How Your Hips Can Hold Onto Trauma & What To Do About It.
- 🍃The Body Sanctuary🍃
- Sep 25, 2024
- 11 min read
Understanding Hip Pain: Is It More Than Just Physical?
Achy hips, tight hips, inflammation, sciatica ... Hip pain is often viewed as a purely physical issue caused by injury, arthritis, aging, posture, genetics or other medical conditions. However, there's a growing body of evidence suggesting that our hips can hold onto more than just physical discomfort. They can store our emotional trauma, stress, and unresolved emotions, showing up not only as symptoms that affect our physical health, but also our mental and emotional well-being.
In this blog, we'll explore how trauma is held in the hips, the connection between hips and unresolved trauma, and what can be done to release these emotional burdens for greater freedom, ease and health.
You may have tried everything, from chiropractory care, to accupuncture to pain meds but pain or sense of unease persists and niggles away at you. One of the reasons chronic pain shows up in the body and persists is because it is there to - "get our attention!" Nobody has ever taught us how to connect our life experiences and the things that happen to us; the way we live our lives; the way we deal with our emotions - to our bodies. Our bodies are the echo of our minds, emotional realities and our lives. It's still sadly a new concept, but more and more as we begin to understand more about trauma and the nervous system and its effect on our overall wellbeing - we are starting to understand the importance of the mind-body connection.
Somatic Therapies and Somatic practices offer one such profound bridge between the body and the mind.
My Personal Story
This is how I, myself, came to this type of healing work. After several years teaching and practicing yoga i started to notice an achy pain in my hips. At first i thought perhaps i had over-stretched or slightly injured myself, but gradually the sensations and then pain got worse and worse and worse, to the point that i realised i was suffering from sciatica. I was to suffer with recurring bouts of excrutiating sciatica over the next few years - excrutiating to the point that i could barely walk, sit, lay down or sleep, and i was only in my early 30's.
I limped my way to numerous massage therapists, chiropractors, chinese medicine practitioners, osteopaths, physiotherapists and few gave me hope or much relief. Until thankfully i landed upon a fantastic structural osteopath. This wonderful man was able to alleviate the physical pain, but i still sensed a lingering and disturbing buzzing sensation in my hip, that i felt and knew went much deeper. It was though something, some information, memory and emotion was stuck there, working its way to the surface, and flashing its light at me.
" We begin to heal when we bring presence into our bodies "
This took me on a facinating journey around the world to discover what this hidden memory was in my hip, how could i access it?, hear what it had to say, and release it ? I wove in and out of body and transpersonal psychotherapy schools, cranial sacral therapy training, tantric bodywork and de-armouring, emotional catharsis detox retreats, TRE sessions, Osho meditations, somatic experiencing, personal therapy, Universal Healing Tao Qi Gong practices - you name it! And finally I decided to dive into Osteopathy school and specialise in weaving Osteopathy & Peter Levine's: Somatic Experiencing ( Looking at the root emotional or traumatic causes of phsical ailments ).
Sadly, or as destiny had it, Covid put a big full-stop on my planned 5 years Osteopathic studies. Instead, whilst we were trapped at home, i decided to occupy my time by investing in a seemingly unrelated intensive self-healing training. I had no idea at the time that this 2 year intensive training was going to be a profound deep-dive into some of the deepest realms of mind-body healing and subconcious exploration and unearthing. I had FINALLY found exactly what i was looking for! A way to bridge the psyche and the body, a way to communicate with the body and access the hidden doorways within her, that helped us get to the root cause, trauma or imprint held there.
This has been, and is, some of the most throurough, ingenious and deeply healing work i have ever done, although every part of my previous journey has gifted me valuable skills, and i continue to learn :-). It is such an honour to offer this work to others and see it work!
Is Trauma Held in the Hips?
The idea that our bodies hold onto trauma is not new. Trauma can manifest in different parts of the body, often as pain, tension, or other physical symptoms. The hips, being a central part of our body’s foundation, are particularly susceptible to storing emotional stress and trauma. This is largely due to their role in supporting our physical structure and movement.
Louise Hay, a renowned author in the field of mind-body healing, described the hips as representing the ability to move forward in life, metaphorically speaking. According to Hay, hip problems can signify a fear of moving forward in major life decisions or a sense of having nothing to move forward to. This emotional stagnation can manifest as tightness, pain, or discomfort in the hip area.
Emotional Trauma Held in the Hips
Physically our hips are the foundation and base of our body, our connection to earth, stability, balance and our physicality. We have to feel safe and secure in our body, in our foundations, in ourself, in our life, in order to feel we can move forward healthily or take steps towards a better life and achieving our desires.
