Mat Matters, Episode 31: 15-Minute Hip Opening Flow

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Have 15-minutes or so? Great! Then you have enough time to do a little yoga with me ;) 

As promised, today's video is a short, all-levels yoga sequence that you can do at home. It's perfect for those days when you can't get to a full class, don't have time to do a full home practice, or just need to take a little timeout to open up your aching hips (fellow work-from-home-ers who spend the day sitting on the couch with your computer on your lap--I'm talking to you!). 

A few things I should note about this video:

• Normally, when teaching, I would NEVER turn my back to you/my students when demonstrating. but, for the sake of this video, I had to. Just know that normally, I would never. I think it's really weird when teachers do this!
  
• There's no music in the video, so if you like to practice to music, maybe have it on quietly in the background.
• "Hip opening" is a somewhat controversial term for some in the yoga community. There are approx 17 muscles in the hips (according to Wikipedia), so the term "hip opening" doesn't even begin to define which muscle group, which side, which area of the hips are being opened, and therefore, some really don't like it. I totally get that, but since this video is simply 15-minutes and we work with a few different sides/muscle groups in the hips--and because most people have only heard "hip openers" to describe these sorts of poses--I'm sticking with it for now. Don't judge, anatomy gurus!
• My hair kept getting in my face during the practice--which I HATE--so I apologize for my weird ticks as I tried to move it without being too obvious...
• The sunlight was fading quickly as I taped this video, so just act like the slow darkening of the room around me was intentional, for relaxation purposes ;) 

Okay, so there you go! Enjoy and get ready to say hellooooo0 to your hips...