Have you heard? Sitting is the new smoking— and we quilters do a LOT of sitting. Some of us are already suffering with tight, painful hips or achy lower backs. We don’t want to be in pain while we quilt, so what can we do? Thankfully, my friend April is an amazing yoga teacher, and she’s joining us to demonstrate 5 easy stretches to relax our hip flexors.

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How fun is this?? Let’s get down, y’all, and talk about how we can take care these bodies that are an important part of everyday life and of our quilting. After all, quilting is a full body workout in many ways. In this video, April talks us through 5

I don’t know about you, but I loved every minute of our class with April. However, I know it’s also handy to have the “cheat sheet” version of these stretches for a quick reference or inspiration. April generously wrote an amazing post on her blog about the 5 hip flexor poses that you can easily return to again and again.

doTERRA Essential Oils are also an important part of my yoga practice. Here are 4 of my favorites:

1) Deep Blue: Massage onto muscles before and / or after stretching

2) Frankincense: I love applying this oil topically to my forehead and to the back of my neck or diffusing it to give me a sense of warmth, reassurance, and confidence

3) Breathe: Diffuse or apply diluted to the chest to encourage deep breaths through your yoga practice

4) Lavender: Stretching before bed or to calm yourself down? Diffuse lavender and apply a drop to each wrist to release tension and encourage peaceful feelings

If you’d like to learn more about doTERRA Essential Oils and why I’m passionate about sharing them with quilters click here: