Thank you for this discussion of "hip release" and how "emotional release" sometimes accompanies it. Although I haven't experienced this myself, it's helpful to tune into this explanation so that I can better understand students who might experience this. Thanks, Ali!

Kate M Yes, there are lots of us who stayed with yoga because of this! My first foray into yoga, ~15 years ago in NYC, I was having so much unexpected emotional outpouring after yoga classes. I would find myself crying and thinking of lots of old things that hadn't I had forgotten about, and I had no idea what was going on. Then one evening, when lying in Savasana after a class I almost spiraled into a panic attack. I calmed myself down, and rested. But I was like, "OK what the heck is going on here"... (cont' below)

So after class I came to my teacher and told her what had been happening. She said, "Yeah...we have been doing a lot of hip-opening..." And I was like "I don't get it, what is that..." She explained a bit about how we store emotions in our hips, and that might account for the releases I have been experiencing. I had never conceived of the physical and emotional being tied in like this 🤯 And off I went into what has become a lifetime journey to finding release through these poses! These releases are such a part of my practice now, and for that I am so grateful! I will always have "stable" hips, but I work on that area a lot for regular maintenance! :)

Elizabeth M thank you for sharing your experience with this! The body-mind-heart... a continuum of experience...