Psoas Stretches Doug Keller 2 117 Gentle Lunge Against Wall Stand facing a wall.

. Step forward with your left foot and lean forward, keeping your upper body aligned with your right leg. Keep your pelvis square to the wall. Keep your left leg in line with your left hip and your weight directly over the ankle. Place your hands at shoulder height on the wall. Step right back with your right foot. Keep your leg and foot aligned with your (right) hip. Make sure your pelvis is facing forward.

Shift your weight forward, pressing into the wall with your hands. How wide your feet are apart will determine the depth of the stretch and lengthening of the muscle. As the psoas lengthens, bring your upper body into a slight backbend to increase the lengthening of the psoas.

Doug Keller 2 117/8 Straight Leg Lunge Start on your hands and knees. Step your right foot forward between your hands, and tuck your left toes under. Bring your hands in line with your right foot, either side of the foot. Be on your fingertips. Be sure that your right shin is perpendicular to the floor to avoid strain on the right knee. Straighten your left leg. Activate your thigh muscle and draw energy from the knee cap toward the hip. Lift your hips a little so that you can draw energy from your inner thighs in toward your sit bones spiraling your thighs in and bringing your attention to the core of the pelvis. Keep your thigh firm and lifting, especially at the inner thigh, and extend back through your inner heel. Do the following to increase the lengthening of the psoas through the inner hip of your left leg: Keeping your left thigh firm and lifting at the inner edge of the leg, draw your right sit bone toward your right knee. Feel the increasing length in your inner left hip and down through the inner edge of your left leg.

Lunge Notes - In general, keeping your front shin vertical during a straight lunge pose will bring more stretch to the surface muscles of the thigh, i.e. the quadriceps. When, however, your knee goes slightly beyond the front ankle, while you extend through the back leg especially extending through the inner heel the stretch goes more deeply into the psoas. The more the lunge pose moves towards Anjaneyasana a deeper stretch in which the back knee is supported by a block and the front knee moves vertical to the heel the more the pose becomes a psoas stretch. In this case, its important that the front leg not be weight bearing when the knee goes beyond the heel, so as to protect the knee. Use your hands for support, whether on the floor or on the knee, so that the front leg is less weight bearing.

Doug Keller 2 118

The Lunge Anjaneyasana Variation

Come into a lunge position from hands and knees. Place a soft block underneath your left knee and step your right foot forward. Come upright and place your hands on the front knee. Turn your back toes under.

Keeping your body upright, shift your weight forward, allowing your hips to sink down, but not allowing your pelvis to sink forward.

As you shift your hips forward, extend back more through your left inner heel. Turn slightly from your lower belly to the right. This will bring the stretch deeper into your left inner thigh and psoas.

Doug Keller 2 119 Virabhadrasana 1 (Warrior 1)

Lunge and warrior poses especially warrior 1 are used to stretch the psoas. These are effective as long as the lumbar spine is not allowed to tilt too far forward. In the case of forward facing poses, e.g warrior 1 the pelvis should be kept relatively square to the leg in front. The knee in front should not stray past being vertical to the heel. The difference between the lunge and warrior 1 lies in how the bag leg works, relative to the hips. To stretch the psoas turn the back foot slightly out to bring the heel down, while drawing the hip point forward. Bring the hips towards square. The alignment that targets the psoas in the back leg is spiral the leg in. this means drawing the hip point of that leg forward while extending back through the inner heel. A spiral turns the leg from the adductors rather than the rotators, making a clear and much deeper connection from deep inside the pelvis/hip bone through the inner thigh/adducors, behind the inner knee and to the arch of the foot, which remains lifted and engaged.

Doug Keller 2 120 Shadows of the Psoas in the Core Sutra We cant blame the psoas for everything that is wrong in the core! Postural patterns are more likely to be due to (or aided and abetted by) deeper single joint muscles, or locals in Anatomy Trains terms. Stretching the Iliacus - Quadratus Lumborum (QL) Connection Variations on lunges, warrior poses, and even Parvottanasana which include an internal rotation of the back leg where the heel is allowed to turn or fall to the outside, creating inner or medial rotation of the femur and allowing the weight to fall to the little toe side of the foot will bring the stretch to the iliacus QL connection. A simple example is the lunge pose, in which the toes of the back foot are turned under, and the knee can be dropped or supported on a block. The more the (back) leg is rotated inward, the more this track is stretched. Turning your back foot in even further, until you are on the little toe side of the foot, further stretches the iliacus and quadratus complex; the stretch increases even further when you turn your ribs away from back leg hip.

Doug Keller 2 - 122 The Pectineus Psoas Minor Connection

The pectineus can play a major role in tight hips e.g. in Baddhakonasana when the knees are very high. This complex of muscles is especially targeted in the back leg in standing poses such as Warrior 2 (Virabhadrasana 2). The stretch is fine -tuned by the degree of external rotation in the back leg, which exposes the pectineus to the stretch. The element of a bit of a backbend in the pose also aims the stretch at the psoas minor and upper psoas, which otherwise pulls the upper lumbars forward. Thus in someone in whom this complex is tight, we see the surfer variation of the Warrior pose, in which the student either tilts over the front leg, or has an exaggerated lordosis (arch) in the lower back. Moreover, the thigh of the back leg is pulled forward and down, and the student has a hard time straightening the back leg. Teachers often mistakenly try to pull the hip bone back to open the hip, when really the fault lies in the tightness of the pectineus which is not reached by pulling the hip back. In fact, the pectineus is jammed and can even be injured by such an aggressive action.

