Kriya for Inner Anger (a P.S. and a word on the Psoas)

[Guest guest]

Postures 3 and 4 release and balance the effects of posture #2. Know that as you

endure the discomfort you describe in posture #2, you'll have a chance to

release it all in #4.

Also, having the legs at 90 degrees works with the psoas muscles and deeply

"eliminating" fear/anger (you must see

http://www.positivehealth.com/permit/Articles/Bodywork/koch65.htm for a more

complete picture)

 

This Kriya is in print in the "Owner's Manual for the Human Body"

(www.yogatech.com? or www.a-healing.com ) and I believe in Shakta Kaur Khalsa's

first book on DK press.

 

 

 

>

> the exercise keeping the feet 6 inches off the floor is

> excrutiating, although hugely beneficial, and even though I do yoga for

about an hour

> every morning, I can only just manage 2 minutes, not the full 3½ minutes

including

> breath of fire. I found myself doing almost a primal scream to manage the 2

> minutes.

>

>

> http://www.sahej.com/inner_anger-one.html

 

 

 

 

--

 

 

 

The Psoas Within

http://www.positivehealth.com/permit/Articles/Bodywork/koch65.htm

 

by Liz Koch

 

This mighty muscle has a profound influence upon our well-being

At the very core of your physical body lies a muscle that influences every

aspect of well-being. The psoas

muscle, critical for balance, alignment, joint rotation and range of motion,

also influences the circulatory system,

the functioning of organs and diaphragmatic breathing. The only muscle to link

the lumbar spine to the legs, it is a

dynamic psoas that massages your vertebrae, viscera and organs with every

walking step.

 

 

 

Fear and the Psoas

As part of the instinctive fear reflex the vitality of the psoas muscle

reflects your personal sense of safety. When

feeling threatened it is your psoas muscle that propels you into fleeing or

fighting or curls you into a protective ball.

Trauma or chronic abuse can eventually cause the contracted psoas to lose its

motility. Learning to sense your

own psoas can bring you in contact with your deepest fears, but more profoundly

it connects you with the

instinctive wisdom that dwells within the belly core.

 

The Belly and Pelvis

Connecting to the inner core enriches your life, quiets your thoughts and

reconnects you with the larger web of

life energy. Learning to release and engage the psoas brings you directly in

contact with your instinctive wisdom.

Referred to in ancient traditions as the hara, dan tien and Buddha belly, your

gut feelings empower and guide your

personal choices and spiritual path.

The combination of aligning your body with gravity and increasing your

inner awareness facilitates a healthy

psoas muscle. If you envision your spinal column as an electrical conduit,

receiving, transmitting and transmuting

subtle life energies, then your psoas muscle is the grounding wire. Released

and supple, a dynamic psoas grounds

and connects you to the earth.

The sensation of being centred and grounded comes from a healthy psoas in

combination with a balanced

weight-bearing pelvis. The keystone of skeletal alignment, it is the balanced

pelvis that provides a base of support

for the spine, ribcage, neck and head. It is the aligned pelvis that transfers

weight down through the hip sockets,

legs, knees and feet. If the bones do not support and transfer weight properly,

it is the psoas muscle that is called

upon to provide structural support.

 

A Guy Wire

A healthy psoas provides a suspension bridge between trunk and legs. In

the same way that guy wires of a

circus tent help maintain the stability of the centre pole, the psoas responds

to every movement of the spine.

Ideally the psoas guides rather than bears the transfer of weight from the one

(trunk) into the two (legs). However,

when the pelvis is unstable or off balance the psoas muscle must substitute and

maintain stability. When chronically

used as a structural support the psoas eventually loses its range of motion,

flexibility and strength. Over time the

muscle begins to shorten.

 

The Shortened Psoas

Because the psoas contracts and releases at each of its joint attachments

it has the ability not only to stabilize

but also to torque, rotate and twist the spinal vertebrae, pelvis and legs. A

short psoas tips the pelvic bowl

forwards. Minimizing the space between the crest of the pelvis and the leg

compresses the hip socket, preventing

the leg from moving separately from the trunk. Normal rotation, instead of

occurring in the ball and socket of the

hip joint, begins to manifest as twists in the knees and torques in the lumbar

spine.

Chronic muscular tension, overdeveloped external muscles, and muscular

substitutions can be linked to a tense

or overworked psoas. Birth anomalies, falls, surgery, overexuberant stretching

or weightlifting may create pelvic

instability or affect the functioning of the psoas muscle. However, like the

chicken and the egg koan, whichever

comes first – a short psoas muscle or an unstable pelvis – the problems that

arise are the same: limited pelvic

volume, constricted

organs, impinged nerves and impaired diaphragmatic breathing. Putting pressure

on the uterus, a tense or short

psoas can cause cramping. Pushing the oesophagus forwards, a tight upper psoas

can cause digestive problems.

