Healthy Hips

Hey there. How you doing? Welcome. This is a core and hip focused class. Now we're going to work on the flexibility, the mobility and strength of your hips. Hopefully we can address all of those aspects. In addition, we're going to work on core. All right. And to top it off, we're gonna have a little fun. So let's begin. I'll be facing you for the first portion of the class. Get yourself set. We're going to start with our feet pretty wide, our hands back behind us. So we're going to do a supported windshield wiper move through the hips and we'll build from there. If anything at any point feels funky in your knees or hips, you know, back away, assess, see how it feels and rejoin or not. So we're going to start with sending the knees over to the left. And when you send them to the left, pull the right shoulder back. So start off with like a little bit of stretching and exploring and kind of just seeing where the body is this early on. So here, if you take your right hip and kind of roll it forward and you pull the right shoulder back, that might feel kind of nice. Then you come up to center and we'll do the other side. So when you switch, whether your hands are supporting or as we move forward, you might have to actually like work on staying center. You might find you're traveling around the mat. All right. So knees over to the right, left shoulder pulls back. And now a little more fluid from side to side. So left side, then we'll come to center, exhale to the right. So notice here, you inhale to center, shift the seat to center, and then go over to the left. It's a subtle little move, but it'll make a difference. Okay, one more on the right. I even like lift my seat a little bit as I transition. Okay, can always stay with this. We're going to work on now with without the hands. So sit up tall. Arms are going to maybe come out in front of you. Send the hips or the knees over to the left side. Now try to keep your body upright. If that didn't work, use your hands. Now from here, lean your body over the inside of your left thigh, you might feel a little pigeon stretch. Come up again. So this is using your core and your hips strength. To pivot to the right and fold over the right side. Find that spot could be over the calf or the thigh, then push up and roll over to the other side. Good back up to center over to the right. And you can see if you check, I've kind of like moved a little bit. That's where you have to make that little adjustment when you transition. Good fold up to center. Let's go to the left again. Land here, fold, take a moment, feel it out. We'll add a little something here, lift the body up, pull the right heel in toward the seat. Okay, now we're going to get this like hurdler stretch thing, left forearm down, lean the body back and reach the right arm up and back behind you. And if you'd like to combine it, you can reach forward and get that pigeon stretch, reach and up and back circle shoulder joint. Good back up to center, twist to the left, take your left hand back behind you, right hand to your knee and rotate. Good back to center, undo the leg here. Now what you need to do to top this off is plant the right foot, plant the left leg and lift the hips up and back. So it just takes where we were just a little deeper. Then lower and press again. Perfect.

Right side, back to center, right? Use your core to stabilize. Hips rotate or legs rotate. Boom, fold over the thigh. Press up, left heel in toward the seat, right forearm back behind you, reach the left arm back behind you. Now you might alter this a tiny bit to exaggerate or to get that really nice hip and quad stretch. Good circle through the shoulder. Okay, up ground the left foot ground the right hand like you're in a side plank, press up and back and fully extend that left leg. Lower down and then press back up. One more time. Push lower. Now you're going to twist, bring the left knee back down, left hand to the right thigh, right hand back behind you and turn and twist and rotate. Beautiful. Back to center, lean back, back to neutral. Now from here, start we'll do three with each position of the hands. Start with the fingers pointing forward below your shoulders and your feet about hip width or a little bit wider. So inhale, press the hips up, make sure you can even turn your hands open just a little bit. Press the hips up, up, up and away and roll the shoulders out a bit. So you'll feel the opening through the chest and shoulders. Now maintain here, lower and then keep the seat lifted. Shoot back, straighten the legs active in the feet. Hover here for a moment. So a little bit of core like I said. Now forward and up, inhale and exhale. Shoot back, hold, push, push, push the ground away. Good job. Lift, open, breathe and then use your exhale to stabilize and set for three, two, good. Lower down. Let's change the hand position, point the fingers back. It'll feel a little bit different, maybe better on your shoulders. So here, lift, send through and open. Good. Lower, pull back, hold, seat lifted if you can. Forward and through. So this is a reverse tabletop. Inhale, exhale down and back. Nice. One more time. Opening the shoulders as much as you can and lower, boom, hold, retracting the shoulders back, strong legs for five. Good. Pull through the low belly. Four, three, two, two and one. Nice job. Send the seat forward. I'll turn profile so you can see what fun we're going to have in boat.

