Lovely Psoas Relaxer - 50 day blog: Day 10

1. psoas majors

The psoas is huge muscle that links our ribcage and trunk with our legs. We have a right and a left psoas. They also effectively run from our back to our front, passing through the pelvis from our spine to the inside of our thigh. It is a key player in our alignment and range of available range of movement. It supports the swing of our leg, it counterbalances other posture muscles and it provides support for organs. Psoas is also a place known to hold tension, stress and fear. 

Purely just on a postural level, releasing and relaxing a psoas regularly can have a tremendously positive effect on our overall alignment. Often there is a feeling of wanting to forward bend to relieve a stiff back, but actually a gentle psoas release would be of greater benefit and more satisfying.

It can also be a great way of releasing stress, whether from the odd highly charged day, or as a way of regularly taking time out with you and your body. Such can be the tension held in the psoas, that for some (like myself) release can at times evoke tearfulness as the body lets go of the emotion held in it.  

I firmly belief that every person can benefit from psoas release and here are two simple ways that you can enjoy doing so (apologies for the rather crude sketches!):

constructive rest

Constructive rest:

Lie on your back with your legs bent over a support. You could lie on the floor with your legs over the edge of the bed, or the settee. 

Take the weight out of your legs and give it to the support. Allow your hips to soften, feeling the weight of your thigh bones dropping down into your hip sockets. With each out breath soften yourself into the floor. Let gravity take over as you melt all the tissue of your front onto your bones. The focus is very much on letting go in order to feel the release. 

psoas release

Psoas Release:
Start lying on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Slowly bring one knee gently to your chest, but keeping your pelvis very heavy and relaxed on the floor. Then slowly lengthen your other leg out along the floor, giving its weight to gravity. If your back arches when you do this then bend the knee a little again only taking your leg as far out as your pelvis will allow. Maintain a heavy pelvis, feeling the bones weighing down to the floor. As you breathe out let yourself soften more. Increase the softness in the hip socket of the bent knee (much as like you did in constructive rest), feel the thigh bone lengthen in the straight(er) leg. Force nothing, allow yourself just to rest in the position and allow gravity and breath to do the rest. Do the same with the other side once you feel enough release in the first. It is better to be in the position for a few minutes to really feel the sensation of release.

It can be challenging to just be in these positions without 'trying' to do anything or to increase the movement. Letting go can be difficult, but eventually your body will learn that letting go can be one of the most positive things it ever learns to do. 

Enjoy! 

Til tomorrow.....

CT :-) X