Finding Your Happiest Yoga Hips - Integrated Practice and Pelvic Floor Awareness

Our final class incorporates some awareness of the pelvic floor and exploration of how the many ways our hips move can enhance our postures...

The pelvic floor isn't really a part of the hips, but it can have a very significant impact on the hips if it is tight. This will impact flexibility in the hips as it inhibits ROM for the pelvis and sacrum – as you already know most of the hip muscles attach to these two boney structures.

Go ahead and lie down and let's find the muscles groups that form the pelvic floor. The contraction of these muscles can be very subtle, especially if they are tight, so focus and be patient with yourself. Lie in Supta Baddha Konasana (knees apart, feet together), this stretches the pelvic floor a bit and can make it easier to sense.

- The first (outermost) layer of your pelvic floor attaches public bone ↔ tailbone. Draw these bones toward each other, can you sense the layer? What else happens in your body?

• The second layer attaches SITZ bone ↔ SITZ bone. Draw these bones toward each other, can you sense the layer? What else happens in your body?
• The third layer attaches sacrum ↔ pubic bone. Draw these toward each other, can you sense the layer? What happens elsewhere in your body?
• Try engaging all the layer – what does that feel like, what do you notice?
• Deepen your breath – can you feel it as it moves your organs toward your pelvic floor? If you can, try contracting the pelvic floor, then the belly as you exhale – really moving the breath UP.

For our hips purposes, we are not going to work on strengthening these muscles, rather we will focus on awareness to bring a greater understanding to their role and maybe a little extra relaxation. For all intents and purposes, these muscles are really a part of your core, working with your central body muscles, i.e. abs.  As you move through your practice, take a moment in each pose and see if you can sense the role of your pelvic floor.

As you practice, explore the engagement and release of different muscle groups toward the enhancement of the pose.  How would it feel to engage more internal rotation in your utkatasana or uttanasana?  How would it feel to engage more flexion in your anjaneyasanas?  Experiment, play, develop your awareness.  Each body is different, find what support you best, find what opens your pose more deliciously.  Consider working antagonist groups against each other (these are muscles that oppose each other - flexors/extensors, adductors/abductors, internal rotators/external rotators).  Incorporate this new knowledge into your everyday practice for happier hips.

Note – I am working on a pelvic floor series class and will offer it as soon as I find the time. Stay tuned!

Happy Hips: Yoga for Adductors (inner thighs) and Abductors (outer hips)

From the second in our Happy Hips Series Class...

Marisa's Notes:

Adductors – muscles of the inner thigh. Some are short, some are long. All connect sequentially to thigh bone or lower leg bones. All connect to pubic bone (and one also connects to SITZ). These muscles bring your legs together (ADD them together!)  Need a visual?  Check here and look for the inner thigh muscles.

Find them - Lie down, use a strap to help find your adductors. Be sure they are all inner thigh, not the inside back of your thigh (the inner hamstring often stretches with the adductors). Reasonable ROM here is supine, 90 degrees at hips, take leg to the side. Each side should be able to achieve 45 degree angle or more without lifting opposite hip or changing hip crease angle. Bear in mind, this assumes normal ROM in hams. When strengthened in asana, these muscles are major stabilizers, bringing in your center of gravity and taking excess work from surrounding muscles.

---

Abductors – Outer hip. These guys really hold your leg in the hip socket and help with everyday activities like walking. Tensor Fascia Latae TFL (talked about last week), gluteus medius and gluteus minimus.  Need a visual?  Look here.

Find your abductors – lie on your side, hand on hip between the top of your pelvis and the head of your thigh bone. Lift leg with knee pointing straight ahead (no rotation) and no movement of pelvis, you should feel those muscles engage. This is also a great way to strengthen. Good ROM varies, mostly due to the restriction of other muscles and the shape of your acetabulum.

These are also stabilizers and worked against one another, the adds and abs can help you gain more space in your hip and better balance. See if you can activate these muscles in the standing leg of you tree pose. While working against each other, you can also gain greater ROM in flexion and extension as they seat the hip. In other words, its worth playing with these muscles isometically in most yoga poses, even (maybe especially as it will increase your proprioception) when they are being stretched.

In the accompanying practice, you may wish to do Yin Half Frog if your adductors are a great deal tighter on one side than the other.  Spend more time on the side that is tighter and do the looser side first (this sends signals to the tighter side to begin to let go).  To do half frog, lie on your belly and take one leg out to the side, right angles in ankle, knee and hip.

For the Trikonasana (Triangle pose)  be sure to work to keep the back abductors (outer hip) engaged as you move.   This is not easy but will greatly develop your awareness.

This adductor/abductor practice can be integrated with the flexor extensor practice.  Do all the yin, then all the Slow Flow asana, and don't forget your Savasana.

