The psoas muscle is incredible.
It is essential for balance, alignment, rotation and range through joints. It influences the organs, the diaphragm, the pelvic floor.
We have two psoas muscles (psoai, I believe is the plural). Together they link our trunk to our legs and acts like the strings of two pendulums. A healthy and efficient psoas will swing our leg forward as we walk and help to massage the vertebrae and organs as we walk. That sounds nice!
Much more common however, these days are shortened and overworked psoai. Psoas is very sensitive to stress, tension and fear and in essence will retreat inside us, essentially pulling our leg inwards into a functionally shortened position.
If you are told that you have one leg shorter than the other, it is most likely functioning shorter, and most likely due to an overworked psoas. (Very few people actually have one leg shorter than the other, in terms of the bone length being significantly different.)
So, how do we give our psoai the respect that they deserve, by helping them to work efficiently and let them have some chill time?
One thing that we can do is a to give them a complete rest, as I discussed in a previous blog (Lovely Psoas Relaxer)
We can also be aware of them as we walk and give them the freedom to swing as they deserves to.
Imagine your legs as two pendulums swinging forward from the back of your lower ribs. Feel that your foot is the weight through which momentum can travel. Let your foot meet the ground with softness, allowing gravity to have the final pull downwards. Gravity is your friend as it grounds you and weighs you down. You need not 'give into gravity' by crumpling, but instead feel it help you to release your leg's full length, and so allow you to be your full height, from your pelvis and torso.
When I do this I like to imagine my legs falling away from my torso, while my eye gaze and upper body remain floating forward without deviating from their height.
If you find this a little difficult to feel as you are walking, it can be really nice to feel your psoas release with gravity's help by simply swinging your leg back and forward. Stand with one foot slightly elevated (on a step or a small pile of books). Let your swinging leg feel its full weight. If it feels heavy then you've got it! Keep swinging this leg back and forth, with its full heaviness. the stand on the floor with both feet on the ground to feel a difference. I'm betting you'll be straight back to the step to do the same with the other one!
Enjoy the release, enjoy walking with a free-er psoas :-)
Til tomorrow :-)
CT :-) X
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