Hip

IWhile leading a live stream Yin class two days after the 2020 Presidential election, I instructed my students to move into Dragon pose which is the Yin term for Lizard pose, a deep hip and groin opener that gets right into the joint. It stretches the back leg’s hip flexors and quadriceps and with slight adjustments can help work deeply into hip socket.

Mobility in my hips is my superpower.  Cow Face, Butterfly, Easy Pose, Pigeon Pose, Open Three-Legged Downward Facing Dog, Frog Pose, Lizard ….  All easily accessible to me.

However, on this day as I moved into Dragon (Lizard), and held the pose for about 5 minutes (which is part of the Yin 3 Pillars – holding the pose for 2-6 minutes to work deeply into the joint), I noticed that moving into this pose and staying in it was difficult.  It was sticky.  It required my full attention. As I moved in and out to find that sweet spot that would allow me to settle and open up,  I had a sudden rush of emotion.  It sourced from my pelvic floor, traveling up to my throat where my words caught as I was guiding the class.  Tears bubbled up, threatening to release down my face.

Deep hip openers are known for bringing forth emotion helping to cleanse the body of deep emotional stress.

When we are physically threatened, our natural response to that threat is to draw our knees to our chest and curl up into a fetal pose for protection. The same goes for an emotional hit.  Our inclination is to retreat to that same fetal pose to weep and guard ourselves. Add to that our stay-at-home status during the pandemic year where we were sitting more, moving less.

The action of drawing the knees in starts at the hips. The muscles are tightly clenched but never fully released. This lingering grasp of the hips not only traps muscular tension but emotional tension too.

Whether it is one traumatic event or multiple small events, the feelings of fear, anxiety, and sadness are stored at the hips until we bring them to the surface and allow a release with these deep hip openers. The longer the emotion is suppressed, the tighter the grasp creating stickiness and limiting range of motion.

But it goes much further than the hip storing the emotion.  It is higher up, in the jaw.

Dem Bones, the spiritual song composed by James Weldon Johnson and his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson in its own way, was prophetic to the body connection.  “The toe bone is connected to the foot bone…”  can take a leap to “the jaw bone is connected to the hip bone”.

As a practicing doula in the late 1990s and early 2000s, I would guide laboring women to relax their mouth, jaw and throat to open up the pelvic floor as part of a generalized relaxation response.  Typically, this required sound, low and deep, to help aid that action.  Try it.  Breathe out with a low, resonating sound.  Your jaw releases.

When we experience stress, a common response is to clench or “set”  the jaw and grind your teeth (which frequently happens at night, but can also subtly happen during the day).  This can cause a chain reaction into the neck and shoulders.  Something we can easily associate and make sense of due to the proximity of the shoulders and neck to the jaw.  Having that stress present in the hips takes a bit of exploration.

A 2009 study conducted in Germany showed that myofascial release of the TMJ joint significantly increased range of motion in the hip joints. This was true for participants both with and without chronic pain. Additionally, voluntarily clenching the jaw reduced hip joint mobility for all subjects. 

What can we do to release the stress from our jaw?

There are numerous methods to explore.  However, the first step is to just notice your daily habits.  How are you holding your jaw when doing repeated tasks such as checking email, sitting at your computer, attending those Zoom meetings, driving your car, watching the news…..and take note that all of the above has us in a seated position.  See the connection?

How do you hold your jaw while practicing asana in yoga?  We always guide students to be mindful to not hold your breath during a pose, to let your breath guide you into and out of poses.  Take it to the next step.  Practice placing the tip of your tongue behind the front two teeth.  This move requires your jaw to release. It is subtle, and you can do it without your yoga neighbor even noticing. You can also do this in your day to day activities.

For chronic jaw tightness (waving hands wildly here!), find a physical therapist who specializes in temporomandibular (TMJ) dysfunction.  I was in PT for over 8 months, working on my chronic jaw issues.  Making great strides, that moment while teaching Yin caught me off guard.  I was certain my mind-body connection was in high gear.  But the stress of the election (lead up, election day, and the post-election day waiting game) was what tipped me over the edge.  I was manifesting that anxiety right back into my unconscious default of setting my jaw during the day and increased grinding at night and storing it in my hips.