Your Psoas Muscles & Craniosacral Therapy

​Do you hold your stretches or yoga poses long enough to notice a real shift in the deeper muscles of your body. Do you pause in that stretch to notice how a deep breath often allows you to surrender into a deeper stretch, a deeper release of what is holding tight?

The Psoas are your deepest core muscles and connect your spine and your hips/legs. They are a physical bridge between your upper and lower body. As your primary hip flexors they work to move your hips and upper legs, while at the same time stabilizing your lower back.

Holding physical postures where your hips are in flexion for long periods of time (sitting) can cause the Psoas to contract and remain shortened, which can cause your posture to remain in flexion. When your body is flexed forward to any degree it impacts your diaphragm and ability to breathe deeply. Shortness of breath can shift your Nervous System into fight/flight mode.

When your Nervous system is in fight or flight mode your body often responds with a flexion posture to protect itself. It's a natural occurrence as your being seeks safety. That mode may come from a physical posture held for long periods of time, from prolonged stress and/or from trauma. The Psoas is the primary muscle that drives that flexion. 

When under chronic stress, and fight or flight is constantly running in the background of your Nervous system, the Psoas stays contracted and shortened so that your hip (or hips) never fully extends. Your lower spine becomes compressed, your pelvis may tilt forward, hip and low back pain are common as is lower abdominal pain. It is common to experience digestive issues, limited mobility, shallow breathing and anxiety.

Because it is impacted by physical and emotional stressors the Psoas is often referred to as the “muscle of the soul”. In tension it impacts your being physically and emotionally, in release it provides ease of movement and space to take a deeper breath. The cause of tightness in the Psoas may be coming from the muscle being tense, or from a Nervous system that is remaining vigilant to keep you safe.

​Quick, short stretches often don’t go deep enough but may ease the physical tension being held in the Psoas muscles and surrounding fascia, temporarily. Regular stretching for those who sit for long periods of time is often helpful, if those stretches are held long enough for the fascia to unwind and release (at least 90 seconds, minimum). However if your Nervous system is stuck in survival mode it will be a natural reaction for your body to continue to move into flexion.

​The gentle release to the Psoas that can be brought about through Craniosacral Therapy can ease tension in the physical body, while also calming the Nervous system.

Craniosacral Therapy for the Psoas Muscles

​Craniosacral Therapy clients will often notice that I work gently around their abdomen, hips and upper legs. This is where many people often hold a good amount of physical and emotional stress. More often than not the body is asking for release of tension through the Psoas muscle. Craniosacral Therapy is a gentle approach to  that.

With massage it is next to impossible to get deep enough to impact the Psoas muscle and not risk injuring the organs in the area. Craniosacral Therapy is gentle and subtle enough that the body will often invite and allow deeper access to the muscle, moving gently around the organs. It’s quite something to experience how that feels, as a therapist. As tension in the Psoas eases it's not unusual for clients to release a sigh or take a deep releasing breath that their body and Nervous system have been holding.

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