extend the left leg, sending the heel back, and then, once again, you'll flex the hip and overshoot it. Pull the knee toward your elbow, so just sliding up and down, maybe pausing briefly, with the knee really tucked up toward the elbow, so that you can start to feel a little warmth in the hip flexor region, front of the hip region. Yeah, all, right, now the next time that knee is drawn up toward your elbow, keep it there and imagine that you're still pulling the knee toward the elbow, still pulling it up, although it stopped moving right, but the intent is still there and you'll feel a little bit of warmth, maybe even that little burn which is the hallmark of muscles working fatiguing. That's what we want. Okay, release that intent and just bring the leg to a more traditional half frog position, down a little bit, out a little, if you'd like, and we'll take a few breaths in the half frog Once again, just noticing the front of the pelvis as you breathe in and out. Any changes to position, changes in experience, sensations, okay.
Speaker 1:So this next transition is a little tricky. So here's what we'll do. I'm just going to lay breadcrumbs, I'm going to give you one cue at a time and you'll just execute one cue at a time and we'll end up seamlessly, beautifully, in our next posture. Once again, you're going to plant the palm of the left hand onto the mat beside your chest, send your right arm straight forward toward the front and then use that left hand to push you onto your right side with your head resting on your arm. So you're just on your side, your knees still on the blanket. Now draw your right knee under your left knee so your two thighs will be stacked. Two thighs stacked, yes. And then bring your right arm out to the right and your left arm out to the left as you roll your heart open toward the ceiling for your supine twist.
Speaker 1:There's a couple of really important steps here that I'd like for you to take. Number one make sure that your right shoulder blade is flat on the mat. It should not be wedged in any way, because that'll really inhibit your ability to use your thoracic spine to rotate. And then the other thing is that your left knee may not be on your right knee. Your left knee may float up off of that right knee. Mine does, for example.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and before I really let you settle in to your supine twist, I'm going to have you draw your left knee again, this time up toward your chest. So keep the knee pointed to the right, but kind of just flex the hip, just practice flexing the hip, that's all. And then allow that left leg just to soften a back into the twisted position, right, yeah, and then draw it in toward your chest and then let it go, settle it over the right thigh again. Let's do three more. And even once you've found that position where the hip is flexed completely, it's not moving anymore I'd like for you to maintain the intent of moving it just for a beat once it comes up toward that chest. We'll do one more, and this time you're going to hold. You're going to hold that thigh towards your chest, you're going to hold it there. Maybe your hand needs to hold the knee, maybe it doesn't. Maybe you'll start to feel that fatigue. That's what we need and then rest again. And then you're supine twist. So the left thigh just settled over the right thigh for a few breaths and you might feel like you have a little bit more rotation now. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:Though we don't really like that feeling of muscle fatigue, especially in yoga. We really don't like it In strength resistance training. We love it. It's a sign that we're working the right muscles, the right groups of muscles. But in this type of practice, think of it as a sign that your body is perking up. That's learning, that fatigue is learning. We'll take one more breath in the supine twist.
Speaker 1:Roll back onto that right side again. Plant the left palm again it's about the same position as been in. Press up to a side, sit. You're going to be sitting on that right hip, good. Then turn your body completely toward the back of your mat. Send your left heel to that back left corner of your mat, with the sole of the right foot against the inner right thigh or the knee whatever works best for you. Turn your heart, your eyes toward that left foot. Keep your heart and your eyes turned toward the left foot, but bring your hands back behind you and lean into them.
Speaker 1:Tilt your pelvis back. It doesn't have to be neat and pretty like we like to do. Tilt your pelvis back almost like a little hunch position, if that's okay for your shoulders. If your pelvis tilted back and your knee so soft, lift the left leg a couple of inches away from the floor. I will tell you that most people try to lift their leg with their knee. The knee can only extend the knee and then lower it back down. Rest. It cannot flex your hip for you. For that we'll need our hip flexors. Go ahead, lift that leg. If you're having trouble with it. Know that you're in good company. This is really hard. Lower it down.
