Hips: Releasing Stored Trauma | Trauma Informed Yoga

i'm hannah and i'm a certified trauma-informed yoga teacher and in this session today it is all about the hips and the emotions and sensations that our hips store and this will definitely be a very opening hip sequence and there will be lots of moments to pause and feel notice observe whatever may or may not be coming up for you and as always in trauma informed yoga everything in this class is an invitation and that means that you always have the choice you always reserve the right to choose to accept or decline that invitation at any time no questions asked so with that i invite you to find your way onto your mat it might be helpful to have some blocks available as well as one or two blankets or even towels can be used to substitute and if you'd like to join me on our backs we'll be finding our way there and here as we start to adjust and position ourselves in a way that feels safe it might be helpful to have a blanket a blanket handy and as we'll be coming into a bridge pose to kind of start easing into our hips you can have it setting to the side of you to start just within reach so that in case you need it you have it nearby so let's arrive let's arrive on our maps let's arrive in our bodies you might take a moment to scan through your body and feel what's present for you right now perhaps noticing where your body touches the floor beneath you and if your lower back is feeling any tension it might feel welcome to pull the knees in toward your chest maybe even hugging your knees in and it might feel welcome here to just find stillness observing how it feels to curl inward or it might feel welcome to rock from side to side left to right kind of giving your lower back a bit of a massage and then coming into stillness when you feel complete you might allow your feet to plant on the floor you might allow your feet to plant on the floor and your feet might find themselves about hip distance apart and this is where your blanket could come in handy i'm gonna show you without me using my blanket just so that you can see what i'm doing however if you start to notice that you would like a little bit of coverage a little bit of protection you could take a blanket and just drape it over the lower half of your body and i'll show you what that could look like here in a moment and so here with our feet planted on the floor and our hands resting down at our sides i welcome you to bring your tailbone to the front of your mind and there's two options here we could explore you might begin to curl the tailbone up peeling it up off of the mat as you travel up the spine making your way all the way up and then as you exhale you might peel the spine right back down in the opposite direction kind of like you're peeling a sticker continuing this movement inhaling peeling the spine up and exhale peeling it right back down another option is to skip the rolling peeling motion and instead just lift one movement lifting the hips up and lowering the hips down and again you could always utilize your blanket just like this and if at any time this shape does not feel welcome to you does not feel safe in your body you can release this shape at any time no permission needed no questions asked and we'll take another final movement and the next time you have your back and hips settled on the mat or when you decide that you feel complete you might take a pause here just rest for a breath bringing any awareness or observation toward your hips your tailbone and anywhere else that you might be feeling some sensation and it's important to note that our hips store a lot and so we may or may not be feeling an increase in emotion or sensation and that's not necessarily the goal we're here to connect with our bodies and to feel and to explore and and allow there to be a safe release of anything that wants to or is ready to be released and so in your own timing you might begin to roll over to one side maybe resting in a side lying shape for just a moment and then pressing yourself up i welcome you to find a child's pose and here it might feel welcome to have a blanket underneath your knees especially if you have a hard floor so you might take your blanket and maybe place it on your mat if you want it if you feel like it's not necessary for you today you don't have to use it and so you might allow your knees to separate they might be a little bit more than hip width apart they might even be as wide as your mat and you could explore allowing your big toes to just touch as your hips find their way back toward your heels and maybe you walk your hands forward and bring your forehead to the floor or maybe you prefer to keep your gaze lifted and if so you might simply stack your fists rest your chin on your fists and allow your gaze to stay lifted and open if this is what feels safer for your body so choosing what works best for you because there is no right or wrong and they welcome you to be here for just three breaths [Music] last breath here and you can choose as always to stay longer or if you're ready to move on you might begin to lift the head to look at the hands and shift yourself forward and i'll meet you in a tabletop shape whenever you get here and here it might be helpful to have some blocks and so you could if you have them on hand bring them a little bit closer and option to extend your right leg maybe your right toes hover maybe you give your right ankle a nice roll and stretch or if it feels more stable to keep your right toes on the floor that's an option too and so wherever you're at with your next inhale or when you see fit you might breathe in and exhale you could start to draw your right knee forward and option to plant your right foot on the outside of your right hand as we come into a low lunge and however your right foot makes its way up maybe you inch your toes forward maybe use your right hand and help your ankle forward it really doesn't matter how you find your way there as long as when you get there you feel stable and supported and this is where some blocks can come in handy you could place them underneath your hands underneath your shoulders and lift the chest a little bit and if you don't have blocks that's totally okay you can just plant your hands on the floor if your wrist feels sensitive you might even make a fist and save your wrists a little bit and so as we come to this low lunge i welcome you to just pause can we take a pause and breathe and notice how am i feeling in my left hip specifically so with your awareness can you travel into your left hip and just feel knowing that there is no right way or wrong way to feel whatever your current experience is is valid and you might decide to stay here in stillness or you might decide to move a little bit perhaps rocking back and forward or maybe side to side maybe making some hip circles here anything goes and if you feel any emotions sensations coming up just know that you don't