Break It Down Series: Part 5- Opening Up the Hips- Lizard Pose

Did you know that we store up stress and emotions in our hips?

It’s true! You may be saying, “oh well that’s some people but I tend to feel stress in my back”. It may surprise you, but we are both right!

Here’s a short anatomy lesson for you. There is a muscle called the psoas that attaches our lumbar spine to the femur bone. This muscle is triggered when we feel stress which means it is directly connected to our stress response. Our body interprets the feelings of stress in a very primitive “fight” or “flight” way and prepares itself to react quickly and tenses up in preparation or reaction. The thing is, that response was helpful when early humans were being chased by lions, but it is a bit over kill for us when the stressor is a frustrating email and not life or death. But the body doesn’t know the difference.

This is where hip openers come in. These types of yoga poses provide a chance for the psoas muscle to be lengthened and strengthened.

You may be saying, ok I get the “Fight or Flight” response but how do emotions fit into the equation? I’m glad you asked! It is when we come into deep stretches like hip openers that we develop a deeper awareness of the body and sensations within it. When we are aware, we can begin to notice how those sensations can link to thoughts or emotions. This awareness can allow us to either release those thoughts/feelings or sort through them in a mindful way.

Who knew that a hip stretch can be turn into your own therapy session? I’m kidding of course and the thing is, you won’t always experience that level of a reaction when in a hip stretch. You may just simply enjoy the stretching benefits of the pose which are quite numerous! Check out a few more benefits:

1 – Reduces Strain in the Lower Back – When the hips are tight, our lower backs can start to kick in and try to support the weight of the upper body which is WAY TOO MUCH effort on the spine. When the hips are strong and flexible, circulation can improve, there is more range of movement, and the back and spine can come into better alignment. When the body comes into proper alignment, your joints like your knees and feet don’t have to compensate which reduces your pain in these areas.

2 - Flexibility in the hips

3 - Provides length and stability in the hamstrings, quadriceps, and glutes.

Lizard pose (pictured above) is one of my favorites as it has all of the wonderful benefits listed above, but it also opens up the upper body as well. Are you ready to jump in and give it a try?

Come to a hands and knees table top position. Bring your right foot up to the outside edge (pinky finger side) of your right hand. Very gently begin to lengthen the left leg back behind you. You can remain here with the knee resting on the ground or take a stronger variation by lifting your left back knee up and making sure your right front knee is stacking over your ankle. Once you have found the best variation for your lower body, we will now turn our attention to the upper body. You can keep your arms straight or begin to lower down to your forearms.

To come out, slowly rise back up to support yourself with straight arms, take your right foot back and bring your knee to rest on the mat directly under your hips coming back into your hands and knees table top position. Scoot your left knee up to meet your right knee stacking your knee directly under your hip. Switch over to the left side.

MODIFICATIONS:

If your hips are tight and supporting yourself with your arms straight is too much, you can bring yoga blocks or a thick book under each hand to give you additional height and relieve some of the pressure in the hip flexor. (I am demonstrating this modification in the above picture). You can also take this same modification if your flexibility level is somewhere in between having your arms straight and resting on the forearms. You can rest your forearms on the yoga block or book and that will provide you with a couple of inches of additional space.

If you are having pain in your back knee, you can bring a pillow or a folded blanket under the back knee to provide some extra cushion.

Let me know what you think about this pose!