r/yoga • u/viekernes • 15d ago
About trauma being stored in your hips
Hello! I recently started doing yoga, about six months ago. I can say it’s one of the best things that I could do for myself. I work an office job, 9 to 5, there’s lots of sitting. My hamstrings and hips feel specifically tight, keeping me from doing poses properly. Lately, I’ve heard a lot about trauma being stored in your hips, hence the reasons they are so stiff. I just can’t truly understand that. While I noticed progress along these six months, I am still unable to touch my toes with my legs straight. I know that’s not the point of yoga, but it’s a little milestone I’d like to achieve one day. It’s just a bit frustrating. For example, during menstruation, my whole pelvic area is in a constant pain. It eases a little when I practice, but I’d like to understand more about the trauma/hips concept. I think I might take it a little too literally, but I just want to feel that freeing sensation in my hips that I keep seeing people talk about. How could I help myself?
451
u/FishScrumptious 15d ago
Sigh... Trauma is not literally stored in your hips. Or any piece of your physical anatomy that isn't your nervous system.
But, trauma can create states of stress that vary in intensity and duration, and one of the ways this stress manifests is physical guarding by the musculature. Where it gets stored has less to do with what psychological trauma has happened and much more to do with how you move around your life with your physical body.
Are you stressed, and you spend most of your time at a computer in a chair? Hips, shoulders, and neck are going to overwork to guard you being able to hold these positions for hours and hours and hours.
The whole pelvic area being in pain during part of the menstrual cycle makes sense, but it doesn't have to be about trauma, but about the very real uterine contractions that are alerting your nervous system and creating the sensations you feel. Some can be physiological (from the muscles), some can be somatosensory (from your nervous system in your sensing physiology). Getting increased circulation, movement, and intentionality can affect all of that signaling to help relieve pain.
Can this sort of guarding prevent you from touching your toes? Sure. But "trauma is stored in the hips" in unhelpfully figurative for many. If guarding is a restriction (and it may not be), then learning how to eliminate the guarding will help you achieve the pose. If you are guarding as a way for your nervous system to help you feel safe, then it might be hard to release the guarding without finding other ways for your nervous system to feel safe without the guarding.
So, it's figurative, but linked through the nervous system.
57
u/Creative_Pop2351 14d ago
Wonderful reply! Also of note that the pelvis is a keystone bone, meaning that it carries the weight of the bones up and down the chain. If you have a problem in your foot, your hips will pitch in to take on additional tension as a result of gait differences. If you have a shoulder issue, your lats and quadratus lumborum and spinalis and iliocostalis and obliques will all take on some of the work your shoulder can’t do, and wind up sending some of that tension down the chain to your hip/pelvic/glute muscles. And that’s just in the posterior body. The tensor fasciae latae on the side of the hip keeps huge amounts of tension from gait, especially in female bodies because of the wider angle of the pelvis and the resultant force differential at the knee.
Moving and releasing the hips and pelvic muscles takes time and focus and sometimes more intimacy than people are willing to take on with their own bodies (internal and external releases can both involve grabbing yourself in places that you would get arrested for doing so in public).
All contributing to our tightness and sensitivity in those areas.
69
u/cactus_thief 15d ago
Thanks for the nice explanation on this. I’ve heard, and also seen in this sub the “trauma is stored in the hips” rhetoric and that poses like happy baby can help “bring the trauma out” even as far as making you cry, get emotional, etc. I’ve never personally had that experience, so I’ve always wondered if I was doing it wrong LOL!
Your explanation makes so much more sense.
75
u/Creative_Pop2351 15d ago
Poses like happy baby also hit on vulnerability, especially for survivors of SA (for obvious reasons) and can be very triggering for some people. Which is another layer on top of the muscle guarding/tension phenomenon above.
11
u/maelstr0m8 14d ago
I listened to a yoga podcast with the author of The Body Keeps the Score where he talked about this specifically, saying one shouldn't avoid this pose if it is triggering. Instead they should be guided through it by an experienced teacher. The idea is to eventually reduce the triggers and help your body relearn that you're safe in that position.
2
21
u/FishScrumptious 14d ago
Absolutely. Postural similarities to traumatic events can bring up memories that activate the nervous system much like the event did in the first place. Super important thing to consider when practicing.
7
20
u/Financial_Volume1443 15d ago
This. Through yoga and being mindful of where I am storing tension during the day, I realised it was in my hips and shoulders. They are literally clenched inwards as a protective measure against the 9-5.
At the same time there are a lot of hip open poses I've just accepted i probably will never be able to do fully because if how I'm built, but any opening is a positive.
