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HW: Hips
HW: Hips
Pigeon Pose & Mermaid Pose
Because of the mind/body connection, our hips carry our emotional stress, traumas, fears, anxieties and sadness. Think of our body’s reaction to deep emotional hurt, to curl up into a fetal position and cry. That tightening and crunching forward movement causes emotions to become lodged or trapped in our hips. It is also the place of our sacral chakra, the center of our feelings and emotions. So, doing hip openers and stretches can help release these stored emotions. It can even bring yogis to tears as these deep emotions are released.
Pigeon Pose is a very common pose used to release emotions stored in our hip areas. Today we will be taking it a step further with Mermaid Pose, which starts with Pigeon.Begin in Downward Dog and step your right leg forward between your hands. Then take your right foot and slide towards the left side of the mat and towards your left hip, and slide your left knee back and straighten the leg behind you. If you can’t get your hips squared to the front of the mat, you can put a yoga block under the left hip. To deepen the stretch, try pulling your right foot towards the front of the mat. And if its too much for you, you can move the foot closer to the hip to lessen the stretch. Once you find the right spot for you where you are getting a stretch but its not too much, begin to fold forward, you can go down to your elbows or all the way down to the earth, making a pillow with your hands.
Inhale, bringing in good energy and light. Exhale, breathing out tension and stress, releasing those pent up emotions. Stay here in Pigeon Pose for a few minutes and enjoy the release.
Now lets move into Mermaid. Bending your back knee, reach your left hand back for your foot and then slide your foot to be cradled by your elbow. Then reach your right hand behind your head, bending your elbow and grasping both hands together behind your head, while still having your foot cradled in your elbow. Stay in Mermaid for a few breaths, then slowly release. You can do these poses as much as you like or add them into your personal practice to aid in the release of stuck emotions.
Namaste. <3
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