A short psoas can interfere with the diaphragm fully descending through the

abdominal core.

 

The Supportive Psoas

It is the length and vitality of the psoas that helps to maintain volume

in the core. Providing a diagonal muscular

shelf, the psoas moves through the core supporting the abdominal organs. A

major ganglion of nerves is located

on top, around and imbedded through the psoas. Together with the diaphragm, the

action of the psoas works like

a hydraulic pump to massage the organs and viscera while stimulating the flow

of fluids throughout the body.

Deeply set at the twelfth thoracic vertebra, the psoatic shelf moves through

the core, surfacing in the front of the

pelvis and lengthening over the hip sockets where it joins the iliacus in a

common tendon. It is right at the hip

sockets where it is easiest to locate and sense your own psoas muscle.

 

Locating Your Psoas

The psoas attaches to the side and towards the front of the twelfth

thoracic vertebra and each of the five

lumbar vertebrae. It moves through the pelvic girdle and inserts along with the

iliacus (a fan-shaped muscle lining

the inside of the pelvic bowl) in a common tendon at the lesser trochanter of

the femur (the thigh bone near the

groin area). The psoas and iliacus combine to form a muscle group called the

iliopsoas.

To locate your psoas imagine peeling the layers of your body like an

onion. The first layer is your skin. Next,

the abdominal muscles in front and lumbar muscles at the back. The large

intestines come next and another layer

of back muscles. Below this level are the small intestine, the reproductive

organs, abdominal nerve ganglia and

major arteries. From behind the deepest of organs the kidneys rest on and to

the side of the psoas. In the centre

of your skeletal core is your psoas muscle.

 

Ergonomics and the Psoas

Everything from the chairs we sit in to the shoes we wear can curtail the

natural movement of the psoas.

Having a constricted psoas might be traced back to your first shoe. Wearing a

shoe that shapes the foot, stops

bones from rolling, limits ankle mobility, drops the heel behind or shifts the

weight onto the toes can and does

affect skeletal balance. It can stifle the vitality of your psoas.

Premature standing and walking (before the bones are fully formed and

weight bearing) teaches a child to rely

on their psoas muscle for structural support. Playpens and walkers encourage

early standing and limits crawling,

which is so important for kinaesthetic maturation. Plastic baby holders

restrain and limit natural movement, rhythm

and the protective give and take of a mother’s supple body.

 

Releasing the Psoas

Releasing tension in your psoas realigns the way you experience yourself

in the world. Sensing your bones

bearing weight translates into a physical sensation and an emotional feeling of

‘standing on your own two feet’.

Learning to let the psoas be supple is the first step in shifting a dependency

on muscular support to skeletal

stability.

At first it can be difficult to access the subtle sensations of the psoas.

Buried deep within, often engaged in

habitual postural patterns and linked to your emotions, it can take a great

deal of patience, perseverance and quiet

attention to sense your psoas and experience the core. Awareness is the first

key. Just as a flashlight can clarify

what is in a dark closet, so too your awareness can give definition to your

internal sensations. Each time you are

attentive to your inner sensation your awareness increases. At first it may

only be vague or acute tension that you

sense, but eventually you will begin to distinguish and perceive the difference

between muscle, ligament, tendon

and bone.

A good position to work in is the constructive rest position. A safe,

comfortable position, it helps to relieve

back, pelvic and leg tension by releasing the iliopsoas. To try the

constructive rest position, begin by resting on

your back. Keep the knees bent and the feet placed parallel to each other, the

width of the front of your hip

sockets apart. Place your heels approximately 12-16 inches away from your

buttocks. Keep the trunk and head

parallel with the floor. If not parallel place a folded, flat towel under your

head. DO NOT push your lower back

to the floor or tuck your pelvis under in an attempt to flatten the spine. Rest

in the position for 10-20 minutes. As

you do, the psoas will begin to release, the pelvis will spontaneously extend

and the spine will lengthen. Keep the

arms below shoulder height, letting them rest over the ribcage, to the sides of

your body or on your pelvis. In this

simple position gravity releases the psoas.

 

 

Case Studies

Case Study 1 – Judy

After a major car accident a woman took my Core Awareness workshop in the

hope of re-establishing her

skeletal alignment. Judy’s physical therapist had identified her structural

problem as a constricted psoas muscle.