So while we're setting up boat, as many wrist stretches as you can do to kind of counter what we've been working on, walk the heels in, pull the thighs in toward the body, rotate the inner thighs inward as if maybe you had a block here you were squeezing, right? In fact, maybe even put your hands here in between your thighs where your knees are, lift your shins so they're maybe like parallel with the ground, pull the shoulders back, keep pushing the knees into the hands and the hands into the knees. Okay, now once you feel kind of set there, just roll the wrists, roll them out a little bit, spread the fingers, a little wrist love. So you have leg strength, core strength. You're definitely using your hip flexors. I mentioned the hips, right? I wouldn't steer you wrong. Okay, good. Bottoms of the feet together, take a little pause, lengthen the spine, breathe in, breathe out, lean into it more hip action. Maybe even do turn the hands over just to get that extra little wrist stretch. Okay, boat pose number two. So come up, bend the legs, walk the heels in, pull the shoulders back kind of proud in the upper body, lift the feet, assist by holding on now to the hamstrings. As you lift the legs, lift the legs, lift the legs as an option. And while you're holding on to the hamstrings, roll those inner thighs inward a little bit right. Point through the toes. Let's get active here. Stretch the fingers out. Hold for five. Four, three, two, lift, lift, lift, lift, lift and another bound angle. Lift the chest, lengthen the spine, breathe in, breathe out, lean. Maybe even peel the bottoms of your feet up if you can. Notice how that might just kind of roll the hip, hips open a tiny bit. Okay, next one is a crab reach. One of my favorite little moves here, feet are about hip width or a little wider. Bring the right hand back behind you. Fingers pointing back, mindful of your shoulder, pull the shoulder back. Now lift the hips up and reach the left arm up and back behind you. Good. Push up, stretch. Okay, now lower it down. Use your core to rotate. Now send the right arm forward, left hand back, press up, lower down, switching, right hand down, pressing up, full extension in the hips. Good. Lower, switch, press, strength, stretch just as promised. One more right, one more left. So pause here like a boat prep. Arm forward, right hand back, press through the feet, strong up and back, strong and like graceful, right? So there's like a little flow to it. Lower, switch, press, kind of reaching that top arm over back beyond that left hand, lower it down, really nice. Another bound angle. Inhale, lengthen. Exhale, lean. Inhale, lengthen and exhale, lean. Lengthen up again, cross the legs, a quick little twist to maybe kind of reset or ring out the back. Twist to the right, left hand on the right thigh, right hand back behind you. Nice and open in the upper body. Twist to the left, right hand to left knee, left hand back behind, address the length of the spine first and then rotate. Slowly back to center, fold over into downward facing dog pose. Nice. Good. Lift the legs up a little bit, small little circles in the hips. Good job. We're gonna walk feet forward all the way up to the front of your mat. Walk your left fingers out in front of you, straighten your right leg, bend your left, twist to the right. So you want to kind of push the right hip back, lengthen up through the spine, open the chest, inhale. Beautiful. Bring it on down, straighten the left leg, bend the right, push the chest upward, lengthen the spine to twist left. Super good.

