Happy hips are a balance between stability and mobility. In this practice, we’ll build strength and activation in some postures while softening and releasing in others to help the hips feel supported, open, and balanced. No Props needed!
Meet your Teacher
Grande Prairie, AB, Canada
Transcript
Hey everyone and welcome to day two of our 30-day yoga challenge. My name is Candice and today's practice is about happy hips. And I don't want to mislead you because a lot of the time when you see a class called Happy Hips, It's all about hip openers, You know, Stretching, Feel-good poses like that. And while I do agree that that creates happy hips, As someone who has dealt with an injury from overstretching and stressing the ligaments in my hips and glutes, I know that happy hips comes from a balance of strength. Flexibility of stability and mobility so we'll be playing with a bit of both today we'll be finding some strength and activation through the hips and some stretch and feel-good poses as well so there's no props that you need specifically unless you know you like a certain prop for your practice and we are going to go ahead and get started on our hands and knees So finding your wrists underneath your shoulders, Knees stacked underneath of your hips. Let's spread the fingers wide. You can close the eyes for these first few breaths. Maybe rock the hips from side to side. Just start feeling into. The hips and the glutes, The low back. Notice how you're feeling there. Notice any sensations that you're feeling. Maybe you want to find some circles, Dropping the hips back towards the heels, Coming up. And around. Tuning into the breath, Can you match your breath with your movements? Maybe the inhales take you forward and the exhales drop you back. Take those circles the opposite direction. Come on, Back to center. Take an inhale, Drop your navel, Lift your heart, Lift your gaze, Cat and cow. Exhale, Drop your head, Pull the navel in, Round the spine. Inhale heart comes through. Exhale round. We'll inhale, Come back to center. Planting through the palms, Pressing evenly through the palms. Can we shift the weight into the right knee? Pick up the left knee, Bring your foot up towards the sky. Knee stays bent at about 90 degrees, Elevating that knee kind of straight back out from the hip. From there, Open the hip out to the side. Bring the knee out, Up, And around. So finding circles here through the hip. Bring the knee in, Back down towards the right. Up and back. Open the hip up to the side bring the knee out squeeze the knee in towards your left tricep and then bring it down and around Slow and steady here, Think strong through the core. Notice as you're weight-bearing on that right knee, You don't want the hip to pop out to the side. Keep pulling that right hip in to find stability there. Take those circles the opposite direction. Now we're going to pull the left knee in towards your nose. Circle it out, Up, And around. And then from here, Come back to center but keep the knee hovering over the mat. Your exhale bring the knee out to the side straight out to the side and then back in Straight out to the side. Back in. Straight out. Back in. Take two more. Out. Last one. Good. Extend that left leg straight back. Bring the toes down. Press back through the heel. And then rock back to center. Left knee comes in. Rock the hips side to side. Come back to center. Keep pulling that left hip in. Pull the navel in. Pick up the right knee straight back out from the hip. Keep the knee bent. Circle the hip open. Open it out to the side. Squeeze the knee up towards your right tricep and bring it in. Out and around. Find those circles on the right side here. Stable through the core. Take those circles the opposite direction. Bring the knee in, Out to the side, And back. Okay, Come on back to center. Bring the right knee in line with the left, But keep the knee hovering off of the mat. As you exhale, Bring the knee out to the side. Open it up out to the side and back in. Open it up. Back in. Out to the right. Back in. Two more. Good. Extend the right leg straight back behind you. Bring the toes down. Press back through the heel. Rock forward, Bring the right knee down, Rock the hips from side to side. Maybe gaze over the left shoulder at your left toes. Come back to center. Gaze over the right shoulder at your right toes. Move side to side a couple times here. Back to center. Bring the big toes to touch, Knees wide, Sink down into a child's pose. Give those wrists a break. Maybe roll through the wrists. Go ahead and walk the hands. Forward, Lift the hips, Look towards the hands. Tuck the toes. Bring up and back, Downward facing dog. Pedal through the feet. Finding stillness in your downward dog. Shift the weight into the left foot. Take the right foot straight up and back. Bend the knee. Open the hip. Now same idea, Circling through that right hip in your downward dog. Bring the knee in, Out, And around. Just a couple times each way. Going the opposite direction. And come back to center. Inhale straight. Straighten the right leg. Bring it up and back. As you exhale, Pull the right knee in towards your right elbow. Step the foot towards the outside of the right hand. Drop the back knee down. From here, Can you bring your right knee towards your tricep, Towards your arm? Press, Activating through the inner right leg. Finding a bit of activation there. And then release, Roll to the pinky edge of the right foot, Opening the knee up to the side, Sinking into the hips. Staying here, If you're happy here, If you have this space today and you want to drop down to the forearms, That is always an option. I'm going to stay right here. If you'd like to find a twist, You can take your left hand, Plant your weight into your left hand, Take your right hand, Maybe just rest it on your thigh, Roll the right shoulder back in space, Look up. If you have the space today you might reach the right arm back towards the left toes. If you want depth and a stretch through the front of the left thigh, Maybe bend the left knee and try to catch your foot. Wherever you are, Breathing deep, Soften the jaw, The tongue, The forehead. Releasing your twists. Turning to the top of your mat, Planting the right foot on the mat, Pulling