Speaker 1:Now let's try something different. Find that anterior tilt in your pelvis, what we usually associate with good posture, although that's not necessarily true. Then lift that left leg with the anterior tilt and release One more time with anterior tilt and release. Then alternate between the two for a few repetitions Tilting back, lifting up soft knees, soft ankle, lower down, tilt forward, lift the thigh, couple more, one more of each. One more of each Posterior, anterior.
Speaker 1:Actually, do one more posterior. Bring your time, one more anterior this time. Hold, it's going to burn, it's going to feel warm, breathe, breathe into that learning. Then maintain the anterior tilt as the leg is lowered back to the ground. Lift up and fold over that left leg. Now I had you put your blocks back there earlier in the practice, just in case you want them under your elbows. But if you're just kind of wanting a low-tech experience, you don't have to use them. Just let your head hang. Don't worry about it being beautiful and perfect, just in your imagination. Imagine that you were going to lift that left leg and then release it. Do two more, just two more. Imagine You'll notice that in imagining muscles do engage. Your somatic nervous system uses the same hardware to make a plan and also to execute a plan. The next time you are imagining your leg releasing, allow it to soften, just extra, extra Melt, and feel that warmth distributed, that learning expanded. You'll hold your half butterfly here. Let that neck be soft as well. The jaw, the tongue.
Speaker 2:How important is that to keep above.
Speaker 1:One more breath in our half butterfly. Press down into your hands to rise up to vertical seated position. Nice, soft posture. Maybe the eyes close, lean back into your hands again. Once again I'm just going to lay breadcrumbs.
Speaker 1:So the next position you'll be in is not a familiar yin shape, but we'll get there together, no problem. So you're going to bring the sole of the right foot flat, so that kneecap is pointed up now, and then just take that right foot and cross it over to the outside of the left leg, so your footprint is planted on the outside of the left leg. And then this is kind of funny You're just going to use that right foot to sort of nudge your left leg more to the center of your mat. So you kind of heel toe your foot and almost passively nudging your left leg more to the right. A couple more times, try it, use your foot to do it. That's the skill we want to learn here before we transition.
Speaker 1:And then lean more into the left hand, look past your left shoulder back toward the front of your mat and roll onto your left side with your left leg long and your right foot against the left thigh. Yep, so nothing about the legs changes. You just lay down on your side again and support your head if you need to, okay, and then see if maybe you might want to nudge. Now that you're on your side, nudge your left leg even further toward the center of the mat, using your right foot to just passively extend your hip for you right. Just nudge, nudge, nudge, even a little bit more. So do, do, do, do, do, do, do. Yep, exactly.
Speaker 1:And it kind of holds it in place, does it not? Now, the bottom knee, that left knee, bend it. Bend that bottom knee, bring your heel toward your rear end, roll your heart open now to the sky. Roll your heart open and see if maybe it's possible for you to maybe do a little almost like a banana shape with your upper body so that the right hand can catch that left foot and you may need to use your left foot to nudge your knee back even a little bit more, finding a really nice extension Right. Use this foot to kind of do, do, do, do, do, do, yes, and then it's a nice back bend. Yeah, you got it. That's all you need, and if you can't catch your foot, it's totally fine. It's totally fine.
Speaker 1:Sometimes people will use like a mat strap or something to grab it to your left arm. Just reach out to the left. We're not using it right now. Keep your right shoulder blade near the floor, probably not touching, but maybe. But use the left ankle pressing into excuse me, the right ankle, pressing into the left thigh to stack your right hip over your left hip. Keep your shoulders on the floor. Work to stack your right hip onto your left hip and then bring your right hip back down, like it wants to touch the floor. It may not touch, though, and then, once again, you're going to kind of pull back with that right heel, try to stack your right hip onto your left hip and then bring your right hip back down, maybe with a little pushing of the sole of that right foot. We're going to do a few more of those. Obviously it's individual, but I think this feels really so good. I'm going to give you a few more of those.
