Hip-opening poses activate Svadhisthana, the second or sacral chakra, located within the pelvis along the spine. This chakra energy center is about self-expression and creativity, and is located near the bladder, womb and ovaries. It is the source of sexual energy and passion.
What emotions are stored in your hips? Our hip region is also associated with our sacral chakra which processes emotions like fear, sadness, frustration, loss and worry. As we clench and tense up when we are faced with these emotions, we lock and store them into our hips.
People with trauma, stress or mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression often suffer physical symptoms as well. In all of this, there may be one common link: the hips. Neuroscience indicates that the hips are a potential storage vessel for emotions.
To sum up, since hip muscles are where emotions are trapped caused by events that switch your fight or flight mode, working on deep tissues in hip-focused postures like pigeon pose can release both physical and emotional stress.
Your sacral chakra is located in the area of your navel, sexual organs, and lower back. The sacral chakra is associated with the color orange and the element of water. When the sacral chakra is blocked, it can affect your hips, kidneys, pelvis, sexual organs, and lower back.
Lower Back = Guilt, Shame, and Unworthiness
Lower back issues often correlate with feelings of low self-worth and lack of self-acceptance. Feelings such as guilt, shame, and even sexual inadequacy or trauma can be stored here as well.
We need to embrace the body-mind-soul aspect of the pain (metaphysical). The back represents our support system, so problems with our back usually mean we feel we are not being supported. It is also linked with finance, the lack of money, fear of not having enough, fear of material loss, the fear of your own survival.
Why do hip openers release emotions? Hip-opening poses activate Svadhisthana, the second or sacral chakra, located within the pelvis along the spine. This chakra energy center is about self-expression and creativity, and is located near the bladder, womb and ovaries.
Hip openers move prana (life force) through the pelvis, which is said to hold negative emotions and stress, such as guilt, fear and sadness. Opening the hips can create space for the birth of new ideas, and opens us physically, spiritually, and creatively.
Grief can be stored in various parts of the body, such as the heart, lungs, throat, and stomach. People may also experience physical sensations like heaviness in the chest or tightness in the throat when experiencing grief.
Two key areas of the brain are activated by shame: the prefrontal cortex and the posterior insula. The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain associated with moral reasoning. This is where judgements about the self occur. The posterior insula is the part of the brain that engages visceral sensations in the body.
Trauma is not physically held in the muscles or bones — instead, the need to protect oneself from perceived threats is stored in the memory and emotional centers of the brain, such as the hippocampus and amygdala. This activates the body whenever a situation reminds the person of the traumatic event(s).
“The hip area is associated with your sacral chakra, which holds our creative and sexual energy,” described Sarah Donner, a holistic health coach and founder of Siva Wellness. “Your sacral chakra is believed to be a big part of our emotional world and how we relate to others.
Take time to slow down and be alone, get out into nature, make art, listen to music while you cook your favorite dinner, meditate to cleanse your mind and relax your body, take a bubble bath or a nap to restore.
They are the engines that power the body and make hitting a target with a balled up fist possible. Mechanically speaking, the hips generate the force that activates the core (abdominals, lumbar muscles and spine); the core then transfers this energy to the shoulders.
Hip-opening poses are most likely to bring on a flood of emotions because of all the tightness and tension you naturally store in your hips. All of that tension builds up over time, trapping negativity and old feelings along with it. And when you finally release it, your emotions bubble to the surface, too.
Releasing physical and emotional tension
Stretching the hip muscles causes a release; pent-up emotions may resurface, suppressed memories may arise, unconscious tension still held onto from a traumatic event may bubble up. All of which may unleash a seemingly inexplicable barrage of tears.
"In a fight or flight situation, your muscles respond by tensing up. If you think of your pelvis as the center point for your body to work off of when trying to get away from trauma, and your body's response to trauma includes making your muscles tense, it makes sense that your hips tend to store a lot of tension."
After practicing TRE® people often use the words 'grounded', 'relaxed' and 'calmer' to describe their feelings. After a period of several months people have reported relief from illnesses such as Arthritis, Fibromyalgia, Eczema and IBS.
Chakra One
If the root chakra is blocked, it is associated with lower-back pain, immune problems, depression, and even varicose veins.
There are also physical symptoms that can be felt through having an imbalance in the heart chakra which usually manifest in the form of upper back pain, shoulder pain, respiratory problems such as asthma and upper arm pain.
The Sacral Chakra is the second of the seven chakras. It is located just below the navel, right in the center of your lower belly and in your back it is located in the lumbar spine and associated with the colour orange and the element, water.