Tight hips and hamstrings are one of the main issues in today’s society. In almost every class of mine I hear students and clients complain about their hammies and hips. Even amongst yoga teachers the hips are some unhappy body parts besides our back and neck.

So what to do to alleviate this pain? “Stretch your hips!” “Don’t stretch your hips, strengthen them!” “Yoga is a great way to open your hips.” Or even “Yoga will damage your hips.”

So many opinions, so many different informations.

What should you do when all you want is to be pain-free and mobile? 

I started yoga about seven years ago when my hips hurt so much that I could not even get an hour full of sleep because of that pain. I went to four different doctors and none of them could help. So I started to do yoga online. It got better but I needed more, so I searched for a yoga teacher and guess what …i couldn’t find one. Either they were singing mantras all day long or they were snuggling on their bolsters and pillows meditating their life away.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good snuggle session and I use my bolster a lot and I do indeed meditate a couple of times a week, but I needed more. I have been always into competitive sports and I like to sweat while exercising. I own more kettlebells, barbells and sandbags than highheels. I love lifting free weights and my absolute favorite exercise is the Romanian Deadlift. Oh, those Romanian Deadlifts. So all those restorative and spiritual yoga classes just didn´t cut it.

To solve my dilemma I started the yoga teacher training at the Vinyasa Yoga Academy Germany- not to become a teacher but to get rid of my painful hips…and now I am a yoga teacher and I love it. Love it, love it, love it so much.

But back to your hips. If you are in serious pain go see a doctor – a good one, who can rule out any serious issues. 

And then? Start opening those hips and lengthen your hamstrings. For example by doing dragon pose and forward folds. I highly recommend you to also strengthen your body by lifting weights and last but not least relax your hips.

Relaxing and supporting your hips is just as important as all the movements we can do for them.

Take just 10 minutes each day to completely relax your hips and your nervous system by doing some restorative poses. You got me there: Restorative Yoga is a great way to relax and calm down. After strengthening and lengthening your muscles, tissues and tendons.

And like Shakira said: “Hips don`t lie”…just listen to them when they tell you something.

Stay wild – stay gold