Hip Opening Somatic Yoga

Somatic yoga is about getting out of your head and into your body. When you apply somatic principles to your yoga practice, the focus is on finding what feels good in YOUR body. The focus is not on the end result (the pose), proper alignment, or mimicking exactly what the yoga instructor is doing on screen (unless that feels good in your body). Instead, you are invited to turn your attention inward allowing your sensations, feelings, or impulses to guide your movement. Your body becomes a compass, guiding you towards what feels good in your body.

Based on the feedback from your body, you may decide to stay in a posture longer, skip a movement that doesn’t resonate with you, adjust the pace of the movement, back out of a posture to stay in a range of motion that feels better in your body, and so on. While your instructor will provide guidance and variations, the practice is ultimately yours to tailor. This shows a deep level of love, compassion, and respect for your body.

You are invited to be a curious explorer on your mat. The beauty of somatic practices is that you’ll likely find that you take what you’ve discovered on your mat into your everyday life.

Finally, somatic practices can rewire habitual movement patterns that can lead to tension, discomfort, pain, and more. The more you show up on your mat for somatic movement practices, the more information your brain receives. This input can help create new movement patterns that are more functional and sustainable, leading to less pain, tension, and discomfort.

Although this class focuses on the hips, it’s really a somatic yoga experience for the whole body. Movement in one area, influences movement in another area. I invite you to keep that in mind as you move today.