Today’s blog is about the hips. Now EndorphinGirl™ hopes this is not a sensitive topic. But she has honestly never had an appreciation for hips, well her hips, until now. They were always sort of viewed as getting in the way, no pun intended. But they are much more than that as she’s been reminded several times in recent months by important people!
Bloggees may well be aware that the hips carry a lot of weight, again no pun intended. They are a woman’s center of gravity, where she finds balance, and frankly where she also carries her stress. Some would even say where she carries her survival stress. Stored in the hips are stresses related to relationships, emotions of guilt and fear, making money, and sometimes past unpleasant memories. EndorphinGirl™ frankly never gave the hips too much thought other than when trying to wriggle into a pair of skinny jeans while lying on the bed with feet dangling over the bed's side as she attempted to zip!
The hips are generally a big space (again no pun intended) and they have very strong muscles directly above and below them. So they can store a lot. Not only the upper and lower body parts (haha) but all those aforementioned stresses.
So in an endorphin-way no doubt it’s important to stretch, stretch, stretch the hip area to open it up and release some of those heavy stresses. EndorphinGirl™ has several favorite stretches she’ll describe in some paragraphs down. But first, it’s time to explore a bit more about the hip!
We know how important the hips are for the girlie gender. Here’s what else might be interesting about the hip! While Merriam-Webster's on-line dictionary definition aligns with EndorphinGirl™’s description above, Urban dictionary defines hip as “Cooler than cool, the pinnacle of what is "it". Beyond all trends and conventional coolness. Not to be mistaken for "deck."
Yeah! that definition seems to
make a lot of sense. It clearly sounds like a definition related to the hip-endowed
species. “Cooler than cool.” Yes. “The pinnacle of what is ‘it’.” Yes. “Beyond all trends and conventional coolness.” Yes. (and surely “not to be mistaken for deck” means something ‘hip’
too, so she’ll just leave it at that.)
So perhaps rather than all the focus on a 'Lean In' as described by S. Sandberg which is not yet fully convincing to EndorphinGirl™, maybe it’s time to 'Hip Out'. Think about it, when you 'hip out' you push your heart forward and stand tall, yet when you 'lean in' you tend to hunch over. EndorphinGirl™ suggests that 'hip out' translates to a combination of the positive posture pose and what Urban Dictionary describes "the pinnacle of what is it’. Now that sounds "Cooler than cool." Yeah, just sayin’.
And what’s more, 'hip’ alone incudes over 650 words with those 3 letters. While some are compound words there are many really ‘hip’ words like hippy, ship, friendship, hippopotamus, hypnotize (okay she is just kidding with that one). With some of these words can you clearly see how they relate to a women’s center of gravity? Yes? [By the way, EndorphinGirl™ cannot recall the last time she referred to compound words in a sentence (perhaps grade school?) she had her own private chuckle over that one!]
Even idioms have a place for the word hip. Such as “shoot from the hip”, which both species can do! Or “joined at the hips” like in friendship. Or even being “hip to something” . . . further explanation not needed!
Okay so back to the endorphin-ness in this “hip” topic, which is the hip stretching part. EndorphinGirl™ has two favorite poses that help her hips. One is the ‘butterfly’ pose (aka Badha Konasana). In this pose you sit with the bottoms of your feet together and knees falling wide and try to hold the pose for up to five minutes a day; it will feel great. The other favorite pose is the double pigeon. Begin sitting down. Stack your shins like logs, so that your right foot is resting on your left knee and your right knee rests on your left foot. Flex your toes on both feet. Straighten your bottom leg if this posture feels tough because your hips are very tight. Do both sides for about three minutes each. As with any pose do it to the level of comfort. The more you do it the more supple your hips/hip area will become. These are good to do throughout the day too, particularly if your workday involves a lot of sitting.
If nothing else, one thing is clear, Shakira has it right when she sings that ‘hips don’t lie’!
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Today's image is a Hip EndorphinGirl™, courtesy of EndorphinGirl™'s son.
Until next time, keep on endorphin’.
EndorphinGirl™
[countdown 47 days]
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