Speaker 1:Stacking the hip yeah, and don't make it too complicated right Holding the foot, if you can, continuing to hold that foot. Stacking the hip, because that's part of it. You know, we always talk about stretching the hip flexors, and when we think about stretching, we always think about stretching from origin to insertion and otherwise lengthwise, which makes sense because that's the direction, sort of, of the muscle fibers. But this muscle, the primary muscle that we're working, the psoas, is not flat. It presents circumferentially, sort of like a I hate to do this, but like a pork tenderloin. Okay, so you're sort of rolling the right hip onto the left hip and you're bringing it back. Think about how you're sort of just rotating, twisting that psoas, yeah, not from a deeper stretch to provide hydration, positive input.
Speaker 1:Do one more. And the next time your right hip is stacked onto your left hip, you shall hold. Right hip stacked onto left hip, you shall hold. Maybe overshoot it a little bit and kick that right foot out onto the bolster which I had just set at the beginning of your practice. Rest the ankle on that bolster and if your leg is sliding away, try rolling even more onto your side. And if you can't hold your foot and be on your side, that's okay. You don't have to hold your foot. Yeah, for cat pulling its tail. You got it. This is it. Yes, and you could even rest your arm. Yes, yeah, that's it. That's it. That's the pose. It's beautiful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, good job, guys, let's set yours up for tonight's lessonE.
Speaker 1:We'll just take one more breath and cat pulling its tail. You'll release your tail if you're still holding it. Roll back again onto that left side, press into the right hand this time and come to a brief tabletop, a brief all fours. And this is really just about housekeeping. We just need to switch our props. So we're just going to bring the bolster to the left and the blanket to the right and then you're going to find your way back onto your belly, rest on your belly again and even as you're still arriving on your belly, just kind of rocking your hips side to side and noticing if it feels the same as before, maybe a little different, exactly the same. Yeah, it's hard. Right. Now, get that tempo, that walking tempo right. And when you start to get that walking tempo, you might feel how much your glutes are involved right. Next time you rock to the left, plant the palm of the right hand, bring your left leg a little bit closer to the midline of the mat just to make it easier for you to balance, and then you're going to pop that right knee onto your blanket. Try to have the blanket under your ankle as well, if you can, so you're in basically a half frog right and then keep your right knee and your toes turned out as you send your heel back, yeah, and if you have to turn your knee down to get your heel all the way back, then you're going too far. Yeah. And then draw the knee up toward your shoulder, go ahead and rest that right arm. Now Rest that right arm and if you want, you can kind of like point the elbow down toward the direction of the knee so you have something to aim for and then re-extend. So we'll do a few and each time I'd like for you to try to just give a little bit of a pause with your hip in that flexed position. You know I love yin but I also really love strength. I'm a strength specialist and you know we have exercises for the whole lower body. We've got exercises for the glutes and the hamstrings and the calves, ankles, feet, quads. We don't really have anything for the hip flexors. Like there's no machines at the gym for your hip flexors right. Next time that knee is drawn up, I'm going to have you hold, pretend that the knee is still moving. Like just this level of intent Knee is still moving.
