Moving Through May: Free-Flow Hips and The Movement Explored
- Sam Turner
- Jun 17
- 4 min read
Hello, curious person
It’s nice to have you back to explore more of my themes. You may recall that I wasn’t a massive fan of ‘Spacious Shoulders’. Interestingly, that feeling still lingers as I type. Maybe it made me uncomfortable? Maybe it was physically challenging? Who knows… Perhaps that theme is like a “bad guy” in a book - you don’t like them, but the fact you dislike them makes them a great character.
Anyway, in May we moved on to the hips. ‘Free‑Flow Hips’ was all about moving those hips in as many directions as possible. One of my favourite things about it was that it built heat, and it also let me finally include the dynamic aspects to the practice that I’d been craving for so long. When dynamic transitions have appeared in past classes, they’ve earned plenty of compliments, so it was thrilling to create a flow that could fully embrace them.
For me, my hips spend far too much time fixed in place, glued to my office chair, so that inspired this theme. I wanted to break free of that seated position and teach movements that would mobilize each part of the hip joint through extension, rotation, abduction, adduction, and flexion. The hips have so much room to move, how wonderful for us to get a chance to explore this?
It was a sequence rooted in a tabletop position, designed to find smooth transitions from shape to shape and discover ease within each movement, and explore the challenge of smooth transitions. Transitions come and go so fast in a yoga class but they can be the hardest part. We moved through the following (I've included photos at the bottom of this post too):
Balancing Cat/Bird‑Dog
Supported Side Plank
Inner‑Thigh Stretch
Lizard Pose 😍
Low Lunge
I popped a little 😍 next to Lizard Pose because, for me, it’s sensation city and I love it. At first, it feels intense, but after a couple of breaths, I can feel my body settle and release into the stretch. There are so many options: hands or forearms grounded, back knee down or lifted. Each variation creates a different amount of space for us to drop the hips down towards the ground. A pose with plenty of options means we can all find our own shape.
The whole sequence worked around a clock‑face pattern (we moved counter‑clockwise… yes, I’m sure my life would’ve been easier going the other way, but it’s too late to change that now!).
From that tabletop base, we achieved:
Extension (thighs moving behind)
Internal and External Rotation (twisting through the joint)
Abduction (thighs moving away from midline)
Adduction (thighs toward midline)
Flexion (bringing thigh forward)
This progression covers all the hip’s main motions.
The feedback was, quite honestly, out of this world. Comments like “one of my favourite sequences” kept rolling in. Many of you told me your hips felt freer, warmer, and more resilient after practicing this flow.
From there, we offered an optional standing segment, depending on vibe and available time. Rising from Low Lunge, we explored Warrior variations and wide‑legged forward folds. This shift out of the tabletop space allowed for bigger movements and a taste of freedom, unanchored from the mat.
Then came the big CTRL + Z moment: retracing our steps on the opposite side. If we ended in Warrior II on the right, we moved into Warrior II on the left and worked our way backward. In my mind, it felt like a circular hike: gliding along a flat trail, ascending the mountain, then descending back to the flat trail again. And, time permitting, you could loop that hike as many times as you wished, freestyling the standing portion as much or as little as you liked.
As you can see, after my lukewarm response to “Spacious Shoulders,” I triple‑checked every angle of this sequence - practicing it fresh out of bed before work. I practised this sequence for five or thirty minutes — it’s nice for us to have something that can adapt. We’re busy people, so it’s great to have something in the memory vault if you have a couple of minutes free.
With all that hip exploration behind us, I started to wonder what would happen if we zoomed out further to a whole-body perspective. So, we moved into our new theme called ‘From Head to Heels’. I can’t believe we’re already halfway through that. In this sequence, we’re blending ‘Spacious Shoulders’ and ‘Free-Flow Hips’. We’re focusing on “big” poses that get the whole body involved. Unconsciously, twists have shown up in this practice quite prominently too. Every pose I’ve picked, I’m thinking how we can incorporate the whole body!
And just like that, we’ve reached the end of a three-month journey, from ‘Spacious Shoulders’ to ‘Free-Flow Hips’, and now a full-body adventure: ‘From Head to Heels’. It’s been a bit like assembling a puzzle; each month offering different pieces, and now we get to stand back and enjoy the whole picture. I’ve loved connecting the dots and watching these themes build on each other. Who knows where we’ll head next? But for now, I hope you consider yourself well and truly moved (from head to heels).
And don't forget, you can practise all of these classes in my virtual yoga studio. Click here to visit my on-demand classes. I upload our class recording every week.
See you next time,
Sam
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