This week's Embodied Meditation focuses on the hips.
They're a source of mobility,
Stability,
Balance,
Strength.
Our hips literally help us move through life,
But they can also sometimes feel as if they're on lockdown,
Whether from too much sitting,
Too much repetitive movement,
Maybe because of injury or inflammation,
Or just as real because of mental or emotional stress.
So we'll work through a gentle movement sequence and a guided relaxation devoted to melting tension holding patterns of all kinds in the hips.
We'll do the whole practice lying down on our backs.
It would be helpful to have two pillows,
Maybe somewhat supportive throw pillows that you can use toward the end of practice to tuck under each knee.
So if you need to,
You could just pause the recording and grab those.
And when you're ready,
Lie down and make yourself comfortable.
You can lie on a yoga mat or just on a rug or a blanket on the floor.
And then as you're ready,
Draw your knees in towards your chest,
Just hug your knees in,
Maybe allow your hands and your forearms to provide a little bit of weight on the shins.
Simply begin to rock your body gently side to side.
And as you do that,
See if you can naturally let your breath start to wash through this movement.
Maybe you inhale and bring your knees through center and exhale,
Let them drift to one side.
Inhale back through center and exhale,
Let your knees drift the other direction.
Back and forth,
Body breathing,
Beginning very subtly here to open and breathe into the backs of the hips,
Hamstrings,
The bottom.
And as you're ready from here,
Bring yourself back through center and inhale,
Let your knees move away from the body a bit.
So the knees are still bent.
You might even use your hands to gently guide your knees forward,
Away from the torso.
And as you exhale,
You can use your hands to gently scoop the knees back in toward the body.
So again,
Just gentle movement on the breath.
Inhale,
Pushing the knees away just very subtly and exhale,
Drawing them back in.
So some gentle pulsing,
Inhale,
Knees moving away from the body forward,
Exhale,
Drawing the knees back in.
The subtle pulse as you continue through this motion on your breath,
Backs of the hips,
Feeling opening,
Breathing,
Gradual,
Subtle movement.
And then allow your legs again to be still,
Just hug them in.
And from here,
Begin to swirl your thigh bones around.
So you could,
Again,
Just rest your hands on the caps of your knees.
And as you inhale,
Let both legs move outward.
So the right leg out to the right,
The left leg out to the left,
And maybe forward,
Away from the body.
And as you exhale,
Swirl the leg bones back toward each other and back into the body.
So inhale,
Out and forward with the leg bones,
Exhale toward each other and back into the body.
Gentle,
Wide,
Circular movements of the leg bones,
Continuing this movement on your breath in any way that feels natural.
And as we breathe through this movement,
A few more times,
Maybe it would feel natural to swirl the leg bones in the other direction or to move them just a little more organically.
Breathing into and feeling into mobility,
Fluidity,
Right in the spot where the leg bones settle into their sockets in the pelvis.
One more cycle of breath here.
And again,
Back into stillness.
Let's begin to move our attention and some gentle stretching into the outer hips now.
So you can put your feet on the ground.
With your feet on the ground,
Gently scoot your hips to the right just a little bit.
You can pick them up,
Move them over to the right,
Set them back down,
And then stretch your left leg out,
Hug your right knee in and guide your right knee all the way across your body.
So you'll come into a reclining,
Twisted pose.
Left leg stretched out,
Guiding that right knee across the body.
And then let your right arm maybe open out like a wing.
The palm can face up.
Your left hand can provide just some gentle,
Effortless weight on the outside of that right knee,
Helping that right leg settle into place.
And allow yourself a few full breaths here,
Inhaling all the way into that outer right hip and exhaling,
Allowing it to release and relax.
Inhale,
The breath might seep all the way down into the outer right hip.
Exhale,
Allow it to relax.
One more time.
Inhale all the way into that outer right hip.
Exhale,
Release,
Relax,
Hip,
Breath,
Everything.
And then draw yourself back through center.
Both feet can return to the ground.
You can realign your hips.
Pause right here in neutral center.
And then scoot your hips over to the left this time.
So you might pick them up,
Scoot them over just a few inches,
Rest them back down on the earth.
Stretch your right leg out,
Draw your left knee in and guide that left knee across the body.
And as you do that,
The left arm might open out like a wing,
Left palm can face up.
And again,
The right hand can gently weight the outside of that left leg,
Just resting there.
Attention and breath now into the outer left hip.
As you inhale,
Fill the space with breath.
And as you exhale,
Allow that outer left hip to release any points of tension.
Inhale,
The breath fills into the outer left hip.
Exhale,
Any holding there can relax.
Once more,
The breath moving all the way into that outer left hip.
Exhale,
Releasing melting tension.
Draw everything back to center,
Realign the hips.
And just for a couple of breaths here,
Stretch the legs out,
Let the arms rest by your sides,
Allowing the body to take all of that in.
Let's begin to move some breathing and some awareness into the front compartments of the hip.
So we'll move into windshield wiper movements.
Bend your knees and put your feet back on the ground.
And then widen your feet.