Perhaps in order to do so - we have to work on some foundational inner peices such as our sense of belonging in life, our ancestral or parental lineges or our self-worth.
The hips serve as a storage facility for emotional tension, stress, and trauma. Our modern, sedentary lifestyles, poor posture, and tendency to suppress emotions can lead to a buildup of tension in the hip region. The psoas muscle, which connects the lower spine to the legs, is particularly notorious for holding onto emotional stress. Often referred to as the "muscle of the soul," the psoas can contract and tighten in response to stress, fear, and emotional trauma.
Many people unknowingly carry emotional burdens such as anger, control issues, and repressed emotions in their hips. This accumulation of unprocessed emotions can lead to chronic tightness and pain. All kinds of emotions and trauma can be stored in our hips, every persons body and their response to trauma is different. However it can be common that sexual traumas give rise to hip issues, sexual repression or the bodies attempt to protect itself from trauma, given the hips' proximity to the pelvic region, which is often associated with the sacral chakra (emotions and sexuality).
The Connection Between Hips and Unresolved Trauma
Our hips are physically our foundation, but they are also significant emotionally and energetically. In energetic terms, the hips are linked to the sacral chakra, the second chakra, which is believed to house our creative energy, sexuality, and emotional health. When trauma, particularly emotional or sexual, is unprocessed or unacknowledged, it can become lodged in this area, affecting both our physical and emotional state.
The sacral chakra is also associated with how we relate to our emotions and the emotions of others. If this energy center is blocked or imbalanced, it can lead to issues with intimacy, creativity, and self-expression. It's as if the emotional foundation that our hips are meant to provide becomes shaky, making it difficult to move forward with confidence and ease.
Physical and Energetic Foundations
Think of the hips as the foundation of a building. Just as a building needs a solid foundation to stand tall, our bodies need stable hips to support our movements and maintain balance.
The thickest part of our spine, the sacrum, is rooted in this area, and our weight should be evenly distributed through our hips. However, many of us carry our weight in the upper body, creating tension in the lower back and hips and making it difficult to feel grounded and secure.
The energetic implications are just as significant. When we are not fully rooted or secure in our hips, it can be challenging to feel grounded and safe in life. This lack of grounding can manifest as fear, insecurity, or a feeling of being stuck, unable to move forward in life.
When working with a clients body in a somatic bodywork session, i am aware that the right side of the body speaks of the masculine, and the left side of our body the feminine. This can be our own internal energy balance ( Masculine - our giving & our radiance, or Feminine - our recieving & our magnetism ) or experiences we have accumulated in relation to others with that dominant energy, for example partners. Especially since hips are our foundation in life - our parents or ancestral lines.
Some great questions to ask ourselves are: what are our lifes desires? What are we moving towards, and are we doing so with ease or difficulty? Do we feel stuck, and if so where, and why?
How Trauma and Unexpressed Emotions Get Stored in the Body
When we experience trauma, whether physical, emotional, or psychological, the body can respond in various ways. One way is through the activation of the vagus nerve, which plays a key role in the parasympathetic nervous system, regulating stress and relaxation responses.
When the nervous system ( including the brain ) recieves a threat that our body or safety is under attack, the body will go into high-alert and self-protection mode, this can lead to the body and psoas muscle in particular to tighten.
If a trauma is not fully processed after it has occurred, because it was too over-whelming or because we felt a lack of safety and support, it can become "stuck" in the body, leading to chronic tension, tightness, holding, pain, and a sense of disconnection and feeling trapped.
This is especially true for the hips, which are closely linked to the psoas muscle and the pelvic region. The hips are also connected to the throat through the fascial system, which is a network of connective tissue that runs throughout the body. This connection means that releasing tension in the hips can sometimes involve opening up the throat, using sound and breath to release trapped energy and emotions. This is one of the key reasons why i encourage and introduce vocal toning, vagus nerve toning, and sound into these sessions. Even if it initially feels weird or embarrassing, It really can work wonders.
How to Heal ?
Now we have explained the when, what, where and why's of hip pain, let's look at some of the How's of how to heal it.
In my Somatic Bodywork or Online Coaching sessions i listen to both what my client and their body speaks to me. My work is always trauma-informed, as it should be in this type of work, and it is directed by a clients own body, i am never forcing a body to reveal or release something it is not ready to - even if the mind is desiring of this ( this can often cause more harm than good, and re-traumatisation ). A huge key in this work, that is profoundly healing in itself, is befriendng the body. Body has her own living intelligence and time to reveal so we work with what she is safe to reveal and open. Often there is gentle work to do of reconnecting body and mind and bringing awareness to that inter-relationship. Then once we have befirneded and gained the trust of the body and nervous system we can move safely into deeper realms of somatic work.