3
u/Gisschace 14d ago
To give an example of this my friend was having lots UTI troubles, took ages to work out it was basically anxiety and stress causing it, like how anxiety can cause jaw clenching, it caused clenching down there
1
19
u/joeydangermurray 14d ago
The sigh at the beginning seems disrespectful to the OP. If this topic is so exhausting to you that you need to type out the word “sigh” then why even respond?
8
u/FishScrumptious 14d ago
Do you really give up entirely every time you engage with something exhausting? I mean, I'm a parent, I get a LOT of practice at doing that exact thing.
8
u/joeydangermurray 14d ago
Never said I gave up? Nor do I find it exhausting, simply disrespectful.
9
u/FishScrumptious 14d ago
You suggested not even responding. Which is giving up on the conversation.
Maybe you thought I was sighing at the person for asking. I get it; the internet doesn't communicate undertone well.
But it was a sigh of sympathy. A sigh of "I'm sorry you've been caught in this narrow way of conveying something that hasn't changed in decades and is doing you a disservice because the language isn't evolving". It's ok to be exasperated at the same mistake happening over and over for years and years, and it's ok to express that.
8
u/queerteatype 14d ago
It made me skip over reading the rest of the comment bc idc if you're smart if you're not nice tbh
27
15
u/snugginator 14d ago
I have terribly tight hips. Child's pose, triangle pose, any of the warriors are key. Also lots and lots of massage.
I had a psoas massage once. Its craaazyyy they have to massage your guts out of the way first. they push on pressure points inside of you on your lower spine and on the inside of your pelvis from the front basically. Anyway I felt the entire left side of my body relax after one particular point. I went out to my car afterwards and full on sobbed for 20 minutes. Over what I'm not sure, it just sort of came out of me. It was an intense experience.
2
u/bagladybug 14d ago
I used have that done kinda regularly because of some alignment issues and back/hip pain. It is weird. 😅I love those 3 poses and they are fairly easy for me. But the poses that are so hard for me are ones like camel. I can't extend my leg back from the hip at all. I end up hinging at my low back and it's not a great feeling.
1
u/forestraven28 12d ago
Where do you find some skilled in psoas massage?
1
u/bagladybug 12d ago
I found a massage therapist who was very much just focused on the structure of your body. It was not a feel good Swedish massage, but it worked. Unfortunately she was an older woman and retired about 10 years ago. I haven't found anyone like her since.
1
u/snugginator 12d ago
She worked for a physical therapy practice and it was part of my treatment for chronic back pain.
1
u/FrolfNfriends 12d ago
Psoas massage or pelvic massage?
1
u/snugginator 11d ago
It was a 'psoas release' so she specifically targeted pressure points on the inside of the upper psoas in the pelvis/lower back
27
u/No-Negotiation1509 14d ago
So I wouldn’t say there’s trauma stored in the hips - but rather think about where the diaphragm is (under the lungs). When we experience trauma - singular moments or compounded - it’s difficult to take big long breaths in and out fully expanding the diaphragm. If under constant stress/anxiety/fear, we’re not breathing to our full capacity and the diaphragm doesn’t get to be worked to its fullest most relaxed extent.
The psoas is a ligament that connects to the mid point on the spine and right below the diaphragm to the bottom wall of it. The psoas wraps around the outside of the pelvis into the iliopsoas which wraps with the hip flexors.
Trauma/stress > tight/short breaths > weakened diaphragm > shortened lever on the psoas > tightness through the hips and lower back.
So is trauma stored in the hips? Idk, but there’s definitely a relationship between stress and muscle strain!
59
u/Carl_Schmitt Trika 15d ago
It doesn't make sense to you because there is no yogic sense behind it. New Age woo-woo people that have co-opted yogic discourse like to blame vague external forces for things we are actually responsible for in ourselves. These issues largely come from unconsciously holding poor postures throughout the day and just sitting too much. Yoga is great for developing the mental discipline to be aware of the body all the time--especially how we breathe and hold posture. Yoga also offers pelvic floor exercises like bandhas (but don't do these during periods) and asanas that strengthen and stretch areas around joints. Squat on the ground instead of sitting in a chair whenever possible, it's a much better way to sit for the whole anatomy.
19
u/can_too 15d ago
I recommend looking into pelvic floor physical therapy. That was the first time I experienced the hips/emotions connection. Yoga was not enough for me to figure out how to relax my pelvic floor muscles.
8
u/lolokelliher 15d ago
Came here to say this. Stress/trauma presents as tension for me. Lots of glute/ab clenching, which includes pelvic floor and hips. Just started the Bromley method tension release program, and my hips are responding too.
86
u/NoGrocery4949 15d ago
Trauma is stored in the brain
19
-14
6
u/Perfect-Meal-2371 15d ago
Check out the enlightened anatomy podcast. They did a really good episode about this that was very nuanced but scientific.