Although therapy had helped, it had not completely resolved Judy’s lower back

and neck pain. Working in the

constructive rest position (see above) Judy began sensing her lower back

release and lengthen along the floor. As

she explored her psoas muscle she became aware of tension along her spine. I

shared with her what a PhD

graduate in Structural Physics once told me. He had explained to me that

seatbelts, although a life-saving device,

stop the psoas muscle from going through its natural spontaneous reflex motion.

Instead of rolling into a foetal

position, which is the instinctive movement when falling, seatbelts deny the

psoas its full range of expression.

Rolling of the spinal column when falling makes the spine resilient. It also

protects the vital organs – important

when receiving a blow. Due to the seatbelt restraint, the lack of spinal

movement resulted in stiffness and pain.

Releasing the psoas muscle and slowly flexing and extending each vertebra

helped to resolve the trauma. The

explorations Judy worked with gave her an approach for working at home. She

left the workshop feeling more

relaxed, empowered and hopeful.

 

Case Study 2 – Ruth

After 20 years as a teacher and practitioner of yoga, Ruth came to work

with me. Her hyper-flexible body

was in extreme pain. Ruth’s chiropractor had diagnosed her problem as a

chronically weak psoas muscle and a

destabilized pelvis due to overstretching pelvic ligaments (SI joints). She

attended one of my Psoas Intensive

workshops in the hope of learning some tips on gaining core strength. I

explained to Ruth that I thought core

strength ultimately comes from skeletal balance not from tight muscles.

However, if her pelvis could not support

her weight her psoas muscle would need to stabilize and transfer weight. Rather

than having a weak psoas I felt

Ruth had an exhausted psoas.

Because a structurally supportive pelvis is vital for developing core

strength it was essential first to release her

psoas as well as to begin re-establishing pelvic integrity. The best way for

Ruth to heal was to stop overextending.

Establishing clear skeletal boundaries relieved her pain and actually changed

the way she approached her life.

Ruth returned for another workshop. By now she had begun her yoga practice

with a new awareness and she

had drawn correlations between overextending in her practice with

over-extending in her personal and

professional life. No longer engaging her psoas muscle as a structural support,

she was totally free of pain and

experiencing the peaceful feeling that comes from having a supple core.

 

Case Study 3 – Sam

Previously a weight trainer and athlete, Sam was the owner of a successful

Pilates School. As a Pilates

instructor he attended a workshop with the intention of expanding his teaching

tools for working with his students,

staff and clients. Sam was very knowledgeable and skilled, yet he had been

taught to engage his upper psoas

muscle for structural support when working with weight machines. Now a

well-established habit, he still

contracted his solar plexus whenever he lifted or extended his arms. Through a

variety of sensory explorations

Sam played with the concept of not anchoring the core. Anchoring or contracting

the upper psoas muscle is a

common teaching instruction not only used in some weight training but often

found in traditional forms of Western

dance instruction.

Getting lift in the ribcage by contracting the upper psoas curtails

abdominal breathing and stifles the psoas.

After a few explorations Sam began to sense how skeletal support and a supple

psoas resulted in a softer and

more compassionate stance. This posture more suited his heartfelt desire to

help other people. Sam and I worked

together to help him articulate the arm (at the ball and socket joint) from the

trunk so that moving his arm did not

pull on his core. Just as articulating the hip sockets helps to free the legs

from the torso, so the arms must be

differentiated from the trunk for the psoas muscle to retain its integrity. Sam

discovered a fresh approach to

teaching Pilates. He eliminated all cues (such as tucking the pelvis, locking

joints,

compressing the spine) that might encourage anchoring of the psoas muscle.

Instead he sought to develop cues

that helped people seek a deeper sensation of a supple core.

 

Case Study 4 – Roger

After bicycling across the United States a young man called me in the hope

of attending a workshop upon his

arrival in California. In extreme pain Roger had already gone to several

physicians as he made his way across the

country. Each time he was told his psoas muscle was inflamed and spasmed. A

strong-willed young man, Roger

was determined he would finish his goal of riding his bike across the United

States. I think he expected that a few

hours would set him right and he would be on his way.

Working in the constructive rest position did help to relieve much of his

hip socket and knee discomfort. We

devised several stretches that also counterbalanced the dominant flexing

activity of biking. Stretching the

hamstrings took tension out of the knees. Stretching the flexor muscles of the

thigh helped Roger regain some of

his skeletal balance. We discussed the importance of adjusting his bike to

allow for full leg extension. Muscularly

dominant flexing activities such as biking demand a balance of extension

activities: yoga, swimming, walking and

other activities would help him regain his muscular balance and keep it.

