Have you heard about your Psoas, pronounced So-Az? Probably not but it a very important muscle that directly connects your spine to your legs. It attaches at your 5 lumbar vertebrae, runs through your pelvis to the top of your femur and is used to flex your hip and torso whist stabilizing your trunk and it also externally rotates your thigh. It is the reason you can stand upright, walk, run, bend forward and get out of bed in the morning, and I have come to believe, it is where we store the emotions, we are not ready to feel.
I first became familiar with my own left Psoas after my accident in Santa Fe in 1995. Hit by a car whilst bending down to tie my shoe, I totally dislocated my lower body from my torso. Your Psoas contracts under threat and responds in our normal “fight and flight” reaction. When danger arrives, real or perceived, your psoas pulls your knees toward your chest, curling you into a protective position. In a genuine emergency this is brilliant, but the problem is that in a life of chronic stress, a difficult relationship, financial pressure, years of sitting at a desk or simply the accumulated weight of too much and not enough rest, the psoas never quite gets the signal that the danger has passed. It persistently stays contracted causing your lower back to hurt, your hips to feel tight and your body to be misaligned. You find you cannot quite stand fully upright without effort, you feel a vague anxiety that has no clear source, and you become exhausted in a way that sleep does not fully resolve.
Sound familiar?
The good news is that your psoas responds to being released with something that feels almost like emotional relief, a genuine letting go, as though your body has been waiting for permission to stop bracing.
The reformer releases your psoas in every session, not through aggressive stretching but through the intelligent combination of resistance, lengthening and the horizontal position that removes gravity from the equation and allows the muscle to soften in a way that standing or sitting exercises simply cannot replicate.
Three things you can do today if you feel your Psoas has shortened:
1. Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat, let your knees fall slowly to one side, hold for two minutes and repeat on the other side. This is a gentle psoas release and if you feel emotion arising do not be surprised. Simply let it go.
2. If you spend a lot of time sitting your body is forward flexed and your psoas is shortened. The remedy is to stand up every hour, walk for a few minutes to give it length.
3. Get on the reformer. I know I say this often. I say it because a consistent reformer practice does more for this muscle and everything connected to it, than any other fitness training.
Your psoas is not just a muscle but an archive of emotion so learn to treat it accordingly.
The full story of the psoas, the accident and what the reformer gave back to me is in Be Lighter — out soon. Subscribe so you do not miss what is coming next.
Next Tuesday: I was vegetarian for twenty-one years and I’ll tell you why I stopped and what my body did the moment I listened to what it was asking for.
A note: this post is for general information only and is not medical advice. If you have back or hip pain, please work with a qualified healthcare practitioner.
Marjolein