Alright, runners and mountain yogis. I am delighted to be back with a video just for those of you with tight hips.
Don’t most people feel like they have tight hips? Maybe it’s one of those things where ‘birds of a feather flock together’ – like us inflexible-bodied humans seem to band together?
NEWAYZ.
A while back I wrote up a post outlining eight yoga poses for tight hips, with a few non-yoga tips. Buuut now we’ve got a full on flow with some of my favorite poses to release tension in my hips.
As a runner, frequent 10-hour computer stare-er and commuter, I feel as if I could sit in pigeon for an hour and still not feel flexible. So, yes, this class is for me too!
The biggest thing to focus on is simply releasing tension. Don’t worry about ‘not being flexible’. If it gets uncomfortable, notice it, pause, then decide if you need to back off or take a few more breaths.
Allow yourself to feel uncomfortable, without going to the place of sharp pain. It’s okay to be uncomfortable – it’s how we form new expand our comfort zones. Always come back to breathing deeply.
And if you’re anything like me, slowly but surely, pigeon may start to feel good (crazy, I know).
BUT you don’t just have to come to a yoga class to feel better with your hips.
A few other things to do for yer ol’ tight hips…
Move
Move the hips in all directions and move often. What I mean by moving the hips in all directions is by driving the knee front, back and side to side, and focusing on initiating the movement from the hip. Knee circles are also fantastic.
Find Proper Posture
I touched on this in the last post about hips, but noticing my posture makes such an enormous difference on how my hips feel. And this doesn’t just mean to look for slouching!
Notice if you’re leaning your head forward (i.e. text neck) and then pull it back. Broaden through the chest by hugging the shoulder blades together, but without ‘winging’ them. Hug the ribs in – almost as if you’re doing a little crunch – to pull the hips slightly forward.
And if you’re struggling to find these little tweaks, go find someone who can help and adjust.
Foam Roll, Massage, Cupping, Bodywork, etc.
This is another one of those things that I overlooked for a long time, but once I started foam rolling and cupping regularly, my hips started feeling normal.
I’m an advocate for foam rolling because it’s cheap and doesn’t require a bunch of time to see benefits.
But if you have the budget, I’d highly recommend cupping, massage or any other kind of bodywork techniques that resonate with you.
Build Glute Strength
Not just important but hip mobility health, is keeping that booty strong! And since these muscles are key supporters for functional movement, that’s why I’m bringing it up again. This is another one of those practices that doesn’t require a ton of time – just a little bit of commitment. Read more about building booty strength over here.
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