Shakira Says it Best: Hips Don't Lie

This week Gentle Yoga classes are built with our beautiful hips in mind.

From opening, strengthening, and stretching, we navigate through a sequence to encourage more mobility in the hip area. The hips yes but that doesn't mean the benefits stay only on this part of the body. On the contrary...

Poses with hips focus have great benefits on our liver and kidneys by causing stimulation; they stretch our calves, hamstrings and thighs; and (last but definitely not least!) calm our beautiful (yet somewhat complex..) minds.

Hips are a pretty cool thing, aren't they? Not only they help move our upper legs, their very big and main role is on bearing the weight of the body in both still and mobile states.

So why do we need to look after our hips? Well...I don't know about you but I am quite keen to keep my hips supporting my weight as long as I can! And sometimes, while we tick all the well-being care boxes, our body suffers from diseases, or pain caused by accidents, etc. So the only thing we can really do, that is in our control, is to listen to our body and do as little or as much as it feels good for our body.

By focusing on hip opening and mobilising poses, we create more space and strength at the core of our body.

Feel the Feeling. As we release tensions in our hip muscles, we may experience a release of stored emotions too. These are usually caused by a build-up of tension in our muscles due to past traumatic events which may have caused a lot of stress, sadness, fear, etc.

This is when deep breathing and being present help. We take each pose, and we stay in it supporting both our body and mind into the release that may come. Think about it like being your body&mind BFF.

And that is what we do in our Gentle Yoga classes. We take a moment to pause in the pose; to take time to feel the sensations through each deep breath.

We work with our body as a team, with no strain, no pain.

We listen. We engage. We breath. And release.