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| HEALTH FITNESS |
Perhaps your yoga instructor has described the hips as the body's emotional rubbish drawer.
You may have asked if this assertion is true while folded over in a pigeon stance. The answer, as it turns out, is quite extraordinary.
Comprehending the mind-body connection is crucial to understanding the link between hips and emotions.
Your emotional and physical health might both suffer when you're stressed. Physical symptoms are common in those who have experienced trauma or other mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression.
There may only be one common thread running through it all: the hips. Of course, everybody is unique. One person's stress holds a different place in their body than another's.
The hips, on the other hand, have been suggested by neuroscience and somatics as a possible emotional storage vessel. They can provide a window into the process of emotional recovery. How do you do it?
Learning about your hips
Understanding the function and architecture of the hips is necessary before looking at how they can retain emotions.
The hips are the areas of the pelvis on either side. The joint, which is responsible for bearing weight, maintaining the core, and moving the upper leg, is one of the largest and most unusual joints in the human body.
The less mobile your body is, the tighter your hips are. This can cause pain and make it difficult to do things like walk or climb stairs. Tight hips can also produce an anterior pelvic tilt, resulting in poor posture and head and neck misalignment.
This emphasizes the importance of the hips in the overall functioning of the body.
The iliopsoas muscle, a deep muscle group positioned toward the front of the inner hip, is at the center of the hip tale.
According to Martha Eddy, a famous somatic educator, author, and pioneer of Dynamic Embodiment, the psoas is the deepest support of our core.
The centrally positioned psoas muscle connects the upper and lower bodies (the breath and diaphragm to the legs), making the center of our body significant both physically and emotionally, according to Eddy.
Because it stabilizes the spine and impacts posture, a dormant or tight psoas muscle might be connected to a variety of pains. Your lumbar spine may lose its natural arch as a result of being too flattened or curved in this scenario.
According to a study published in 2021, prolonged sitting is one of the leading causes of limited hip extension and the pain and discomfort that comes with it.
The body and stress
Here's where it gets interesting: The kidneys, which filter toxins in the body, and the adrenal glands, which control the fight, flight, or freeze response, are both nestled within the psoas.
This is how we begin to comprehend how emotions play a role in our lives.
Your body's natural reaction to a perceived threat is to fight, flee, or freeze. Your psoas muscle tightens when you are under any form of mental or emotional stress.
Eddy points out that even after the stress has passed, tension can persist in the torso and hip area, causing headaches and lower back pain.
“Certainly the hips are a region that is holding it when someone is truly traumatized,” Eddy explains. “Because your belly discomfort and dread cause you to curl up and hide, you will be contracted.”
How are emotions stored?
Neuroscience can also help us understand how emotions are stored in the body.
Candace Pert, a neurologist, discovered in 1985 that tiny proteins called neuropeptides trigger emotional pathways.
She famously said, "Your body is your subconscious mind," and that our physical bodies may alter depending on our emotions.
Emotions, according to Pert's research, are electrochemical signals that transport emotional data throughout the body.
The body and mind then express, experience, and store these feelings.
This can affect brain activity and modify the cell, resulting in a favorable or negative effect on the body.
According to Pert's research, each cell has its own awareness that maintains memories and emotional states.
This is also supported by current studies.
A study from the year 2021
The presence of nano brains helps explain cell consciousness, according to Trusted Source, because cells are "extremely sensitive" and respond to sensory stimuli as well as internal and external electromagnetic fields.
Eukaryotic cells, which make up plants, animals, fungi, and single-celled organisms, are "cognitive and deliberate," according to the researchers.
Emotions and hips are inextricably linked.
We can start to comprehend the relationship between emotions and the body as a result of this research.
Certain emotions are linked to specific body parts, according to a study published in 2019. Surprisingly, these links exist regardless of culture or birth sex.
Emotions are linked to specific organs in East Asian medicine, according to a Trusted Source study from 2017.