Speaker 1:For three, keep pulling two, one and then let the leg, come back to a more traditional half frog position, rest for a few breaths and just feel that nice warmth, that learning. Okay, we're done here. One more breath and half frog, so you'll plant the palm of the right hand beside your chest, the left arm. You'll reach forward all the way out, reach forward, yeah. And then push down into that right hand, roll onto your side. Your head just rolls up onto your arm, Good. And then draw your bottom knee under your top knee, so left knee draws under right knee, so the thighs are stacked at this point, yes. And then reach your left arm out to the left as you open your chest into your supine twist, into your supine twist, and your knee will probably lift. The top knee will probably lift, yeah, okay, pull your hand just a little bit there and I think, if the feet come out an inch, yeah, good, the top knee, keep it pointed, Keep it pointed to the left, but pull that knee towards your heart, yeah. And then bring the knee and just stack it over the left knee again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're going to do that. Let's do five more. So pull it in. Yeah, remember, we're teaching. We are teaching our hip flexors. Now. Stretching also teaches your hip flexors, of course, but it can't always be about flexibility, right, mobility is also about strength, somatic awareness skill, neuromuscular skill. That's learning. We'll do two more. We got a little pause with the knee all drawn in in that flex position, or the thigh, I should say. And this last time I'm going to have you just hold with the thigh or the hip flexors flexed, flexing the hip, and you'll hold as if the knee is still moving. The knee is still moving for three, two, one and then just rest. Just rest in your pose, relax. You might even find that your supine twist feels a little gentler now. Yeah, if you haven't already, just check on that left shoulder blade, make sure it's fully flat.
Speaker 2:Good.
Speaker 1:When there are issues with the hip flexors, that feeling of discomfort, stiffness, tightness, weakness we feel strongly compelled to stretch. The subjective feeling of that experience for some reason compels us to stretch, but unfortunately we don't actually possess any sensory anatomy capable of telling us what we need. So sometimes we get signals that are not so helpful, because quite often stretching doesn't really help right. Instead we need to engage in some really deep and patient learning like this. Let's take one more breath in Supine twist, you'll roll back onto your left side. You'll plant that right hand. Just follow the butt crumbs, help yourself up to that side, sit on that left hip and then turn your body fully to the back of your mat. Turn your body fully to the back of your mat, extend your right heel out toward that right back corner, solo the left foot somewhere along that inner left thigh, turn your heart, your eyes towards your right foot and then lean back into your hands. Tilt your pelvis back to start, and the knee, the ankle, so soft, so gentle as you lift the leg a couple of inches away, yes, and then release and then tilt your pelvis forward. Anterior lift, release, keep alternating. Lift just a beat at the top, release, keep alternating that pelvic tilt and try using your breath. You know when it gets hard we hold the breath. But if we're trying to recondition these tissues to be more compliant, we should train them with the right attitude, right An attitude of contentment. So use your breath to facilitate that contentment. Next time you are in the anterior tilt and you lift your leg, you will remain for three, two, one. You'll release the leg to the floor. You'll lift up tall before you fold over that right leg, any amount. Fold over that right leg. Use your props if you'd like. If you decide to use your bolster, it's fine. It's just going to need to go back to that spot on the right when you finish. And then, just in your imagination, three times only, feeling as if you're going to lift that leg and then release it three times only, and then you're just resting in your half butterfly. Try to keep that neck soft, throat soft, the eyes soft, and then you're just resting in your half butterfly. Just one more breath.
Speaker 1:Use your hands to help you rise back up. Sit tall, soft, soft, and then lean back into your hands again. Bring the sole of the left foot flat with the kneecap pointed up now, yes, and then cross the ankle to the outside of the right leg. Breadcrumbs here, right. Now use that left foot to nudge your right leg to the center. You've got fair amount of range of motion here for that, you know, okay.
Speaker 1:And then, once you're happy that you've sort of figured that skill out here, where it's easier, you're going to lean into your right hand, look back toward the front of your mat again and then come to lay on your right side with your legs still in this funky position. You're on your side, you're on your side, good. And then once again use that left foot to nudge your right thigh back toward the other edge of your mat. Nudge so that essentially you're passively extending your hip. You know, perfect, well done.
