with Doug Keller

Yoga poses that target the hip joints are among the quintessential yoga asana practices. They’re vital for increasing our general comfort with all forms of sitting, for supporting low back and knee health, and for releasing pent-up tension in the pelvic area from emotional stress and even from past trauma.

Hip opening yoga poses also have a significant role in maintaining the health of the hip joints’ cartilage in an era in which hip replacements are becoming more and more commonplace.

At the same time, hip openers can be overdone! It is essential to learn how to do them safely and effectively while considering the unique features of your hips.

In this course, renowned yoga therapist and author Doug Keller will show you how to practice to gain the benefits of hip openers while avoiding common mistakes.

A healthy hip practice demands moderation and self-awareness, an appreciation of the nature and unique needs and individuality of  hip joints, and awareness of warning signs of stress or problems.

There’s a lot of variation from person to person in how our hips are built, and each of us has a relatively unique set of limitations, which is very helpful to recognize. That said, we ALL can benefit from hip practices at any age — in fact, it’s essential that we do so while respecting our own boundaries.

Learn how to watch out for common red flags that will undermine the health of your hip joints, including repetitive overdoing of hip opening poses and pushing the extremes of range of motion in an aggressive practice, often combined with hip stress from other athletic activities.

Doug will show the principles of safe practice for some of the quintessential and foundational ‘hip’ opening yoga poses. Learn how to make real progress with hip opening while minimizing the risk of injury or long-term wear and tear.

What You Will Learn

• Key anatomical features and patterns that may indicate variations in your hip structure that could lead to trouble if you’re not aware of them
• Common postural habits that undermine the health of the hip joint and how to counteract them
• Key principles of alignment for safe practice of the quintessential hip openers in yoga
• How to tailor the basic actions for opening and stretching your hips to the structure of your own hips
• How to recognize the warning signs of hip strain – before something goes wrong!