So maybe they're a little bit wider than your hips.
If you're using a yoga mat,
The feet might even be wider than your mat.
Arms can stretch open wide again with the palms facing up so the chest feels nice and open and able to breathe.
With your feet on the floor,
Knees bent,
Let your body draw in and inhale.
And as you exhale,
Let both of your knees drift to the right.
As they do that,
Your gaze might naturally float left.
And then inhale,
Let your knees come back through center,
Your gaze back through center.
Exhale,
Let both knees drift to the left,
Your gaze can float right.
We'll begin to move back and forth like this.
So the inhales bring your knees back up through center,
Floats your gaze back through center.
As you exhale,
The knees drift one direction,
Gaze the other.
Inhale back through center.
Exhale,
The knees drift the opposite direction.
Back and forth about twice more on your own.
Feeling that place where the thigh bones settle into the pelvis,
Just teasing,
Stretching open a bit.
Movement along breath,
Steady and full of ease.
Next time the knees move back through center,
Just pause,
Feel your feet on the ground.
Perhaps noticing a bit of warmth and circulation in the place where the thighs settle into the pelvis.
And then bring the cushions that you're using beside your body so that you can draw your feet together,
Soles of your feet touching.
And let both knees drift open.
You can tuck those pillows right under the outer knees or snuggle them right under the outer thighs.
So the soles of the feet are resting toward each other.
The knees are opening wide.
You have some support beneath the knees or underneath the thighs.
So you're in a reclining butterfly pose,
Sometimes called Baddha Konasana,
Wide angle pose with the knees open,
Allowing the inner thighs,
Inner compartments of the hips to begin to breathe,
To naturally open and relax any holding or tension.
Three more full breaths here,
Inhaling right into the places of the inner thighs.
Exhale,
Allowing that part of the body to effortlessly release any holding or tension.
Inhaling the space of the inner thighs.
Exhale,
Releasing bits of gripping and holding.
One more breath.
Inhale deep into the inner thighs.
Exhale,
Relaxing holding patterns,
Even unconscious tension.
Then use your hands to help your legs back together so you don't re-grip in the creases of your inner thighs,
Inner hips to bring your legs back together.
And those cushions that have been beneath your knees or beneath your thighs now might just scoot right underneath your knees so that you can extend your legs out but have a little support beneath the knees as you rest your body stretched out on your back.
Arms can rest by your sides,
Back of the head gently cradled against the earth.
We'll move into some exploration and relaxation as your body simply relaxes here.
This habit of holding tension in our hips is deeply wired into our biological systems.
Tens of thousands of years ago when life stressors were often more immediate and more physical than they are for many of us today,
If we had to crouch and freeze or prepare to run from danger,
The action would begin with a gripping or a tensing in our hips.
It was perfectly natural.
As we've evolved,
A lot of us have carried some version of that response into our modern lives,
Finding ourselves tensing or gripping our hips even when the stressors are much less life threatening.
And because our modern stressors can sometimes feel endless,
Some of us never completely release this tension until we carve out time like this.
We'll use the process of mapping the hips a bit now as a way to consciously relax them.
Let your attention dive all the way down to the center of your body and envision the bowl-like shape of your pelvis,
The house of the hips.
It's made up of two halves.
Those two halves meet in the front and they gather around,
Hugging in at the base of the spine and the back.
Pelvis is the fulcrum of both movement and stability in the body.
Can you let this basin of your pelvis rest as if you're actually setting it down on a supportive,
Comfortable spot?
Allow your attention now to take in your upper leg bones.
They rest at their round ball-shaped ends in the cups,
The sockets of the pelvis.
The leg bones here are the body's largest,
Heaviest,
Strongest bones.
And as they settle into this spot in the pelvis,
They create one of the body's most mobile joints,
As well as a structure that bears our weight.
Can you let these bones embody their heaviness and release?
Sense the weight of these bones relaxing toward the earth.
Any rigidity,
Especially right at that joint where they settle into the sockets of the pelvis,
Any rigidity giving way to gravity,
Supported,
Still at rest.
Let yourself imagine the nearly 20 muscles that wrap,
Line,
And weave throughout the structure of these bones.
Muscles that rotate the legs inward and outward,
That move the legs toward the center line of the body in a way.
Muscles that draw the knees in toward the body,
Stretch the legs back one by one as you walk.
Some of these muscles begin all the way in the low back.
Others extend as far down as the knee.
Can you imagine them all releasing any gripping,
Like a hand effortlessly unclenching?
Imagining the muscles themselves almost breathing a sigh of relief as they drape and relax over the bones,
Heavy,
Resting against the earth.
Now,
Let all of this specific awareness become diffuse.
Let your next inhale surround the entire complex of your hips.
As you exhale,
Invite any remaining tension to melt.
Inhale,
Wrapping the breath around the hips.
Exhale,
Softening,
Allowing any holding to release.
Inhale,
Surrounding the hips with breath.
Exhale,
Inviting any tension to release,
Melt,
Dissolve.
Thank you so much for making this time for yourself,
And I'll be with you again soon.