Speaker 1:Now bend the bottom knee that right knee is, if you want to bring your heel to your butt and then roll your heart open. Roll your heart open, reach that right arm out to the right we don't need it to be up overhead anymore and then find almost like a little banana, like a really gentle arch to the left to see if maybe your left hand can find your right foot. Yes, good. And then we're going to keep the hand on the foot. The shoulder is relatively stable. It's all about bringing the left hip over the right hip and if you can keep holding your foot, go ahead. If you can't hold it, it's fine, you know. So try to use that left ankle, kind of pushing into that right thigh, to stack your left hip over your right hip any amount, and then maybe you'll push down into the sole of the foot to bring your left hip back to the mat. You try, yes, and that I just think it feels so lovely. Right, it's a little bit of a stretch. So we've got a little bit of traction on hip flexors, but I love this idea that we can kind of roll them. Yeah, because tissues can hurt for thousands of reasons which have nothing to do with tightness. But we do know that people tend to feel a little bit more compliant, a little softer, a little more release when tissues are well hydrated, which is what this is for. Let's do two more. You guys are good, you got it Stacking and we can keep that foot flat on the floor. It doesn't need to move around. And then let's see Next time you have your left hip stacked over your right hip, you stay and then kick your left foot out onto the bolster which we set a while back.
Speaker 1:If you're still holding your foot, great. If you got to let go of it now, that's fine too. If you find that your foot is sliding, sliding, sliding because it likes to do that and cat pulling its tail, try to be more assertively onto your right side. The more you can get onto that right side, the more your leg will stay put, so you don't feel like you're having to hold it the whole time For cat pulling its tail. Yeah, yeah, and even here, a flat right shoulder blade could be really helpful. Yes, right, a flat right shoulder blade. It just like the world just transforms itself once that shoulder blade is flat against the mat. I think it's pivotal. Yes, okay, we'll make this the final breath and cat pulling its tail, and then you'll roll back onto your right side. Let go of your tail if you're still holding it.
Speaker 1:Roll back onto your side and then up to all fours. Up to all fours, your head toward the front and your all fours and your hands a little more forward than they would usually be in a tabletop, and then lean forward so your shoulders are over those hands, your butt is forward from your knees, and then draw your left hip under, like your left side, only wants to do the cat Right. Your right hip is also doing it, by the way, but we're going to focus on the left hip. Then arc your left hip out to the left, just kind of round it off to the left as your hip moves over your knee and here you're tilting your pelvis. So your left hip thinks it's in the cow. Arc to the left as you come forward, shoulders over hands, tuck that left hip. There's your cat right, then arc to the left and as you go you're going to find that cow shape. You want to touch the front of your hip to your thigh, go out to the left. This is where you want to extend your hip as much as you can.
Speaker 1:Let's do two more.
Speaker 1:So we're going to go back to that Cow, really flexing the hip, and then we're going to go back to the cat, really extending the hip.
Speaker 1:Stay in the cat, walk both knees, then to the right so that you can bring your left hip down again into a side sit, this time facing the side of your mat, and then roll onto your left side. You could support your head with your left arm or you can drag your blanket under your head because we don't need it off to the side anymore. So your knees are stacked and then lift your right foot away from your left foot, like there's a block between your feet, like there's just a block between yes, and then maintain this space as if the block is still there, but point your right knee up to the ceiling. So maintain the space as if your right foot is still sort of on that block, but point your right knee to the ceiling and then keep the block space, but bring your right knee back down, maybe to touch your left knee, maybe not Keep the block space.
Speaker 1:Lift, point the knee to the ceiling. So a little rotation, right? Oh, that's hard right. And then back down, do a couple more. Yes, it's fabulous. Last one, and this time hold with your knee pointed up you can do it.