Very nice. Bring it back down, heel toe the feet out wide, squat pose. Very, very necessary pose for the hips. Okay. Push the elbows into the inner thighs to give you some leverage to lift the chest, pausing another breath or two. Breathe in. Use your exhale to lift the seat, straighten the legs and walk your feet toward hip width, forward fold. Step your right foot back, bring your right knee down. Low lunge, bring the arms up, explore that right side. Left hand on the left thigh. Really feel for lengthening up the right thigh muscles into the hip here. Reach up and side bend to the left. Stretch as promised. Now left hand on the left thigh, rotate and twist now, twist to the left. Great. Now bring the right hand down on the outer edge of that mat, walk your left foot over toward the left, bend your right leg, reach back and grab hold of that right foot. Now lean the hips forward as you sort of keep pulling that right heel towards your seat. Flirt with that sensation. You roll the left shoulder open, so you kind of have a twisted situation going on. Okay. Now release that, keep your left foot out wide, step the right foot out wide. So lift the knee, step, squat. Keep the squat position, bring your arms out in front of you and as you exhale, come to rise. Do five nice and slow. So as you inhale, seat goes back, try to maintain a neutral spine. Lower, lower, lower. Exhale to inhale, lower. Exhale three. So good body tension up top. Two more. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in, lower down and breathe out. Okay. Lower back down, hands to the mat, forward fold. Walk the heels back toward hip width. Inhale, lengthen the spine. Exhale, fold. Step the left foot back. Little lunge play on this side. So we brought the arms up. Right hand on the right thigh, exaggerate that left arm up and over to the right. If you sit for any portion of time, right in the day, this is a really like just do this both sides once a day, and you'll, you'll feel a difference. I can almost guarantee that. Left hand on the right thigh, right hand, fans out. So you've got this really potentially lovely twist. Really nice. Now bring the left hand down, lean the body forward, figure out your knee situation, right? Make sure it's comfortable. Bend the left leg, grab hold of that foot. Bring that right foot out wide a little bit. Now lean hips forward. So deeper lunge and safely pull that heel, your left heel towards your seat. If you roll the right shoulder open, gaze up. Find that, that spot where it feels like the sweet spot. You can kind of just meander in that space for a few moments. Okay, release. Right foot's out wide, just like we had before. Left foot out wide, squat. Arms out in front. Five more nice and slow. Exhale. Good. Breathe in. Lower down. Chest up. Long spine. Breathe out. Two. Inhale. Lower. Exhale. Three. Do your best. Doesn't matter really how far down. Just make sure you're doing it. Maintaining good form as best as you can. Good. Exhale. Five. Now lower back down through your squat. Downward dog. Downward dog kind of has a moment to get out of the depth of the hips and move through the backs of the legs. Connect to the breath. Step the right foot out wide, left foot out wide, squat. Again. Maybe even like sit in that lunge, that wide lunge for a moment and then left foot. Boom. Sit down. You know, the more you do it, the more the body responds. Rise up to stand. I'm going to face you because this one might be a little tricky, but I think it's worth it because there's some fun play here with it. So I'm going to do is lower down into like maybe a halfway squat. Now there's a little pivot involved. So what you're going to do is pivot the right knee down to the mat, reach the right arm high. Now turn the right foot toward the left side of the mat and lean, lean here.

So you've got this nice, well, whatever you're feeling. There's a lot of stuff going on in this one. You can even lift your left heel. So you get a lot of bend in that ankle, a little stretch in the foot, right? And some good healthy knee flexion here. You can bring the arms up if that feels okay. Now come back out. Point the right toes back again. Try not to use your hands here unless you absolutely need to push the hips back and straighten out that left leg. So this requires some strength and stability to access that stretch. Point through the left toes or point the toes up, down or up. Good. Now use that right leg to push back into the lunge. Curl the back toes. Now you got to transition up and over to the squat. Other side. Boom. Boom. Left arm rises up. So you're doing that lunge. We were just in. Now turn that left foot toward the right side of the mat. Maybe even slide the right foot forward more than lean into it. Feel free to lift the heel. Let the knee track forward. Open up those beautiful arms of yours. Good. Come out. Point the left toes back a little half split without the hand assist. You can sit. I didn't do it on the other side, but you can sit all the way back on that heel if you'd like. Big stretch on the left toes. Point your right toes forward or up. Good. Now use that strength in the left leg to lift yourself back up. Send yourself back into squat. Get make these little adjustments, but that's the little pivot move. So we'll do it one more time, but maybe a little quicker. Right. So it's down. Reach. Cross the leg over. Lean into it. Back over. Half split. Over. Curl the back toes. Lift the knee. Wide squat. Lunge. So a stretch. Oh, a little more of a side lunge stretch. Half split. Push the hips back. Stretch that hamstring out. Back over. Lift the back knee and then wander through a little wide squat action. Hips are like maybe done by now. At least the inside. Okay. So come all the way up to stand. Okay. Okay. Let's transition into downward dog from here. You just turn, bring the hands down, use all that hip strength and mobility you've got. And we're going to send the right leg up high.

