I'm on my mat....now what?

Part 7: The End is the Beginning: Hips, Spine and Surrender

You've done it! You've sweated, stretched, strained, and trembled in static holds. And now, your mat is calling. It's time to ground down, settle in, and release for everyone's favorite, savasana.

What is Savasana?

In our 60-minute flow, we love to incorporate some final opening stretches at the end of class. Often these focus on the hips and spine. Why save these for last?

1. The typical western lifestyle leads to tight hips and a stiff, bent spine.

Remember those planes of motion (HERE)? Most of us limit our workday to the sagittal plane as our primary modus operandi. Standing, walking, and lots and lots of sitting. We hunch in our desks at work with bent spines and contracted hip flexors. If we're being honest, we look more like the witch from Snow White in any given moment than an active asana-lovin' yogi. So, it takes most of class to undo the stiffness and open our bodies for movement. The end of class is a safe place to experiment with opening stretches in these sensitive areas without unduly risking straining a muscle, tendon or ligament.

2. Hips and spine are two areas we hold a lot of tension in the body. For a good savasana, it is best to release that tension before settling into relaxation.

It might sound hokey, but let's break this down anatomically. First of all, your hips contain many of the organs and fight or flight response mechanisms which tell you to tense up or let loose. Reproductive organs and their hormones, kidneys and adrenal glands, all reside in the hip girdle. Your emotions and your hips are linked.

Second, what's the one metronome of our practice to guide our focus? Breath. Well, your spine and your breath are linked. The posture of your spine impacts the ability of your lungs and diaphragm to take full, energizing or calming breaths. Tight spines usually mean increased spinal extension or slumped posture and a lack of spinal flexion (back bending) to stay straight. Your slumped posture literally constricts your lungs from cleansing your body with breath. Also shallow breathing is an autonomous side effect of stress or tension.

In short, tight hips radiate tension throughout the body. A tight spine and slumped posture prevent breath. Both are bad for relaxation.

Why address both hips and spine at the end of class at the same time?

It just so happens your hips and spine are inextricably linked. In fact, the iliopsoas muscle is the key connecting the two. It's the deepest muscle group of our core.

Retrieved from: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/iliopsoas-muscles-springer-medizinscience-photo-library.html

This long muscle wraps from around the base of the low spine, along the crests of the hip bones and tucks snuggly into the inner thigh. Besides the essential role of connecting your upper and lower halves, the iliopsoas stabilizes the spine, and is adjacent to the kidneys which filter toxins from the body, on top of which sit the adrenal glands, your fight or flight alert system.

A weak or tight iliopsoas means a constricted hips, a tilted pelvis resulting in back pain, and often slumped posture resulting in constricted breath. Addressing hips and spine together honors this anatomical connection of these two regions and results in a more comprehensive counter to tension and tightness in both areas.

Alright, I've built my case for hips and spine, so let's look at some exercises which can get the iliopsoas active, relax the hips, and reverse the keyboard crunch!

Hips:

Since most of our day is spent in sagittal plane of motion, hip work in yoga usually focuses on lateral opening and hip flexor lengthening. Below are some of my favorite hip openers to incorporate in class. Personally, I have naturally very tight hips. In fact, hip girdle pain was one thing which got me in to yoga. The positive results are one outcome which kept me coming back to my mat! Hip openers are not poses I consider comfortable. That being said, learn to listen to your body to discern discomfort from pain. Discomfort is muscles being pushed to their current limits to stretch and lengthen. Pain is pushing beyond that limit and injuring a muscle, tendon or ligament.

In yoga, solid ground rules are:

• Enter and exit slowly and mindfully

• Increase in increments

• If you feel sharp pain, back off or adjust.

Props like blocks and straps or pads are always great for these deep stretches! But don't feel like you need equipment. A book, belt or blanket will often be just as useful.

Pigeon Pose:

• From downward facing dog, raise one leg high.

• Curl your leg in and lay your shin down along the short edge of your mat behind your hands.

• Lower your hips to the mat and untuck your back toes.

• Flex the toes of your bent leg to protect the knee joint. Keep your shin as parallel to the front of the mat as you can while keeping both hip points facing the front of your mat. If you feel yourself leaning far to the side of your bent leg, draw that foot closer in towards your body, or put a block underneath that hip. A block or rolled blanket is also great if your hips do not connect with the mat.

• Option to stay lifted, with hands planted on the mat, or for reclined pigeon, bow forward like child's pose.

• Option to go deeper in your hip flexors with mermaid pose (see pictured below).

Bend your extended leg towards your glute, press through your front shin for stability. Grasp your back foot or find a full bind by bringing your foot into the crook of your elbow and reaching up and back with your opposite arm to clasp hands behind your head.

*Repeat on both sides*

Spine:

Since most of our movement tends to bend us forward, a lot of spine work in yoga focuses on backbends or heart openers to go in the opposite direction. Heart openers are a naturally vulnerable position (think of how dogs lay down and show their belly to show submission). When we open our hearts in these poses in yoga and release the stored tension, it is completely normal to feel a wave of emotion, a head rush, or even nausea from the release. It impacts everyone differently and it's normal for it to change day-to-day based on what we bring with us to our mats. After a deep heart opener like camel pose, find a comfortable seat, and close your eyes. Acknowledge what came up, then let it go.

Camel Pose:

• Come to standing on your knees with shins parallel and hips-width distance apart (thunderbolt pose).

• Circle your arms up and back behind you. Place your palms on your low spine as if you are tucking them into back pockets.

• Inhale, gaze up. Exhale track your gaze up and back. Draw your shoulder blades back and down to create a shelf for your heart. Open your chest to the sky.

• Option to go deeper if you can see behind you by releasing your palms from your low back and reaching for your heels. Toes untucked for deepest. Toes tucked for a slightly more gentle option.

• Rise out the way you came in on an inhale. Sit on your shins. Palms on your thighs. Breathe and ground down.

This concludes our "I'm on my mat...now what?" series! I hope this is useful for getting out there and practicing unplugged! Happy flowing, yogis!

Namaste!