Do We Store Trauma in the Hips? A Yogic and Scientific Exploration
The phrase “we store trauma in the hips” gets repeated often in yoga spaces—especially right before pigeon pose or other deep “hip openers.” For many students, it resonates. Emotions can rise unexpectedly: tears, memories, a wave of sensation that feels bigger than “just a stretch.”
But as thoughtful practitioners—and especially as yoga teachers—there’s a responsibility to pause and ask:
Is this literal or metaphorical? What does science actually say? And how does yoga philosophy understand the relationship between body, emotion, and memory?
This post is an exploration, not a definitive verdict—offered with humility, honesty, and care.
Where Did the Idea Come From?
There are a few reasons this belief has become so widespread:
1) Lived experience is real.
Many people genuinely feel emotional sensations during long-held hip postures. These experiences are valid—even if the mechanism isn’t what we assume. And it’s worth noting: emotions can arise in many parts of the body, not only the hips.
2) Trauma has entered the mainstream conversation.
In recent years, the public has become more aware of trauma and nervous system regulation. This has influenced how teachers describe embodied experience—sometimes in helpful ways, sometimes in overly simplified ones.
3) Energetic yoga frameworks contribute.
The hips and pelvis are associated with the root and sacral chakras, which symbolically relate to safety, survival, emotion, connection, and relationship. Some teachers connect these energetic themes to what students feel in “hip opening” postures.
A Note on Language in Yoga Class
It’s one thing to normalize experience; it’s another to label it as fact.
Saying “you store trauma in your hips” in a public class can:
plant an idea that something is wrong or stuck in a student’s body
create an expectation that a pose should produce catharsis
potentially trigger someone who has a trauma history
A more responsible, yogic approach is to offer choice and curiosity without forcing an interpretation.
Try language like:
“It’s normal for sensations or emotions to arise in stillness.”
“Notice what you feel—physically, emotionally, energetically—without needing to judge it.”
“You’re always welcome to back off, modify, or come out.”
What Does Science Say?
Emotions live in the nervous system, not the muscles
From a neuroscience perspective, emotions are processed in the brain, and memories are stored in neural networks. Muscles don’t store emotions like a hard drive stores files.
But that doesn’t mean the body is irrelevant.
Stress changes muscle tone and creates holding patterns
When stress, fear, or trauma activates the sympathetic nervous system (fight/flight), the body contracts to protect. Over time, that can become a chronic holding pattern—often in areas involved in stability and protection.
The hips (and deep hip muscles like the psoas) play a major role in posture, locomotion, and protective response. So while trauma may not be stored in the hips, stress can absolutely be reflected as hip tension.
Somatic or implicit memory is real—but it isn’t “muscle memory”
Research supports implicit/somatic memory: the body can remember patterns of response (posture, breath, vigilance, tension). These patterns live in the nervous system—not necessarily in tissues themselves.
A helpful distinction:
The hips likely don’t “hold trauma” as a container.
But the hips can participate in protective patterns shaped by nervous system tone.
What About Fascia?
Fascia is a fascinating frontier—and the language around it is often oversimplified.
What we do know:
Fascia is highly innervated (full of sensory receptors).
It responds to hydration, load, movement, inflammation.
Fascial restriction can amplify sensation.
Fascia can adapt around chronic muscular tension.
What we don’t yet know (in a literal sense):
Science does not currently confirm that fascia “stores emotional memory” like a vault.
A grounded way to hold this:
When fascia releases, sensation changes. And sensation can absolutely trigger emotional awareness through the nervous system. The link between sensation and emotion is real—even if the idea of “stored trauma in tissue” is not scientifically supported in the way it’s often stated.
Why Do Hip Openers Feel Emotional?
If you’ve ever cried in pigeon pose, you’re not alone. Here are a few reasons it can happen—without needing the explanation to be “trauma stored in hips.”
1) Time and stillness
Long holds reduce distraction. What’s already present can rise to the surface.
2) Nervous system down-regulation
Slow breathing + stillness can shift the body toward parasympathetic states (rest/digest), where emotions may be more accessible.
3) Interoception increases
Interoception is awareness of your internal world—sensations, emotions, impulses. Yin-like stillness often strengthens this.
4) Habitual guarding softens
When chronic tension eases, awareness expands. Sometimes tears are less about “releasing stored trauma” and more about relief, spaciousness, and nervous system shift.
What Does Yoga Philosophy Say?
Classical yoga doesn’t teach that emotions live in joints or muscles. Instead, it describes samskaras—impressions and habitual grooves formed by experience. Samskaras shape how we think, react, perceive, and feel.
From this lens:
A tight hip isn’t a trauma container.
It’s a pattern—shaped by habit, nervous system tone, and awareness.
The deeper aim of yoga is not catharsis as an outcome. It’s cultivating:
Svadhyaya (self-study)
Pratyahara (turning inward)
Santosha (contentment with what is)
Viveka (discernment)
and ultimately steadiness of mind through awareness
If emotions arise, yoga teaches us to witness them—not to force them, fear them, or immediately interpret them.
For Yoga Teachers: A Trauma-Informed Reminder
Teachers hold influence. With that comes responsibility.
Be cautious with statements like:
“This pose releases stored trauma.”
Instead, offer:
permission
options
non-attachment to outcome
language that supports regulation, not emotional pressure
Yoga can support integration.
We are not forcing catharsis.
So… Do We Store Trauma in the Hips?
Probably not—at least not in a literal, tissue-as-storage sense.
But the body absolutely reflects emotional and nervous system patterns. And yoga can create the conditions for:
safe awareness
regulation
integration
and spaciousness
That is powerful enough.
Practice Invitation
This week, explore:
Sensation with curiosity (no need to interpret)
Emotion without a storyline (no need to fix)
Awareness with compassion (no pressure to change anything)
Holding space for what is—that is yoga.
If you’d like to keep deepening your practice with me, you can explore the podcast here:
https://deepen-your-practice.castos.com/
And learn more about classes and trainings at True Love Yoga here:
https://www.trueloveyogakc.com/