Yoga for Happy Hips! Flexors and Extensors

We are starting up a series for Happy Hips tonight at Yoga del Sol.  Exploring anatomy, yin asana and slow flow movement for better functioning hips.  Juicy!  Here is the home practice for our first week - working with flexors and extensors.  Short and sweet :-)  And for those of you that are geeks like me, you can find my class notes below...

Complex joint – Femur head into the acetabulum of pelvis.

Ligaments hold the bone in the socket and allow it range of motion in every direction.

Muscularly very complex. Muscles to move the femur in all those directions, many performing more than one action. All these muscles attach to other aspects of the body, creating a variety of tug of wars up into the back and belly, down into the knees.

So, if your hips aren't happy, chances are something else isn't happy either. And chances are good that that something else made itself known before the hips became obvious.

Common ailments of the hips..

Osteo-Arthritis – inflammation of the joint

Osteoporosis – loss of bone density

Bursitis – inflammation of the bursa (the fluid filled cushions within the joint)

Sciatica/Piriformis Syndrome – Sciatica comes from the vertabra, not a hip condition tho it sure feels like it! Piriformis Syndrone is the compression of the sciatic nerve.

Stand up and try all movements...

Hips can flex, extend, internally rotate, externally rotate, abduct, adduct.

We will focus on flexion and extension today.

Hip Flexors = quads, iliopsoas, tfl, with a little help from your adductors

Are you tight or loose in the flexors?

Lie down and draw one knee in toward your chest, allowing the extended leg to be completely relaxed. If that extended leg pops up, you've got tight flexors.

Normal range of motion is 125 degrees for flexion.

Now, if you don't have normal range of motion, that may not be the fault of your flexors, but of your extensors that are the antagonists to flexion.

Extensors = Hams, Gluteous Maximus

If you had trouble drawing your knee toward your chest, you may have a tight gluteous maximus. It may also be about your low back

How do you know if your hams are tight? Stand up in Mountain Pose and put your hands on your low back, notice the lumbar curve. With your knees straight but not locked, begin to fold at the hip crease (what is this?). Stop when it feels like you can go no further without bending your knees or rounding your low back. Your flexors just made that happen! If your hams are tight you will not have achieved the normal range of motion of 80 degrees flexion that your hams should allow for. As for extension, normal extension for the hip is 10-15 degrees. If you are not able to achieve this, its possible that your flexors are tight or your extensors are weak (they are notorious for this).

In order to truly strengthen muscles, they need a certain amount of flexibility. If they are too tight, there won't be reasonable communication to the muscle fibers, as well the muscle fibers will not be able to contract as they are already tight. This is why the stretch is as important as the strength. We will be starting our practices with yin yoga to provide this stretch. Yin affects the ligaments, tendons, and fascia that surrounds the muscles, as well as the muscles themselves. We begin with this passive stretch before moving into stretch AND strengthen to build strength and greater flexibility.

Practice

A Deep, Sweet Hip Opening Posture

Figure four stretch is a lovely way to release long-held tensions in your hips. With slight adjustments in the angles of your knee you can reach and stretch all 6 deep hip rotators, your glutes and the lowest of your low back muscles. Check out this video for a sweet way to let it all go using the wall for support. A great resting posture!

Yoga for Exploring the Hips and Low Back

Today's post is an exploration that will help open and stabilize both hips and low back.  It is especially nice for the outer hips and deep in the hip socket itself, places we often forget or avoid.  Take it easy, if you work too hard here, you might miss the juicy parts....

Use the Dirgha Pranayama for the entirety of this brief practice with emphasis on beginning your inhale in the low back and drawing your bellybutton up under your rib cage as you exhale.

Start reclining... 

-Draw your right leg in toward your chest and wrap your arms around it.  Take a few breaths letting your hip and low back open.

-Release your leg and position your knee at a 90 degree angle directly over your hip.  Circle your ankle in both directions at least 20 times.

-Bend your left knee, foot to the floor, and cross your right ankle over the left thigh.  Adjust the ankle closer to your hip or closer to your knee until your find the "sweet spot".  Reach your right knee AND the sole of your right foot toward the wall in front of you.  Fell how this changes the engagement in your hips.  Make sure your abs have engaged to keep your pelvis from torquing.  You want this to be about the hips, not the spine. Take a few breaths here.
-Keep the engagement and draw your legs in toward your chest.  Hold the back of your left thigh and bend and straighten that leg in rhythm with your breath at least 5 times.

-Gently release your legs and rest a bit.
- Repeat on the other side

Come to seated on anything that makes you comfortable with your legs stretched out in front of you... 