Speaker 1:And then bring your foot flat to the mat, roll yourself so you're almost flat on your back, with your left thigh still flat, though, no, so not quite right Left thigh still relaxed on the floor. And then let's do this Just push down into that right foot, like your right leg wants to do a bridge pose. Your left side, though, is just heavy, passive. Keep pushing down, down down into that right foot. Maybe you can lift your right hip, maybe you can push hard enough that your left, passive, heavy hip lifts away from the floor as well. What do you think? Can you pick up that left side, even though it's not helping at all, and try to find an extension in your hip? That means your hip crease no longer at an angle, but flat, try, try, try, try, try, perfect. And then release, roll to your side and back to tabletop. That was good, good job, guys. Your hands farther forward than your typical off-orse Shoulders, over wrists, look your right hip under. So we're just working with the right, but the left side is going to come along, of course, and arc out to the right and, as your hip moves over the knee, find the cow. It's not any cow, though. I want you to really try to bring the front of your pelvis toward the front of your thigh. Use those hip flexors in a shortened position, arc out to the right and find the cat. So we're finding a lengthened position for hip flexors, but they're still working pretty hard. Do you feel that that's what we want? That's that eccentric contraction which tendons and muscles alike really seem to enjoy. Find that cat, or, excuse me, the cow with the flexion and then still activated in the hip flexors, but extended for the cat. One more cow, back to the cat. Stay.
Speaker 1:And then let's walk both knees to the left so you can come to the right hip for a side sit and then all the way down onto your right side. Make sure your head is supported there, and we'll put that imaginary block between the feet, and then you'll lift the knee, point it at the sky yeah, and if your hip slides back a lot, you might be trying to do too much range of motion. And then we'll tap the left knee onto the right knee or close the intent. Keep that block space, lift the knee. Try not to rock the hips open though, which means your range of motion may be minimal and slightly unsatisfying. Tap the knee down, keep the block space. Lift the knee without opening the hip. Yes, it's really hard, boy. It's activating, is it not? Do two more, so activating, right? We forget that the hip is a system. It's not just discreet muscles that we like have a lot of antagonism toward. It is a system. Last time knee points up, block space maintained. Try not to open the hips.
Speaker 1:Breathe and hold for three, two, one. Put that left foot on the mat. Roll your butt onto the floor, but keep your right thigh open and flat. Right thigh open and flat. Push down into that left foot. So make sure the left foot is like in a bridge. Your left leg is like we're doing bridge right and your right leg is in the half butterfly. Push down into that left foot. Tell, maybe you can lift the left hip, maybe you can push down hard enough that the right hip, even though it's passive, not doing a gosh darn thing, that lazy hip is going to lift as well. And try to reduce the amount of angle of your left hip so you are as extended as possible, maybe fully extended. Hold for three, two and one, and then you're all the way onto your back, so you'll probably have to shimmy yourself back to the center of your mat. Make sure that your blanket isn't too thick.
Speaker 1:Now Bring your feet flat, walk your feet together and let your two knees open up. Two knees open up, yeah. Bring your hands to the front of your pelvis, kind of like you want to rest them on your the hip creases. The hip flexors are not confined to the hip creases, but that is the place where we tend to experience them the most. So your hip flexors and your capacity to flex your hips actually starts in your lumbar spine. It goes past these hip creases all the way down the thigh, even to the lower leg bone, right, all of these required for good hip flexion.
Speaker 1:Use your breath now. Breathe into those hands on the hip creases, so feel an inhalation of the hip creases and then exhale from the hip creases, exhale them. Do a couple more breaths like that, yeah. And then, one leg at a time, send your heels out to those corners, those back corners. If you'd like, you could take your bolster under your thighs. That's what I would do personally, just to find a little softness in the front of the pelvis. But if that doesn't appeal to you, no need, you don't have to.
Speaker 1:And with your thighs resting either on the floor or on that bolster, just gently rock your hips side to side, side to side, and be satisfied, content with very little range of motion. Yeah, very little range of motion. It's just a tiny movement, yeah, and the movement gets tinier and tinier and tinier until it's just a little bit in the middle, right, like a coin that's been spinning, and it slows down, kind of rocks, in that very small area, until it lays flat. One more time, breathe into the front of your pelvis, inhale it and then, as you exhale it, allow the body just to let go, surrender into those props for your shavasana. Right, it's time to deepen the breath, time to restore movement to the body, small movements at first, and when you're ready, you'll roll onto the side of your choice and you'll rest, roll into your hands and rise up to your seat, press your palms together in front of your heart, bow your head. Thank you so much for sharing your practice with me today.