The study also found that East Asian medicine employs the term "somatic" to describe emotional illnesses, whereas Western medicine prefers the term "neural."
As a result, both perspectives may be valuable in gaining a better knowledge of emotional wellness.
Given the psoas' connection to the fight-or-flight reaction, it's easy to see how tension could become "stuck" there.
Furthermore, the sacral chakra, an energetic area thought by some to house creative energy and sexuality, is linked to the hip region. It's also tied to how you deal with your own and other people's emotions.
A clogged sacral chakra is supposed to cause emotional instability and pleasure declines. It's likely that sacral energy that hasn't been expressed remains locked when the hips are tight and clenched.
Ways to let go of old feelings in the hips
Fear, trauma, and tension connected with tight hips can be released in a variety of ways. These are some of them:
activities for the body
Yoga is a mind-body stretching exercise.
massage
therapy for somatic experiences
Exercises for the body
Somatics is a technique for improving the mind-body connection.
Focusing on your inner experience while performing intentional activities is part of these body-awareness practices.
The following are examples of somatic exercises:
rolfing \shaking
Body-Mind Centering is a technique for bringing the body and mind into balance
Alexander Technique is a technique that was developed by Alexander
Feldenkrais Method is a technique developed by Moshe Feldenkrais
Analysis of Laban Movement
Eddy emphasises the significance of movement in releasing repressed emotions. You may listen to your body's clues about where you may be storing stress or imbalance by expanding your internal awareness.
Eddy employs movement to activate the lymphatic system, which aids the circulation of white blood cells throughout the body, in her Dynamic Embodiment work.
The key to getting the hips moving, according to Eddy, is to get the spine moving.
Eddy emphasises complete body involvement, saying, "You want to contract and extend [the psoas] and get it moving like an accordion." “It's not just the leg; it's the entire spine.”
African dancing, according to Eddy, is a great technique to increase fluidity since it incorporates the movement of the entire spine. To engage the psoas, she also recommends twists and twisting the body to the side.
Yoga, stretching, and other mind-body routines are all beneficial.
Yoga is another great approach to loosen up the hips and get the whole body moving.
The following are some good choices:
Salutations to the Sun
stretches for the pelvis
stretches for the hip flexors
Sun salutations are known for their flowing postures and synchronised breathing.
The spine is moved and the hip flexors are opened with the help of Trusted Source.
In addition, if you have psoas pain, pelvic exercises such as a ground bridge with pelvic tilt can help.
Lunges and sitting butterfly stretches are two hip flexor stretches and exercises you may incorporate into your regular practice.
Massage your foot's arch.
In reflexology, the arch of the foot corresponds to the psoas muscle, according to Eddy. She claims that just looking at the arch can tell you how healthy your psoas is.
“If you massage your foot and this arch in the foot collapses, you may have an overstretched psoas, or you may have a tight psoas,” Eddy explains. “In reflexology, working on the lateral arch of the foot signifies working on the lower back or down [in the hips].”
You can relieve some of the stress in your hip area by putting pressure to the arch of the foot, which is where the psoas and adrenal glands are located.
Paying attention to your body
You can learn to notice and accept physiological feelings through somatic experience, a sort of treatment that stresses the mind-body link.
Working through the discomfort and physical symptoms might help you connect with the psychological issues that are causing them.
“That work is embodiment work,” Eddy explains, “where you notice it, feel it, and then go from it.” “And then either embracing it, working with it, or negotiating adjustments with it... Whatever the source, it will manifest itself at its most fundamental level.”
Takeaway
If you routinely encounter stress and worry, learn to know how it feels and where it may be stored in your body.
It's one thing to observe and discuss your feelings with a mental health professional; it's another to employ movement to relieve tension.
Because of the psoas' connection to the adrenal glands and the sacral chakra's location, the hips are a significant storage vessel for emotional stress.
You could realize that there's a lot more going on than simply a simple stretch the next time you're in yoga class executing hip-opening postures.
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