Daily Archives: August 20, 2019

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Yoga for the Hips

I’ve been doing a self-created yoga practice almost every night now for over two weeks. My goal has been to open up my hips and increase hip mobility.

I’ve been doing some heavy weight lifting lately and noticed that my body is very stiff compared to what it was in 2012 when I last lifted heavy weights. I was not able to go to parallel on the squat anymore without major form issues (eek!). I also noticed my hips hurt at the hip crease (hip flexors) during the squat, which is not suppose to happen. My range of motion on deadlift was bad in 2012 and hadn’t change. The only way I could deadlift was to do the sumo variation because my hips were too tight. I felt really old and out of shape when I picked up weights again – neither of which is true!

Did you notice I used past tense in the above paragraph? That’s because I have resolved all my issues and I am pretty confident that it is because of yoga! No more hip crease discomfort during the squat and I am squatting 110lbs already. 🙂 I can get to parallel just fine, maybe even a little below now, too. And I am, for the first time ever, using standard deadlift form with ease even at 120lbs. Yay!

Spiritually speaking, my hips tend to be where I hold energy. I have lots of stuck energy there (2nd and 3rd chakras). Yoga helps break up and move that energy. So I am killing two birds with one (yoga) stone – spiritual blocks and physical ones. 😉

I figured I would share (and document) my self-made yoga practice in case anyone would like to try it. I will warn you, if you are a beginning, some of the poses are quite intense and will most definitely need to be modified. When I first started out I was modifying like crazy. Now, though, I need it less and less. The only pose I find myself really modifying now is the side lateral bend/revolved head to knee pose. I have tight lats and lower back so I can’t go very far. Definitely not head to knee! haha

Just an FYI – I am not a yoga teacher. I’ve never even taken a yoga class – well online but that doesn’t count does it? I am a NASM certified personal trainer with a CES  (Corrective Exercise Specialist) certificate, though.

Yoga to Open Hips
Approximate time 15-20 minutes
Yoga Pose List and image source

This entire practice is done seated. You may need a block or bolster/blankets, so have them nearby.

Start in Thunderbolt pose, sitting on your knees. You can put a pillow or folded blanket under you if you need support or your quads are tight.

Put your hands together in front of your heart and tilt your chin slightly down as if you are praying. Sit and breathe for six to eight breaths. This would be the time to set an intention.

Continue to sit in Thunderbolt. Lean forward and touch your head to the floor and fold your arms along your sides. If you can’t quite reach the floor, rest your forehead on your hands or a block. Take four to five slow breaths.

Move into half pigeon. Stay in this pose for 12 breaths. Repeat on the other side. Go as low as you feel comfortable.

Slowly sit up and take butterfly pose. I do this against a wall but you don’t have to. Bring your feet in toward your groin as far as you comfortably can. Hold your feet and relax, letting your knees fall out. Stay in this pose for as long as you can, aiming for 30 breaths.

Straighten your legs and move into a forward fold/bend. Only go as far as you comfortably can. Bend your knees slightly if you have tight hamstrings. Stay in this pose for 2-3 breaths.

Move into Half Shoelace. Keep your left leg straight in front of you, foot flexed. Take the other leg and fold it over the other at the knee, putting your heel up against your left thigh. Lean forward and touch your toes or go as far forward as you comfortably can. Take about 10-12 breaths. Repeat on other side.

Now move into full Shoelace pose, meaning the knees are stacked with feet on opposite sides of your hips. Lean forward and touch your forehead to your stacked knees if you can. Stay in this pose for 12-15 breaths. You can take Eagle Arms here if you like or Cow Faced Pose, both work with Shoelace pose.

Slowly come out of the pose and lay down on your back. Take Bridge pose and hold for 6-8 breaths. Feel free to clasp your hands in the middle, under your raised hips for a nice shoulder stretch.

Slowly come out of Bridge pose and take Happy Baby. If you can’t comfortable hold onto your feet then hold onto the backs of your knees. Hold for 10-12 breaths.

Bring both knees into your chest and hold for a couple of breaths then extend one leg and flex the foot while keeping the other knee up at your chest (Winding release pose). Hold 3-4 breaths then go into Revolved Abdomen pose for a nice back stretch. Hold 8-10 breaths. Repeat on the other side.

Slowly sit up and extend legs for Revolved Head to Knee pose (modified or unmodified). Hold each side for 5-6 breaths.

Finally, take child’s pose and relax for as long as you need. If you want to go into Savasana that is okay, too.

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Dream: Flat Eggshells

It has been an interesting week thus far. Working from home without my kids to distract me has been nice and quiet. Any down time I have has left me free to get chores done, which is nice. It has also allowed me to brainstorm a bit about possible changes I can make.