Let's open up the hip. So three legged dog, hip nice and open. We're going to transition into pigeon from here. So square the hips, plank pose, knee up by that right wrist and find the angle of the shin bone that works for your body. So now we've been working a lot on that inner hip groin space. Dominant stretch might be that outer hip now. I kind of like to stay up tall in this one. It keeps me a little more like active. If you'd like to come forward and rest in the pose more, go for it. We'll be here a couple of breaths. You want to make sure that that right foot and ankle are pretty active, almost like so much that you're trying to bring your right toes toward your shin. Okay. Now curl the back toes, lift that back knee up. It's almost like you're in plank. Set the arms, lift the right leg up and open three legged dog. Set the right foot back behind you. Boom. Similar to where we began, right? Little flip dog fun. Back over to three legged dog. Right leg lifts, right foot down, left leg up, breathe in, open that hip. Good. Squaring the hips, plank pose. So you bring the knee in and start the descent. Left knee toward the left wrist, immediately flexing that left foot. Find a good landing spot. So you can balance that the need, right? The absolute necessity to create tension to hold the pose together safely and then balance it with just this real nice, easy way. It's nice, easy going nature. Same exit as before, curl the back toes, lift that right knee. So it's active. Lift the left leg up into the body, three legged dog into an optional foot dog. Bent leg or straight right leg, push up and open up here. Lower back down over to downward dog with the left leg up, up, up, up, up, downward facing dog. Breathe in. Breathe out knees to the mat. We're going to thread the needle over to the left side with the right arm. Reach the right arm high. Exhale, weave it under, palm facing up. See if you can set that right shoulder down onto the floor. Maybe your head lands. Stretch the left arm forward. Just give yourself some support. Left hand comes back to push you up and out. Reach the right arm high. Let's try the other side. Left arm reaches. Send it under. Set the left shoulder down. Slide that right hand forward for a little extra support. Sit heavy on the outer edge of that left shoulder. Good. Push yourself back up and out. That left arm rises high and bring it down. Good job. Take a cow pose. Sit here for just a moment. Cat pose just for a moment. Untuck the toes. Give yourself a generous child's pose. Still kind of like a pretty significant hip stretch, hip posture. Let your mind just kind of like wander freely.

Stretch from each noticing to the next. Push up to a momentary kneeling pose. We're going to come down to our back body. We have a couple more friends to visit here. Lower down. Use your core, your abdominals to lower, lower, lower. Bring the knees in. Take them wide. Not almost because it's what we're doing. It's a happy baby prep. Bring your knees really wide and take the hands on the insides of the thighs. Wrap the fingers around the shin bones just below the knee. Now the arms being straight are going to kind of like hold. Now you don't really have to do much here. Stay here or slide the hands somewhere along the shins, the ankles, the outer edges of the feet for happy baby. Try to keep your back pretty grounded, your low back all the way through the back of your head. You can wander a little side to side. Back in that kind of groin space, hip area. Now extend the left leg out and keep the right knee in tight to the body. You can even grab the left. Use your left hand to grab hold of the outer edge of the right foot. Pull that right knee in a little bit towards center and then like, like so, like draw that right knee in, lift the head and shoulders up sort of like we were in pigeon. You want to go deeper, go deeper. We'll switch sides now. So extend that left or right leg out, hug the left in, grab hold of the outer edge of that left foot safely. Of course, pull that left knee in toward the midline and then pull in. Feel that little stretch you might be able to access and you're using a little bit of that core to hold you up. Okay, both knees in. Total release. You've done enough. Great job. You're awesome. Bring the feet down. Let's even do one last little resting pose addressing the hip. So that reclined bound angle pose. If you'd rather straighten your legs, straighten your legs, but let's take a well-earned rest. Maybe even bring your hands up to the ribs, belly, your heart, somewhere where you just feel kind of connected to yourself, a little more intimate connection. From your breath to your body, to your thoughts, just see about letting everything go. There's a really nice short quote goes like this. And I said to my body softly, I want to be your friend. It took a long breath and replied, I have been waiting my whole life for this. So it's just a nice reminder. Body's always ready for you to come home and give us some attention. Connect and breathe and move. Let's begin to exit all the little moves you like to make head move side to side, maybe a little gentle windshield wiper. Make our way up to sit. You could sit with your legs crossed if you'd like. Love to bring the hands here as a closing gesture, forehead to fingertips. I appreciate you. Namaste. See you next time.