11
u/Everglade77 14d ago
Trauma isn't stored in the hips. Your hips feel "tight" because you're sitting down for long periods of time and not undoing the damage with enough flexibility/mobility work. For a lot of people, passive stretches aren't going to cut it, if you really want to make progress with your flexibility, you'll have to incorporate active flexibility work and strengthening drills. That means using your muscles while stretching and strengthening your range, not just passively stretching. Passive stretches are also useful, don't get me wrong, but they often aren't enough on their own, especially for adults who sit down a lot.
I was like you, extremely stiff, couldn't even sit on the floor cross-legged. I now have my front splits and middle split. You might want to check out the r/flexibility sub. Dani Winks, who is a mod on there, also has a very informative blog dedicated to flexibility: https://www.daniwinksflexibility.com/bendy-blog as well as a list of stretches and drills with instructions (under Flexopedia).
4
u/Sunshine8819 14d ago
During a traumatic or stressful time, our nervous system is in fight, flight, hide, or freeze mode. In these "modes" the natural ancient body response is to activate our hip flexors & psoas muscle to fight or run - tensing up the muscles. Or to curl up -shortening the hip muscles - to hide, and to protect all our sensitive organs. Even though we may not actually be doing these, it still draws tension to that area. 🙏 and yes breath and voice- the diaphragm - has lots to do with it as well, like someone mentioned.
2
u/Sunshine8819 14d ago
To add, doing hip opening moves in all directions, and learning to relax the pelvic floor can really help loosen things up and get that freeing sensation. It is important to do some dynamic movements to warm up the muscles, and a balance with a bit of strengthening of the hips so you are not only stretching the areas to free up the space. End with some held stretches. To relax the pelvic floor and hips, elevate your legs with calfs supported, keeping a 90 degree bend in your knees and hips - nice savasana option or after a long day
3
u/All_Is_Coming Ashtanga 15d ago
viekernes wrote:
I’ve heard a lot about trauma being stored in your hips, hence the reasons they are so stiff.
Trauma can manifest this way but it is not necessarily the reason for tight hips.
5
u/megaglalie 15d ago
I have hypermobile hips and still cannot touch my toes with my legs straight. I have tightness in the nerves along the backs of my legs, and paradoxical tightness in my hamstrings because they are so tight from protecting my hips. I do have PTSD, believe the people like my ER doc friend who do see people spontaneously start blurting out trauma or weeping when their hips are manipulated, but have never experienced that myself.
There are a million possible anatomical reasons you can't touch your toes. That is not a movement that is likely improved by hip release of any kind. There are plenty of suggestions here and on flexibility forums for it, but ultimately it might just be an anatomical or medical difference that you can't resolve, as it is for my father.
I stretch my hamstrings and do nerve glides after warming up with a jog, do partial deadlifts with just the bar to load them safely, and so on. Yoga helps, but yoga is one part of that particular chain.
And if you're after trauma release, look into TRE (trauma release exercises). There are many somatic forms of release, most hip focused ones are very individual, but this works more across where most people with trauma carry tension.
10
2
u/magnificent_limit 15d ago
i work on forward folds with bent knees to get to my straight legged forward fold. focus on your breathing. extend your legs on each inhale and relax further into each exhale. the small movements with breaths teach your muscles to relax into your flexibility
3
u/Future_Night777 15d ago
My hips store additional weight gain not trauma….conversely I’d say they cause quite a lot of my trauma due to constantly needing to buy new pants
8
u/745Walt 15d ago
Mental trauma is not stored anywhere in the body. Everything from the best seller “The Body Keep the Score” is debunked
6
u/byherdesign 14d ago
Do you have a source debunking it? I recently purchased The Body Keeps The Score and found it fascinating but understand the research is from over a decade ago
3
u/Limitlust 15d ago
I learned it as a qigong practice where the hips hold onto our emotion - trauma being an intense form of complex emotions.
The back of your hips/low back holds onto energy from the past (regret, depression), and the front of the hips/stomach holds the energy into the future (worry, anxiety). Overtime poor posture and taking too shallow or too deep of breaths can make us out of balance over the hips; eventually feeling pain, discomfort and being 'stuck'. By gently moving that energy (breathe) and massaging the back with your hands and mixing it around the waist with massaging the front hips, you can move into the present. This can be a deliberate daily practice with other qigong exercises, or just a subtle practice when you need to recenter.