the hips back towards straight for kind of a modified half split. Keeping both hands to the inside of the foot. Inhale, Rock forward. Plant the right foot firmly on the mat. Come up onto the fingertips if that helps create space. Tuck the back toes under. Step up to the top of your mat. Bring the heels and toes out. We're going to sink down into a low squat. Resist the urge to dump all the way down into our malasana just yet. Squeeze in the glutes to keep the hips hovering off of the mat. We rock from side to side. Hovering a little higher. Keep pulling in through the navel. And keep the hips hovering. Take the hands down. Shift the weight into the left foot. Take the right foot back. Drop the right knee. Plant both hands. Press left knee to your left arm. Just to start to activate through the inner thigh. And exhale allow the knee to open up to the side rolling to the pinky edge of left foot sinking into the hips. Again, Staying up on the hands or down on the forearms, Whatever feels best for you today. If you want to go for your twist you can shift the weight into the right hand. Left hand can rest on your knee or your thigh. Roll the left shoulder back in space. Look up. If you want to you can reach the left arm back If you want more depth in the stretch through the front of the right thigh. You can bend the knee and grab your foot. As you exhale, Release your twist. Turn back to the front of the mat. Plant the left foot. This time plant the hands. Tuck the back toes under. Lift the knee. Send the left leg all the way up and back. Open the hip. Bend the knee. Find circles through the hip once again. Bring the knee in, Out, And around. Taking those circles the opposite way. Next, Inhale, Straighten the left leg straight up and back. As you exhale, Pull the left knee in towards the chest. This time laying the shin down on the mat. Wiggle the left toes back. And before you drop into your pigeon, We're going to find a bit of activation first. So, Extending this right leg straight back behind you. Pressing into the top of the foot as you kind of sink into the hips. Just slightly. And then stop before you hit your edge. Press firmly into the front thigh, Into your left thigh. Lift up through the heart. Press into the fingertips. Can you lift the hips back up? Activate, Squeezing through the left glute, Lifting the hips up off the mat. Breathing as you start to gently soften. And if an active pigeon is where you want to be today, I sometimes have to take that if I find I'm stretching too much in my hips and in my glutes. You can stay there. Or you can allow the hips to melt and soften. And sometimes I find finding that activation first allows me to drop deeper into the pose. Staying upright if that feels good or walking the hands forward coming down to the forearm. One more breath here. Next inhale we're going to come on up lean your hips over towards the left swing the right leg out in front of you we're going to cross the right foot over the left and plant the foot on the mat So if that's not accessible to you today, That is quite a stretch in the outer hips. You can go ahead and lean to the left, Extend the left leg out in front of you. Planting the right foot over top. On the other side. Taking the right hand behind you sitting tall. Sweep the left arm up. As you exhale, Twist from the torso to the right, Either hooking the elbow on the knee or grabbing your knee. Your elbow excuse me having a hard time finding my words or you can hook your elbow to your thigh there we go Gazing over the right shoulder. And next exhale, Come on back to center. Leaning back uncrossing the legs and just switching sides however you need to get there uncross for a moment come back into it, Right leg on the bottom, Left leg on top, Plant the left foot firmly on the outside of the right leg. Sitting up tall, Left fingertips come behind you. Inhale, Sweep the right arm up. Exhale, Either just grabbing onto your knee or hooking the elbow to the outside of the thigh. And next exhale, Come on back to center. Transition, We're going to move back into pigeon on the other side. A little bit awkward. If you're here and the bottom leg is already bent, You can just uncross the left leg, Lean over to the right and swing the leg back. If your bottom leg was straight, You're going to uncross, Re-bend the right knee, Lean over to the right, Swing the left leg back and shimmy yourself into your pigeon. Left leg extends back behind you. Shifting into your pigeon pose and then from there pressing into the activating through the back leg so pressing the top of the foot to the leg to activate through the front thigh activating through your right leg by pressing the right shin into the mat tenting the fingertips sitting up tall can you squeeze the outer right hip and lift the hips up off the mat staying there if you're enjoying the active version of our pigeon today or if you want slowly soften with the exhale melting the hips down. Staying upright or walking the hands forward. If you came forward, You can go ahead and walk the hands in. Shift the weight over to one side. Swing legs out in front of you. I'm just going to turn and face you. You can face whichever direction you want to. Bring the soles of the feet together. Let the knees fall open. Grabbing onto your ankles or your feet. Sit up tall with the inhale. You can stay here if this feels nice. Or in the exhale, Hinge at the hips, We'll fold, Gentle round to the spine. And then we'll inhale come up find a comfortable seat whatever that looks like right now closing the eyes Resting the hands on the knees for a moment. Come back to the breath if you've lost it. And on the inhale sweep the arms up overhead joining the palms together at the top. Exhale, Pull the hands to heart center. Completing your practice with, Of course, Gratitude for this incredible body of yours. Thankful that you gave yourself this time on your mat. And you can move into the remainder of your day or your evening or the rest of your practice if you want to continue. Feeling immensely proud. Slowly blink the eyes open. And thank you so much for joining me today and we will see you again tomorrow.
5.0 (4)
Debbie
May 18, 2026
Thank you 🙏🏼 thoroughly enjoyed this practice to start my day 💕