The Role of Sacred Sensuality and Reclaiming It
For women, and female bodies in particular, when it comes to our hips - reclaiming them as a source of power, sensuality, and creativity is an essential step in healing. Sacred sensuality is much more than just a new-age concept; it has deep roots in ancient traditions.
In many African cultures, women have long taught girls hip movements, dance, and certain arts to ensure good energy and blood flow in the hips for fertility, health, hormone balance, and sexuality.
Belly dancing, is also powerful practice for the female body, promoting flexibility, strength, and a healthy flow of energy in the hips.
Reclaiming this connection to our hips can be empowering, allowing us to embrace our bodies' natural rhythms and release the traumas that may be stored in this area. It’s about more than just physical movement; it’s about reconnecting with the deep wisdom and power that resides in the hips.
How to Resolve Trauma Stored in the Hips
If you suspect that you are holding trauma or emotional stress in your hips, there are several practices that can help release this tension and restore balance.
Somatic and Slow Forms of Yoga
Somatic yoga, yin yoga, and other slow, mindful forms of yoga focus on releasing tension from the fascia, the connective tissue that surrounds muscles and organs. These practices encourage a gentle release of stored emotions and help to open up the hips gradually, allowing for deep healing. 3 Yoga Asana's that are great for this are: Happy Baby Pose, Hare Pose (wide-legged - pictured below), and Squatting (Malasana) or One-legged Pigeon pose ( Kapotasana).
I recomend to gently move into the asana and then get comfortable, hanging out there for 1-6 minutes, breathing and softening into your hips with each breath. As you breathe you can softly softly, gently move your hips, noticing and allowing any and all sensations. You may notice sensations beginning to 'bubble' up, - if you can stay present with and feel these sensations fully, they may often turn into releases of emotion and an energetic flow.
Dance
Dance, as mentioned above, especially forms like belly dancing, can be incredibly effective for releasing trapped energy in the hips. The rhythmic, flowing movements increase blood flow and circulation, helping to release tension and promote a sense of freedom and joy.
Sounding the Hips
There is a fascinating connection between the hips, pelvis, and throat. Sounding and opening the throat while moving the hips can help release trapped energy and pain in the hips. This practice also tones the vagus nerve, which helps regulate the body’s stress response and promotes relaxation.
Somatic Slow Movement
Even more effctive than dance, is listening to the authentic movements of our own body, coupling slow, intuitive movement with breath and sound can be particularly effective. Breathing into the hips, allowing them to move freely, and expressing any sensations or emotions through sound can help the hips "speak" and release what they are holding onto.
Somatic Bodywork
Working with a trained Somatic Bodywork practitioner can be very beneficial. At The Body Sanctuary in Gozo, i use a variety of specialist trauma-informed techniques to help release tension and trauma stored in the body. If you resonate with this article, you are welcome to reach out and we can help you to decode whatever it is that is stored in your hips, and work through it together with a healing plan to best support you.
Somatic Therapies
Somatic Therapies are a way to work remotely from anywhere in the world and still get the immense benefits of this work. Tailored to each individual's unique body and story, these sessions go to an often deeper level that the bodywork sessions as we begin to bring more of the psyche, nervous system and subconscious processes into play as we track through the body. We will look at some of the key elements at play within you, and explore what is it you wish to move forwards to, before working gently with all the peices that may be holding you back or blocking you.
Whether you choose to do these sessions in-person or online, these therapies can help you understand, process and heal deep layers of trauma from your hips, opening the door to greater energy flow, embodiment, life fulfilment, health, and vitality.
Or read more about these sessions HERE
Happy Hips
Our hips are more than just joints that enable us to walk, run, and sit. They are a powerful storage facility for our emotions and trauma, often holding onto unresolved issues that can affect our entire being. By understanding this connection and engaging in practices that release stored tension and trauma, we can reclaim our hips as a source of strength, creativity, sensuality and freedom. If this resonates with you, consider exploring some somatic therapies and practices to unlock the full potential of your hips and to live your life with greater ease and joy.
To read client reviews about this work you can check out our google listing 'The Body Sanctuary - Gozo' ( on the island of Gozo/ Malta ) or our Facebook Page
All Somatic Coaching Therapies can be accessed ONLINE from anywhere in the world. Just drop us a message HERE
Thankyou for reading
Laura
xx
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