-Keep your left leg extended and place support under the knee if its not comfortable straight.  Work your hamstrings and quads against one another to keep your extended knee from hyperextending.

Place your right ankle over your left thigh, just as you did in the previous sequence, and work both the knee and sole toward the floor.  Fold forward with a neutral spine (moving just from the hips) if you can do so with ease.  Stay here and remember to breath for a few breaths.

-Now move your right foot further to the left so the middle of your shin (more or less) is on your thigh and repeat the same action, holding for a few breaths.

-Next, move your left leg to the right (it will be at an angle from your hip) and move your right foot as close to the left hip and the floor as you can.  In essence, you are working toward stacking your knees. Either work sole and knee downward again OR, if you right foot is on the floor, turn its sole toward the sky pointing the toes gently and use the heel of your hand to apply gentle pressure.  Fold with a neutral spine, if desired. and hold for a few breaths.

-Unwind, rest, repeat on the other side.

Now practice these actions in two challenging poses.. double pigeon and cowface...

-For double pigeon, sit tall and stack your lower legs with your shins parallel to the front of your mat, letting your feet hang over your knees so you can reach the soles toward the floor.  This is the fuller version of the pose.  If your knees rise up or your hips say OMG, just back it up - take your knees wider and your feet closer together.  You will only isometrically take your soles toward the floor.  Stay tall or fold forward for a few breaths.
-For cowface, stack your knees with both legs bent, turn your soles toward the sky and use your hands to give gentle pressure to the ball of the foot.  Feels too extreme, work with half cowface a little longer.  You've already done half cowface once today - its the last in our seated pose sequence above.  Enjoy your pose for a few breaths.
Remember to do both sides ;-)

Take a good long savasana after this to allow your body to integrate these challenging openings!

Have a Seat! Yoga for a comfortable meditation.

Here's a little practice to help prepare you for seated meditation - its helps to open the hips for a more comfortable seat and strengthen your core for an easier seat.  While a comfortable seat is this practice's intended purpose, you will find it supports you well in everyday activities and improves your circulation, too.  We did this practice last night in my Yoga and Meditation class followed by a 20 minute sit with the mantra meditation "I am".  This mantra is a affirmation and a question, taking your mind and ego closer to knowing your true self.  Give it a try!

Deep hip opening class

By request, here is (more or less :-) the sequence from last Sunday's Intermediate Yoga class at Yoga del Sol.  All about relaxing, opening and accessing some of the toughest, most avoided parts of our bodies - pelvic floor, short adductors (upper inner thighs) and inner hamstrings.  It also give a deep general hip opening. If wide legged poses are challenging for you, if you feel restricted in forward bends but aren't sure why, or if you have tight hips, this could be a great exploration for you.

Take this sequence slow, keeping an observing awareness deep in your hips and groin.  Look for any sensation of breath in your hips and groin.  Take breaks to just feel after anything that might have been intense or altering. Any questions, just ask. Enjoy!

- Legs up the Wall Pose 10 minutes (a sandbag on the soles of the feet can be lovely here)
- Savasana with belly breathing with a sandbag laid across the upper thighs, moving into Dirgha and maintaining Dirgha for the remainder of your active practice
- Puvana Muktasana/Knee to chest - then take the knee toward the armpit
- mini-savasana
- Pelvic tilts
- Bridge Pose - rolling up and down
- Knees to chest, pointed toes <--> legs toward sky, flexed feet
- 1/2 Dead Bug Pose <--> straight leg reclining twist (here's a video link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=00lB10oATck - thanks to the folks at - Yoga Tune Up for the great little vinyasa!)
- mini-savasana
- Reclining Hip Circles with weight (here's a video link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iQv0IuYKNUc - thanks again to the folks a Yoga Tune Up for this fun move!)
- Baddha Konasana - no fold, just lengthen spine with feet as close to bottom as possible
- Cat/Dog
- Toes Tucked Child's Pose
- Shins down Upward Facing Dog
- 1/2 reclining hero (or hero)
- Deep Wide Legged Utkatasana
- Mountain Pose
- Side Angle Pose (feet wider than usual.  Looking for the stretch in the BACK inner thigh)
- Uttanasana with knees slightly bent
- Goddess Pose
- 1/2 Wide Legged Forward Fold (back parallel to floor, knees slightly bent)
- Wide Legged Forward Fold
- Triangle
- Malasana (deep squat squeezing inner thighs into sides of torso)
- Reclining Hero or Hero
- Shins down Upward Facing Dog
- Child's Pose
- mini-savasana
- Bridge Pose
- Dead Bug
- Anything else you'd like
- Savasana :-)
- Pranayama Meditation - use your inhale to fill entire torso pelvic floor to soft palate, use your exhale to completely empty while keeping your spine long