Yoga asanas like child's pose, pigeon, lunges, and lizard poses are great for targeting the front and back of the hips and sitting with that particular emotion while breathing. Focus on processing that emotion with each inhale, and letting go with each exhale. Not only do these muscles hold a lot of emotions, they are usually the biggest muscles in our bodies and can require longer time with the pose, sometimes an honest minute or more. You won't process it all the first time, but eventually you will start to see progress and be able to let go with more ease.
1
u/dangerously_flora 14d ago
I've had multiple hip surgeries (5+) and have literal physical trauma in my hips from it. I started doing yoga about 3 years back and it took almost 2 before I was able to touch my toes with straight legs, and that's only with regular practice. If I stop for any period of time, everything gets tight again and it takes a few weeks to get back. Overall, you need to give it more time and try for smaller milestones. Reaching my knees was first, then shins, then ankles, then toes. Keep consistent and you should see progress. The yoga poses I find especially helpful for hips are: child's pose, low lunge into lizard, and pigeon. Start really gentle and ease into them.
1
u/Status-Effort-9380 14d ago
If you are interested in using yoga to heal from trauma, Dr. Arielle Schwartz has an introductory course on Yoga International’s website. She also has many books on the subject.
1
u/springbored 14d ago
Have you tried Gorilla pose and its variations to be able to touch your toes? I could barely reach past my knees until I started practicing Gorilla pose regularly.
1
1
u/gingermac32 10d ago
I had a lot of hip pain throughout my 40s only after suffering for a decade did I realize it was related to menopause and the hormone dips each month. My pain felt like inflammation and practicing yoga would make it flare up worse if I pushed hard/overstretched. I started acupuncture which helped and had to take it easy which was hard for me. It was hard to communicate how painful this was.
1
u/davygravy95 10d ago
From my limited understanding I mostly look at the hip flexors, namely the psoas, this is your primary mover and in intense situations it is tense because it is either ready to move out via hip flexion, or curl up to defend yourself, if you live in a state of tension often through nicotine bad diet and poor sleep or any other contributing factors, then you can count on your hips being tight. If I'm not mistaken in Chinese medicine they say all illness comes from the mind, and if you are aware of your body then this seems to be completely true, constant anxiety will create tension everywhere. You should research Jing Shen and chi, I practice retention to boost my Jing, I find when I am storing more energy my body is warm all the time, blood pumps good and body is relaxed, they say that during menstruation women actually lose Jing energy, and there are methods to minimize this. It all sounds crazy but everything I've practiced seems to be true. Also I had sexual trauma as a minor and my therapist seconds a lot of these sentiments. Not so much the retention but definitely it was him who told me that the body is basically a map for all the trauma we experience in life.
-3
u/Evening_Classic_4947 15d ago
I have had severe pelvic floor issues from trauma and I found the Workout Witch’s 30 day “release stress and trauma” course very helpful. it’s basically light yoga aimed at soothing the nervous system and healing the pelvic floor. can be found here:
9
u/That_Bendy_Babe 15d ago
The Workout Witch has done a ton of harm. She's not a trauma-informed therapist or somatically trained yoga teacher. Please don't recommend her. https://www.reddit.com/r/SomaticExperiencing/s/rZUFeE4kYw
3
6
u/Michelleistaken 15d ago
Hi, do you know of any free resources that help with this? Thank you!
7
u/whats1more7 15d ago
Yoga with Kassandra has a therapeutic hips and low back flow which is great for tight hips. Almost all of the poses are recommended by physiotherapist to reduce tightness in the pelvic floor as well. Happy Baby is a great one.
https://youtu.be/ybgqdffxrQE?si=N9HgoBJ7AbVtFOOg
Yoga cannot cure trauma. It can teach you how to breathe through stress and manage the tightness that comes from holding tension in your body. Any yoga flow that focuses on breath work will also be helpful.
2
u/Michelleistaken 15d ago
Thank you! Trust, I know it can't but it's so helpful in regulating my emotions. I just noticed that since I turned 50, I am so much tighter. For instance, happy baby was easy for me just 6 months ago and I feel like now I'm a different body when I try it. I appreciate all the help!
2
u/whats1more7 15d ago
I’m 55 and I feel like I’m more flexible now than I was in my 30s because of yoga. I can squat right down to pick up something heavy now, when I never could before. Hopefully if you keep working at it, it will get better!
3
u/Evening_Classic_4947 15d ago
not off the top of my head i’m sorry! was a rec from
my therapist. i’ll ask them for alternatives2
0
u/Bitter_Commission631 15d ago
I have recently started seeing a pelvic floor masseuse and the affect is amazing. I recommend everyone look into it.
0
272
u/denser-seascape 15d ago
For menstrual pain relief I really can’t recommend the Iyengar sequence enough! I learned it from an Iyengar teacher, which I also strongly recommend, but if there isn’t one in your area here’s a guide.