I Heart Hips & Hammies (and You Can, Too!)

Tara Stiles posing for Channel.com

Of all of the body issues that people come into yoga class with (and I can say that because I have PLENTY of them, too!), two of the most common complaints that I hear from my students are tight hips and hamstrings.  Yes, lower back issues are right up there as well, but honestly, it's shocking the number of tight hips and hamstrings that we're walking around with in our culture. Although I'm no doctor and really can't say why this is happening, I like to blame it on our sedentary lifestyle. Even the most active people I know still spend at least 5 hours a day (on average) sitting down at a desk, slowly tightening their hips and shortening their hamstrings as they work. What's even worse is that often when we are sitting down, we're sitting in the same chair and the same position for a number of hours on end, without a break or much variation. So, since we can't change this--and we really can't without a cultural revolt--there are a number of little things that we can do to slowly work to open our hips and hamstrings. Most of these things are obvious, but I still think it's important to get them out there as a reminder. So, here goes...my top 10 favorite ways to loosen the hips, hammies, and everything associated with them:

1. Do yoga. LOTS of it. NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING has helped me to loosen up my tight hips and hammies like yoga does. Almost every pose works to open up one of these major areas of the body...you can't go wrong (unless you push yourself to far, of course). A subset of this tip, my 4 favorite poses for each body part:  
   -For hammies: Ardha Hanumanasa/Half-Splits, Pyramid Pose/Parsvottonasana, Runners Stretch, Forward Fold/Uttansana                                                                                                                                                                         -For hips: Pigeon/Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (of course), Malasana/Yogic Squat, Double Pigeon/Agnistambhasana, and Reverse Skandasana
   
2. Get up from your desk (or wherever you're sitting) every 15-30 mins and walk around. Go get some water, go outside, go to the bathroom. Just get up and move around!
3. Change your sitting position OFTEN. Mix it up so your body doesn't start to mold to your daily position.
4. Check out your chair. Can you switch it out every so often with a different sitting apparatus? Maybe an exercise ball or even just another type of chair? Again, keeps the body guessing and keeps you from sitting in the exact same pose all day.
   
5. Do chair yoga (do you see a theme here?)! For some of my favorite chair yoga poses, click here.
   
6. Stretch in the mornings. Even just a simple forward fold when you wake up can really change your hammies over time.
   
7. Don't be a runner or heavy weightlifter. Just kidding! But really, these two activities REALLY tighten the hips and hammies, so if you are a runner or you do heavy weightlifting, stretch, stretch, stretch! And see #1.
   
8. Wear healthy shoes. My doctor once told me "only rubber-soled shoes"...eek! I know, not always the cutest, but your hips and hammies will thank you. I really do notice a difference in how tight my body feels at the end of a long day when I've been wearing flats or flip flops (and don't even get me started on how I feel about heels!) as opposed to a day of wearing "rubber-soled shoes." Sad but true! So wear healthy shoes when you can.
   
9. Go to a hip-opening workshop at a local studio to learn new poses and in order to get in touch with how you may be holding stress or tension in the hips. Often, we hold a lot of emotions or stress from our day in our hips, so a great way to ease tightness in the hips can be to release some of these emotions through a targeted practice. Yum :)
10. Do yoga. Can't stress it enough :)

Through my practice, I've learned to truly LOVE hip-openers and hamstring stretches, and nothing helps me to release tension like a good pose that targets these areas of the body. Just coming into down dog every day feels like a big sigh for my back body.

Moral of the story: everyone has to start somewhere. Don't let tight hips and hammies hold you back!

Namaste,
Mary Catherine

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