What happens when your hips can no longer do what your yoga practice asks of them?
In this deeply honest conversation, Uplifted alum Cyndi Stewart shares her journey toward hip replacement surgery — and the identity crisis that followed. As a longtime yoga teacher, intuitive healer, and movement lover, she opens up about navigating chronic hip pain, reduced mobility, and the emotional spiral that can come when your body no longer “performs.”
We talk candidly about:
🔹 Early signs of hip degeneration and what yoga teachers often miss
🔹 Why strengthening matters more than stretching for long-term hip health
🔹 How overstretching can accelerate instability
🔹 What hip replacement surgery and recovery are actually like (timeline, pain, mobility, surprises)
🔹 Supporting students with hip replacements in class
🔹 The grief, ego, and surrender that accompany physical limitation
🔹 Somatic tools and meditations that helped regulate pain and fear
This episode is for yoga teachers worried about their own hips… for students navigating osteoarthritis or labral tears… and for anyone facing surgery and wondering what it means spiritually when your body says “enough.”
Your body’s breakdown is not your failure. Sometimes it’s an initiation.
🌈 Sign Up For The Live Chakra Challenge https://www.brettlarkin.com/chakralive/
GUEST EXPERT: Cyndi P Stewart, PhD. | @stewartcyndi
Root Cause Health Solutions' founder, Cyndi Stewart, PhD, uses a unique "Mystics approach" to get to the heart of chronic health issues. Through her own healing journey, Cyndi discovered that physical symptoms are often the body's way of calling for attention. Her process integrates intuitive eating, bioenergetics, kinesiology, and the Akashic Records to uncover the root causes of dis-ease. A Kundalini and Uplifted Yoga teacher, she also uses yoga and meditation to ground her energy. To learn more about her work, including classes on Emotions & Metaphysical Kinesiology, you can visit rootcausehealthsolutions.com
Connect with Cyndi: https://rootcausehealthsolutions.com/
Read about surgery and recovery on Cyndi’s website here: https://rootcausehealthsolutions.com/body-mind-spirit-my-transformational-journey-through-hip-surgery/
FREE Practice: MORNING YOGA FOR TIGHT HIPS & LOWER BACK | Stretches for Flexibility - Unleash Your Creative Energy✨
Relevant Blog: 10 Yoga Poses For Hip Pain That Anyone Can Do
Relevant to Today’s Episode:
📚 Healing with Somatic Yoga Book
✅ 200-hour Online Yoga Teacher Training
🔮 300-hour Online Yoga Teacher Training
🎧 Also Listen to:
#285 – Is Yoga Enough…? with Dr. Jen Fraboni
#300 – Unraveling the Mystery of Chronic Pain for Yoga Teachers & Practitioners with Kim Patel
#369 – Nervous System Masterclass with Kristin Leal
© 2026 Uplifted Yoga | BrettLarkin.com