necessarily have to know why you're feeling that way or you don't have to pinpoint where it came from all that we need to do right now really is just to be with ourselves to feel whatever needs to be felt to acknowledge it and coming back into stillness in your low lunge moving your blocks to the side we'll begin to set up for a pigeon pose and so it might be helpful to send your hips back a little bit see we are creating a little bit of space and with your right foot you can start heel toeing your right foot over to your left wrist and then you could allow your right knee to fall open to the side as the hips settle down towards the mat and so you might notice that if your ankle is like in alignment with your knee and this is a very strict like 90 degree angle it is going to feel probably really intense and so if that is overwhelming and too much too fast you can bring your ankle back toward your body and notice if that makes a difference and if that is where you want to be today and so as we settle in here into our pigeon you might keep your hands planted on the floor that is option one option two is to come down onto your elbows option three is to come down with your forehead toward the mat you could also utilize your blocks in any of these versions perhaps allowing the block to settle underneath your forehead if you're on your elbows so that your neck can release so you choose based on what you feel what is your body communicating what is going to allow you to sink into this pigeon pose in a way that feels stable and secure for your body and i invite you to explore this shape for the next seven to eight breaths and a gentle reminder that this work that we are doing in our hips is big work it is releasing a lot and as we release it as it's felt there is a metabolite or a it's being metabolized as we feel it with your mind's eye you might begin to search the muscles around your hips and notice if there's any really intense clenching or holding on and if so i invite you to with your next exhale explore allowing the muscles to just soften even if it's just a little bit maybe it's not all the way and that's okay you don't have to but maybe we explore just softening the muscles a little bit instead of forcing ourselves to be held up maybe we sink maybe we melt as we take our final round of breath here if you are still processing and feeling into this pigeon pose you can choose to pause and stay here as long as you want and if you're ready to move on you might begin to find your way back up to your hands and you might tuck your back toes lift your back knee and shift yourself forward allowing your right foot to extend and reach back out behind you you might take a moment to move into your body and just feel what you feel and then option to find a child's pose again any version that suits you and just pause here for a moment observing any difference in the right hip compared to the left hip last breath here and with your next inhale or when you're ready you might shift yourself forward and i'll meet you back in a tabletop and if you're ready you could extend your left foot maybe giving your ankle a roll maybe stabilizing your left toes on the floor you decide and with your inhale we could find stillness and with our exhale you might begin to draw your left knee forward planting your left foot on the outside of your left hand option to grab your blocks and take a moment here [Music] what are you feeling and where are you feeling it and you might not know the answer to that right away but let's take a few moments to see if we can find that answer by slowing down and noticing you might find movement if that feels preferable for your body you might prefer to stay in stillness option to be here for the next two rounds of breath for our last round of breath you might bring some awareness into your right hip and if you're ready to you can move your blocks to the side plant your hands on the mat and we'll start to send the hips back to create some room and then you could start to walk your left foot over to your right hand and then allow the left knee to fall open and again if your ankle is in direct alignment with your left knee this is going to feel like a much bigger stretch and maybe that's what you want maybe that's what your body's asking for or again you can allow the ankle to come back toward you so that it's more at an angle and then saddle in to your desired area you might choose to stay up in the hands maybe the elbows or maybe you come down to the forehead and this side might be experiencing some really different sensations than the previous side and so whatever is coming up for you whatever is being felt metabolized i welcome you to approach this moment as something to feel and experience rather than something that needs to be fixed or changed so instead of trying to feel differently than what we do what would it be like to simply witness what we are currently feeling and as always you can take or leave this suggestion this is your practice and i honor your choices option to be here for another six rounds of breath and just a reminder that you can choose to leave or change the shape that you're in at any time the only permission that you need is your own so how's your breath two more rounds of breath here last one option to stay here longer if this shape is still serving you or if you're ready to come out you can start to press yourself away from the floor tuck your back toes lift your back knee and hip and allow your left leg to straighten out you might take a few organic movements here maybe moving through the spine maybe you find a child's pose what do you need right now in this moment hmm when you're ready you might begin to find your way up into a seated shape and option to have your feet out in front of you as we take one final shape here for our for our hips taking a nice wide stance maybe even taking the feet as wide as the shortest end of your mat and with your hands back behind you you could allow your knees to fall over to one side and then the other only going as far as you want to go you control how much movement you do and if this class was helpful for you you can always check me out on my website where i have a whole trauma informed online platform with videos on demand for a monthly subscription that you can cancel at any time when you're ready you could come into a seated shape any shape that feels welcome to your body and if you'd like you might bring your hands to heart center option to close the eyes if it feels safe to do so and i welcome you to take one collective breath with me and we'll start with an exhale just releasing all of our air and we'll breathe in together [Applause] it is my hope that you feel safe connected and at home in your body my name is hannah and thank you for joining me in class today

Channel: Hannah Uiri

Views: 913,674

Keywords: Trauma Informed Yoga

Id: XE-X-MsmveI

Length: 27min 28sec (1648 seconds)

Published: Fri May 06 2022