However, Roger’s wilfulness was truly the cause of his problem. He was

forced (by pain) to stop all biking

until his psoas could heal from the trauma. He recognized how he had accepted

the antisomatic idea that ‘pain

brings gain’. I suggested he look at his life and how and why he made the

choices he did. He acknowledged that

he did not listen to his gut feelings but pushed past the sensations with sheer

willpower. The damage done to his

psoas would take time to heal, patience and a new respect for his inner wisdom.

 

Case Study 5 – Gloria

Sent by her obstetrician, a pregnant woman came to see me with tears in

her eyes. Gloria was terrified of

birthing and feeling that she just did not have what it took to get a baby out.

The baby had not yet positioned itself

deep within her pelvis, even though early signs of labour had begun. Gloria’s

physician recommended that she see

me in the hope that I might help her to overcome her fear of birth and avoid

having to have a caesarean.

Supporting her legs while she learned to release her psoas muscle proved an

incredibly powerful and helpful

experience for her. Gloria began to relax as she recognized I was not going to

‘do anything’ to her. Her personal

boundaries intact, she began to feel safe. A modified constructive rest

position provided her with a simple

relaxation tool she could use at home. Feeling relieved, a flood of tears

poured from her eyes. She was amazed to

find that letting go did not mean that the baby would fall out or come before

she was ready. I helped Gloria to

identify the energy in the room as birthing energy. The relief and strength

Gloria was feeling was in fact her psoas

muscle releasing. She felt a powerful surge of energy move down her legs and

into her feet. I told her that what

she was feeling would sustain her through birthing her baby. Staying in touch

with her sensation was empowering.

She left feeling strong, capable and ready to face birth. She was so delighted

with the results of her session that

she invited me to attend the birth! I did and had the delight of witnessing her

give in to the power of her belly

wisdom. Gloria vaginally birthed a healthy baby daughter.

 

Case Study 6 – George

A physician at a Pelvic Pain Clinic had invited me to teach a workshop on

the psoas muscle. One older man I

worked with had extreme pelvic pain. While working together I felt intuitively

that there were powerful but

suppressed emotional issues with his father; memories that might be locked in

the tissue of his constricted psoas

muscle. I gently enquired whether that might be true? George told me his dad

used to climb on top of him as a

little boy and hold him down, forcing him to eat. Rather than be too active

with George, I sat next to him and with

his eyes open we slowly explored releasing the psoas. My hand served only to

help bring and keep his attention

on his hip socket while George focused on staying present and in the moment.

 

Conclusion

Working with the psoas muscle for over 25 years and hearing story after

story has confirmed for me the

importance, power and need for respect for the psoas muscle. Because of my

experience I do not believe in

manipulating the psoas. Rather I recommend supporting people in learning to

sense and voluntarily release their

own psoas. Ultimately acknowledging and demonstrating respect for each person’s

inner sanctum helps them to

regain their personal core integrity. Establishing an inner relationship to

your core is both rewarding and

everlasting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

Liz Koch is the author of The Psoas Book, a comprehensive guide to the

iliopsoas muscle and its profound effect on

the body/mind/emotions. Her book may be ordered on line at www.guineapigpub.com

or obtained from In Other Words,

Plymouth or Greensleeves Books, Oxford.

Liz will be in the UK teaching a Weekend Psoas Muscle Intensive on 29 June-1

July 1 at the Maryland Centre in

Woburn Bedfordshire. She may be reached at liz; or call UK

contact Nina Pearson on tel:

020-8643-1609 for registration information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Kundaliniyoga, "D H A R A M" <pran--

yogi@s...> wrote:

> Also, having the legs at 90 degrees works with the psoas

muscles and deeply "eliminating" fear/anger (you must see

http://www.positivehealth.com/permit/Articles/Bodywork/koch65.htm

for a more complete picture)

 

 

Hi,

 

Very interesting reading about the psoas. While trying to work out

this matter for myself I realized that the pelvis position, muscles,

flexibility, moving habits (and limits) are the fundaments of a lot

more than I realized before.

 

Inspired by this, I am looking for a KY set, specifically designed

for working on pelvis position, stability, flexibility related

muscle strength and flexibility and so on. I got convinced reading

this and related articles about the value of such.

 

Any reaction and suggestion would be very welcome,

 

Namaste,

 

René

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the suggestion. The trouble is, I already do an hour or so a day,

and don't want to keep extending The time I spend