I’ve been wondering for a long time why the most requested pose - by far -in my yoga classes is the hip opener. I think I finally figured out why.There are physical, mental and spiritual reasons behind it. For example, we are more sedentary than ever and many people sit all day at work. Taking care of a baby or toddler can also be a cause of back pain. Aging has no mercy on our bodies either, and once seniors experience arthritis and their muscles become atrophied, it can cause tightness in the hips and weakness in the muscles that will lead to new pain.It also seems that we store emotions and trauma in our bodies especially in our hips. That’s why when we practice healing modalities such as yoga and meditation we feel lighter after the session.Knowing all this, I had two questions in my head:1. Why do we store emotions and trauma in the hip area, especially in the psoas?2. What’s the relations between back pain, trauma and tightness in the hips?The psoas muscle connects the torso to the legs and brings stability to your body. It helps you walk, sit, stand up, fold forward, take the stairs and bike. It is also connected to your diaphragm which is the main breathing muscle. It is also connected to your reptilian brain, via the spine, that is primitive and the oldest part of the brain. This is where the amygdala is located and it is responsible for our fight or flight response and decision making.It is also connected to our sympathetic nervous system and spinal cord. We depend on it to survive. Hence when we get stressed out, our sympathetic nervous system gets activated and this specific muscle gets tight and contracted as a defence mechanism. Tightness in this muscle can lead to some pain in your shoulders, in your spine including upper, middle or lower back. Now that you know what’s happening behind the scenes, I hope you understand theimportance of working on your hips. Try it and if you feel the difference, share the video with one person you think might benefit from it.