Tight hips, stiff ankles, cranky backs... When things aren't going the way we would like them to, then we are often quick to start blaming them. But what if the very things that bother us actually serve a purpose that we just never saw?
Let's take a "tight hip" as an example. First of all, before making such statement - if I want to do something about it - I should ask myself "Do I understand the structure?"
Most people don't know what or where a hip joint is (hint: it's not your pelvis :) )
If we don't know it, then that is of course absolutely fine! We don't all have the same education and we might have zero interest in anatomy. No worries! For those who are curious now, scroll down to the bottom of the article! ;-)
The point however is: How fair is it to come to conclusions about something, to blame it, without actually knowing it?
What if that hip has no other option?
We cannot blame a person for their decisions if we do not understand their individual circumstances. The next time someone talks down on addiction, abortion other wrongly demonised actions/decisions, ask yourself whether that person has spent even a second trying to understand the circumstances and motivations of said actions...Did they have a true understanding, or did they jump to conclusions based on their biases and opinions?
The same goes for the body and that hip. Anatomical knowledge or not - we can still approach our problems differently and try to understand our body's intentions. You definitely do not need a degree for that. And then you might find that that hip has its very good reasons.
How would we find out though? By tuning in. By having a conversation - free of bias and opinion.
That's when we might find that the hip's annoying action of being "tight" is not so much an action that is annoying, but actually has very good intentions behind it and is helping you.
This exact thing happened in a session the other day: Hip problems. History of an injury and surgery on the foot below. What we found was that in this person's case the foot and ankle were not supporting him in standing, not to mention in movement.
But with a foot that is unable to support him, where else can the body create support and stability? The hip for example...
He worked on this foot with me and voila, the hip felt a lot looser and was able to let go - because it didn't have to hold on and stabilise everything anymore.
All of a sudden, we move from blame to fame.
Thank you hip! You are the star, not the demon. Without you I couldn't have stood upright!
We should start having conversations. Whether it's a painful knee, back or shoulder. We should take a step back, stop blaming and start understanding, even it is seems out of our own reach. It's not - you can keep the language super simple. But what you do need is the willingness to openly have that conversation.
And maybe, just maybe, a journey like that explored in the body will also make us realise that we act and behave in similar ways when it comes to other people and their motivations...
For those interested, here's where the hip is. It's the space where your pelvis and femur articulate with each other. There you have it, the pelvis is not the hip! And you've also got two of them :)

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