Post-Eclipse Hip Release Yoga (Video) With Adriene
With the solar eclipse, emotions rise. There is something about the moon, and the tides and the amount of water in the human body (an average of 60 percent of our composition) that causes anxiety. Or perhaps it's the witnessing of the sheer gravity of science that causes the feels. According to CBS, even the animals were confused.
Regardless, spiritual practitioners often tout that throughout the moon's cycle, it is in the hips that the emotions are held. In today's world, this may be especially true as there is so much tension in this muscular region due to an overwhelming number of desk duties. The tightness in the body generates a tightness in the mind -- anger, depression, et al. -- and vice versa.
Not to worry, however. To safely release this tension, watch the following yoga video with Adriene. Her Yoga With Adriene webisodes were recognized by Google as the most searched workout of 2015, and awarded a Streamy in Health and Wellness in 2016.
In this particular vid, Adriene focuses on the psoas (a hip flexor, or filet mignon, if you will), and of course the accompanying hip muscles.
She begins in adho mukha virasana (an "active" balasana), one of UWM's faves for a passive, restorative, yin hip practice; and then demonstrates a cat-cow (or Bastet-Auset) variation that could be healing for the piriformis. To close, she suggests a couple of other faves to get deep into the layers of the IT band, where much of our tightness is held.
Be quite careful here, in eka pada raja kapotasana (one-legged king pigeon) to keep the foot closer to the pelvis, should you feel tweaking in the knee; and when dropping the knees in your supine twist, be sure to let the knees get heavy first, before you feel heaviness in the shoulder that naturally lifts as the spine turns.
Check our IG for an intermediate hip opening sequence.
Photo by The Urban Yoga by Anja Humljan
DISTRICTiYOGA is an E-RYT 500 YACEP located in Washington, D.C. She often uses “namaste” as the first word uttered to students at the beginning of class, as well as the last. She began mindful yogic studies some 20 years ago in elementary school and began teaching formally in 2008. You may see her IRL at Crunch Metro Center and Khepera Wellness.