Healing Hip Pain with Yoga

You might know it – that familiar hip ache or pain that puts a new spin on the pop song “Hips don’t lie”. The pain may be felt in the groin, leg or back and calls your attention as you wonder if it is another sign of aging, overdoing it in a workout or something more serious.

There are as many reasons for hip pain as there are approaches to resolving it. Hip joints connect the pelvis and leg bones. No wonder hip health relates to the back, knees, ankles and feet. Yoga postures can hurt or heal. So, what to do?

If you have a regular yoga practice, notice if your hips feel the same, better or worse during the session and up to 48 hours after. Move in a way that does not increase the pain. Try taking a couple weeks off and see how your hips feel.

If you are new to yoga, or are not sure if your practice is helping or hindering your hips, consider a private yoga therapy session. Here, you can find out which muscles are supporting your hips, which muscles are “sleeping”, and which are overworking that should be resting. You won’t need to understand the anatomy but you will learn to listen to your body for the answers. Feeling is healing.

There is no set “prescription” of exercises or postures to heal hip pain. Each body is as unique as the person in it. With yoga therapy a customized home program is designed for each individual’s needs and time availability. The program offers the stimulus needed to wake up the sleeping muscles and ease the overworking ones for support, ease and reduced or eliminated pain in the hips.

My own hip pain of the past was a great teacher for me and ignited my passion for yoga therapy. Now, I feel strong and pain free in my hips. Hip, hip hooray!

To book a private appointment, contact Julie.

True Power

"Most rarely align with their true power because it seems illogical to them that there is power in relaxation, in letting go, or in love, or joy or bliss. We want you to breathe rather than try, to relax rather than offer effort, to smile rather than struggle, to be rather than do." -Abraham-hicks Tap into your true power in Hawaii with us November 16-22nd, 2013.

Meeting the Morning

How did you meet your morning today?

If you woke to an alarm, was it your favorite song, or a blasting "brrrrrr"? What were your first thoughts, movements and tastes? What came first, feelings of gratitude and abundance, or checking the inbox? I must admit to failing at meeting the morning mindfully.

But that old habit only makes the mindful mornings sweeter. Here's my latest routine; A Bon Iver love ballad to wake me, a thermos of warm lemon water waiting at my bedside to sip on, feeling gratitude and abundance for everything from the tartness of the lemon to the sweetness of my visiting Mom. Fifteen min seated or walking meditation, then mindful movement for 40 minutes. Ahhh.... ready for the day. May you find ease and clarity in your morning, whether it is a mindful minute or an elaborate routine.