Choices. What do you want?

Lately, we’ve been diving deep into the hips – often called the “junk drawer” of the body because they tend to store all sorts of tension, emotions and even memories. And if you’ve been feeling the intensity of that, trust me, you’re not alone. I’ve had many conversations with you about just how powerful working with the hips can be.

Alongside that, we’ve been exploring choices and the big question: “What do you want?” It’s huge, right? So many possible answers and for some, it might be something you’ve never really sat with before. But this wasn’t just about external goals—it was about checking in with yourself on a deeper level. What does your body, mind and heart truly crave?

The point of this was to spark self-awareness, mindfulness and intentional living. And if you still don’t have an answer, that’s totally okay. We’re all a work in progress. Sometimes, when I struggle to figure out what I do want, I flip it – I ask myself what I don’t want. If you’re feeling stuck, maybe give that approach a try.

So, here’s a little recap of what we’ve covered over the past few weeks, along with some insight into why working with the hips is so transformative …

The hips are a major storage area for tension and emotions, releasing them can lead to profound shifts on multiple levels.

1. Physical Benefits 🏋️‍♀️

   • • Increased Flexibility & Mobility – Opens tight hip flexors, inner thighs, and outer hips, improving overall movement.
     • Improved Posture & Alignment – Affects the lower back, pelvis, and spine, reducing strain and promoting better posture.
     • Reduces Lower Back & Knee Pain – Tight hips can pull on the lower back and affect knee alignment. Opening the hips can alleviate these issues.
     • Enhanced Circulation & Energy Flow – Releases blocked energy in the pelvis and legs, improving blood flow and vitality.
     • Supports Injury Prevention – By creating more mobility, hip openers help prevent strain and injuries in the lower body.

2. Mental Benefits 🧠

• • Increased Mindfulness & Focus – Requires concentration, helping cultivate awareness of the body and breath.
  • Promotes Mental Clarity – Releasing physical tension in the hips often leads to a feeling of lightness and mental clarity.
  • Encourages Letting Go of Control – Helps shift from a mindset of resistance to one of surrender and acceptance.

3. Emotional Benefits 💛

• • Releases Stored Emotions – The hips store deep-seated emotions like stress, fear, trauma and opening them can lead to emotional release.
  • Eases Stress & Anxiety – Hip openers trigger the parasympathetic nervous system, calming the body and reducing tension.
  • Cultivates Self-Compassion – Can bring up vulnerability, offering an opportunity to practice patience and self-acceptance.

4. Spiritual Benefits ✨

• • Balances the Sacral Chakra (Svadhisthana) – Located in the pelvis, this chakra governs emotions, creativity and sensuality. Hip openers help balance and activate it.
  • Encourages Surrender & Trust – Many hip-opening poses require deep release, fostering trust in the process of letting go.
  • Supports Energy Flow & Grounding – By releasing stagnant energy, these poses allow for greater energetic balance and grounding.

Enhances Connection to Intuition – By clearing emotional blockages, hip openers help create space for deeper self-awareness and insight.

Week 1, we started by asking the big question—What do you want?

Week 2, we dug a little deeper, building self-awareness and mindfulness around how we want to live and what we truly need. We explored the power of choice—because every action, every thought, every reaction is a choice. So how do we choose to show up for ourselves? What feels right? What’s right for you? Through our yoga practice, we played with making choices in the moment—choosing modifications, choosing intensity, choosing stillness.

Week 3, we embraced change. Change is inevitable, but how we meet it is a choice. We worked with Surya Namaskar, repeating the familiar, but also flowing through unexpected transitions—maybe you loved the comfort of repetition, or maybe the challenge of something new felt exciting (or frustrating!). Maybe a bit of both.

Every week, I see you all learning—about your bodies, about yourselves. I see confidence growing. I see acceptance. I see people meeting their limits and learning to work with them, not against them. I see friendships forming, connections being made—both inward and outward. I hear laughter when we lose our balance or forget what side we’re on. I also see people trying to force their bodies into poses and I see people learning to take the next best variation instead. I see change happening in real-time and it inspires me to embrace change, too. It’s a beautiful thing. Thank you for that.

Week 4, we talked about life’s crossroads—those big moments where we have to decide which way to go. Yoga is such a great metaphor for this. Do you need to step forward into something new, like stepping from Runner’s Lunge into Forward Fold? Or do you need to stay grounded like Mountain Pose?

Do you need to let go, or is this a moment to hold on? When do we surrender and when do we persevere?

How do you respond versus react? Do you act impulsively, or pause to choose your response? We practiced this with slow, intentional movement—moving slowly from Three-Legged Dog into other poses. Sitting with discomfort in Fire Log Pose, noticing what feels enough, modifying if needed. Yoga has so much to teach us—if we’re willing to listen.

Finally, we explored our Inner Compass—our intuition. Do we trust it? Or do we ignore its quiet whispers? Yoga invites us to listen, to tune in, to know ourselves more deeply.

I hope you’ve learned something over the past weeks —about yoga and about yourself.

Remember… quiet the mind and the heart will sing.

As always, thank you for coming to class.

KP x

Quotes from class

“Decide what kind of life you really want and then say NO to everything that isn’t that”.

“Go on, sit down, breathe deep and ask yourself …………. What do I really want?”

“The garden is you, tend to yourself”.

“At the centre of your being, you have the answer. You know who you are and you know what you want”.   Rumi

“Once you accept yourself, you open the door to change. Change is something you do. It’s something you allow”.

“I start where I am, I use what I have. I do what I can”.

“Attitude is a choice, Happiness is a choice, Optimism is a choice, Kindness is a choice, Giving is a choice, Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make, makes you. What will you choose?”

“Overthinking is under feeling”.

“Trust yourself. Dare to follow your inner guidance, even when it defies logic”.