The Surfer Variation Illustrated

Doug Keller 2 - 122 The Pectineus Psoas Minor Connection (Continued) External Rotations of the Back Leg Warrior poses and variations on the lunge target the pectineus psoas minor complex through degrees of external rotation of the back leg. The greater the external rotation, the more the pectineus is opened to the stretch; the lift of the lower abdominals lengthens psoas minor. It is important that the inner thigh muscle/ adductor magnus lift up against the thighbone while stretching the hip, so as to maintain space in the joint. The stretch increases as the hips descend in the pose while not dropping the thighbone downward. In the lunge, the pectineus is targeted by turning the back foot out while descending the hips; psoas minor is lengthened to the extent that the body is lifted upright from the pit of the abdomen.

Summary Rule of Thumb Taking the lunge as an example stretch to the hip flexors/psoas in the back leg. If, in the bag leg, the heel is straight up, the psoas major receives most of the stretch. If the leg is rotated externally, so that the heel falls inward and the weight is on the big toe side, then the pectineous-psoas minor track will be included in the stretch. If the leg is rotated internally, so that the heel falls to the outside and the weight is on the little toe side of the foot, then the iliacus-QL track will be included in the stretch.

Iliacus Stretch Modified Pigeon This version of the pigeon pose targets the iliacus, fanning it open with the hip opening stretch. Stretching the iliacus can be an important part in releasing the psoas, for the sake of greater health in the lower back. Face a low table, with your pelvis square to the table not tilted, twisted or dipped to one side or the other. Place your right leg on the table with your knee bent so that your shin is parallel to the edge of the table, and your calf as well as your foot are supported. A milder beginning version is to have your knee directly aligned with in front of your hip socket; the challenge of the stretch to the hip increases as you take your knee more to the right. Slide your left leg straight back behind you in a partial lunge. Begin by focussing on the stretch to the iliacus of your straight leg. As you extend through the leg, turn your attention to the psoas as it lengthens over the hip socket, and the iliacus as it fans open. This opening comes from a dual action: extend from the pit of your abdomen down through the inner heel, drawing energy up through the arch i.e. not collapsing your inner ankle. At the same time, without allowing your standing leg hip to turn out, lift up through the pit of your abdomen while releasing down along the front (anterior) surface of your sacrum and tailbone. The lift and expansion that you feel at the core of the pelvis is the release and lengthening of the psoas as well as the fanning of the iliacus. Your hip point at the front of your hip will begin to lift and roll back, fanning the hipbone open and thus fanning the iliacus the muscle that sweeps along the inner surface of the hip bone and down to your inner thigh. Its important to do this from the inside. If the action is initiated too aggressively from the outside e.g. from tucking the tailbone, theres a risk of pulls to the groin and iliacus, and little benefit to the iliopsoas. With this action from the core, your pigeon hip will begin to open. The thigh will rotate out and the hip point will lift, and you will feel a toning deep within the buttock. There should not be a sharp pulling in the inner thigh. However, if there is, then lean forward and soften the groins back. Only lift and stretch until you feel your gluteus maximus and outward rotators contracting; watch out for any gripping in the groin/adductors as well. That is the outer limit of the stretch, beyond which you dont need to go. You may also feel in your standing leg that your hamstrings are contracting and pulling upward toward the sit bones. Engage your quadriceps to allow your hamstrings to release and flow downwards from your sit bone toward your knee. This will allow you a fuller and deeper stretch in your hip. Again, however, if there is any tucking in the sit bones or hips, the adductors and iliopsoas can get pulled at the hip joint. Focusing on the front leg, experiment with and experience the flowing kind of stretch, which depend in large part upon the position of your upper body.

Iliacus stretch neutral upper body focus on your iliacus by sensing the muscle fanning open as your hip bone rotates back with the stretch. This provides a fuller hip socket in the case of both hips. Gluteus Maximus Stretch leaning forward (maintaining a neutral hip socket) over the front leg, feeling the glues on the front leg releasing and stretching. Outward Rotator Tone leaning back arch into a backbend. Focus on releasing the upper psoas, fanning the iliacus as the sacrum tips back, and engaging or toning the outward rotators on both sides all at the same time. Draw in and up through your lower belly to deepen the stretch.

Always remember that we want to temper the tone of the rotators by keeping the adductors engaged and drawing back toward the sit bones if the rotators and glutes engage too much, the groins harden, the sacrum jams, and the psoas ceases to release and lengthen.

Variation A variation of the stretch is done on the floor with a soft block under the back leg, just above the knnecap to support the base of the femur and reduce the pressure on the kneecap itself). This lift makes the stretch more manageable for those with tight hips.