Here's what you need to know to safely give it a try. Sometimes called the “king of hip openers,” Pigeon pose can be a juicy release of emotions and tension. Because it deals with the hips, it correlates to the element of water and the second chakra—our sexual and creative center.
Because it's a heart-opener and a hip-opener at the same time, some feelings could arise — but in this brave and kingly position, you're ready to tackle that vulnerability head-on. While this pose has some royally good benefits for your body and mind, it can be a lot to ask of your knees, hips, and spine at first.
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. It is the source of sexual energy and passion.
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.
Pigeon pose is a yoga move, but you'll see it incorporated into many cool-down routines beyond yoga. It's designed to stretch deep into the glutes, and it's also a great hip-opener and thigh stretch. Like most yoga poses, pigeon is also meant to relax your body, making it perfect for relieving tension and stress.
1: Child's Pose (Balasana)
Practice daily because: this restorative pose is simple, accessible, easy to include in any hip opening sequence. It's a great way to begin! Bring your toes together, open your knees wide, and extend your arms forward and down.
This unconscious tension can be held from one traumatic event, or lots of little events where the stress of feelings like sadness, fear and worry are stored and can get stuck. No matter how you say it, stretching the hip muscles causes a release and allows stored emotion to melt away.
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.
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. Issues affected by the second charka are sexuality, creativity, pleasures, movement, intimacy, empathy, and change.
Overactive Sacral Chakra Symptoms
Since the second chakra governs emotions, overactive energy creates overwhelming feelings and emotions, which can manifest as: Extreme mood swings. Dissatisfaction with life. Addictive behaviors.
Happy baby pose is a passive, restorative hip opener often practiced alone or near the end of a yoga class as a part of a cool down right before Savasana.
Eagle pose is a deep hip opener. The further you sit back in the chair position, and the tighter you wrap your legs, the deeper the hip stretch.
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.
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.
Our lower backs store most of our unexpressed anger. Many people develop severe and debilitating pain in the lumbar region of the back. Chronic stress activates the sympathetic nervous system that puts pressure on the spinal cord.
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.
Tight hips, psoas, and hip flexors can mean that we're hesitant about facing the future. More specifically, we fear living up to our own expectations and those laid out by others.
Lower Back = Guilt, Shame, and Unworthiness
Feelings such as guilt, shame, and even sexual inadequacy or trauma can be stored here as well.
Daily movement.
Prolonged periods of not moving, such as sitting, may cause the hip flexors to tighten, so finding even small ways to move your hips throughout the day — whether that's a dedicated 20 minutes of walking or doing one minute of walking as a “movement snack” — will help keep your hip flexors supple.