I researched QHHT, which I have done in the past, and played with the idea of booking a session. In the end, though, I realized that I have an expectation that would likely be unmet. I want to be told what to do, or at least remember some specifics about my life path to guide me toward making the right decision. This, I know intuitively will not be provided. QHHT is likely only to provide what I am capable doing on my own and have done previously. That which we most want answers for is usually something we have to figure out on our own because those things are the very lessons we came here to learn.

My struggle is, and always has been, figuring out what I want to do with the time I have left in this body. I end up filling my time with random things to keep me occupied and pass the time but it doesn’t fulfill me.

This morning I had a thought that next year, 2020, would mark the end of a phase for me. It feels like my quest for spiritual knowledge will be over, like all my spiritually profound experiences will stop. In considering this I thought about what that might look/feel like. My best guess is that things will return to how it was prior to my first spiritual awakening way back in 2002. To consider that makes me sad because I was completely lost, depressed and unfulfilled back then.

It could be that though a phase will end a new, better one will begin. It is hard to imagine, though, because I haven’t been there. It remains unknown. My tendency is pessimism. The worst possible outcome is easier to anticipate and less of a disappointment.

There continues to be a feeling that I am keeping a part of myself down. Suppressing it/her because she is destructive and harmful.

Dream: Flat Eggshells 

In the dream I remember searching for a woman (aspect of Self). I knew she would be in a special home, like a retirement home or a place for special needs people. The woman was not old nor did she have a disability. I am not sure exactly what her special need was but she could not care for herself, so maybe it was mental. I vaguely recall that she may have had issues with memory.

When I went to the retirement home I asked the residents if they had seen the woman. What was odd is that all the residents there were tucked into vertical pouches (protection, healing) that were hung from the ceiling in pairs. The pouches completely covered them to where only their head and shoulders were visible. They weren’t restrained but instead seemed to be comfortable all snug inside their pouches. I vaguely recall IV tubing (healing) leading from the people in the pouches to the ceiling.

I asked a resident if she had seen my friend. The woman, happy inside her pouch and swaying back and forth in it, said I should look elsewhere. She mentioned a woman who cared for people like my friend and told me where to look.

Somehow I ended up in the country visiting a quaint little house. I spoke with an older woman and she showed me around as she spoke to me about my friend. It seems my friend was there and being cared for but I never saw her. Instead, I remember a small cluster of brown chickens (cowardice) that were different from regular chickens. I want to say they were reject chickens and what I remember of them was that they stumbled around as if drunk (avoidance of something). One of the chickens, a rooster (complacency, need to face fears) I think, made a lot of noise and the woman showed me that he had produced some eggs (change, creativity) but the eggs were not eggs but a pile of flat, cream colored sheets of something. My thought was they were flat eggshells (comfort zone, fragility). The woman asked me to taste one. She handed it to me and it broke easily and had the feel and texture of chocolate. Even the taste was like white chocolate (not feeling valued). I spit it out, though, a bit grossed out that I was eating something that came out of a rooster’s butt.

Dream: Clearing My Throat

There was another short dream where I was in a school-like setting. My first memory is being in a bathroom. I kept coughing (something is keeping me from expressing myself), trying to dislodge something in my throat, but the cough never helped and the feeling persisted.

The bathroom (cleansing, renewal) counter was cluttered (lots to sort through). I recall looking for something but I can’t remember what. I think I was looking for a essential oil to help with my cough.

As I looked through the items, water (emotion) from the sink began to flood the counter. I grabbed a towel (attempting to wipe away feelings to make it like it never happened) and soaked it up but the sink kept spraying more water on it. I have a vivid memory of the water pooling in the corner and moving items around as I soaked it up with a white towel.

A woman came to help. The woman had in her hand a gun for giving shots (strength, protection). She was going to put the oil into the gun and shoot it into me but I don’t think she ever did. I mostly remember coughing and the sensation in my throat.

The last thing I remember is going into a large locker room (need time to recuperate). There were others with me. I think I became somewhat lucid here because the room was suddenly very vivid and I noticed how large and old the place was. I saw all the lockers (need for privacy, personal boundaries), the benches and the huge space and thought, “Why is it so big? It doesn’t need to be so big.” There were windows along the very top of the room and I remember thinking that a long time ago, like in the 1960s, the locker room was used by students and that many games were played, won and lost.

orangecat

Flashes/Visions

I had a couple of flashes or visions. In one, I was going into the bathroom but there was an issue with an orange, tabby cat, so I would go in. In another I saw a huge wave of grayish water with lots of froth. I do not feel they were positive issues. The first seems to indicate an issue with the feminine. The second is a symbol of messy emotions.

Music Message

This song was on my mind. Specifically, “’til you can breathe on your own…”

It feels like this part of me that is being suppressed is the small self or maybe a wounded part of me, like the inner child. She is constantly there, under the surface, screaming, crying, sad, depressed. She is the one who, if I listen to her, creates a kind of chaos in my mind that makes me feel like I am about to go crazy. I honestly don’t know how to manage her except to continue to do what I have been. My worry, though, is that she will eventually come out and I will be unable to stop her.