Psoas
One of my dear students Leah heard me teaching today about the sacrum, about pelvic loop and about the Iliopsoas. She recommended that I check out a website called "Core Awareness" and I did. The website belongs to Liz Koch who is internationally known as one of the leading voices on the Iliopsoas. In fact I read her book about the Psoas recently. I went to her website and found myself listening to two different interviews: one with Thomas Myers and one with Doctor Bercelli who deals with trauma and the Psoas. I was riveted for two hours and learned so much. Thank you dear Leah!
One of the things I learned today is that a tight Iliopsoas is associated with fear of falling and with fear of failing. How interesting! Also, whenever we are under stress the body's innate reaction is to go towards a fetal pose, which is activated by tightening the Iliopsoas. So when we release this muscle we get to release past trauma and stress. We don't even have to go into story, we can heal just by releasing the body.
Later today as I taught my restorative class at Still. I focused on doing poses that would help release this muscle complex which is so intimately connected to the Flight or Fight mechanism. Class went really well. The students seemed to take in the material and be genuinely interested. You could also feel the energy in the room becoming calmer as the class moved along. It helped that before class I was able to have a really nice and long restorative home practice which helped me rest and also synch up to what my students were about to experience.
May all of us rest more!
May we remember that just like nature we too have cycles and rhythms. We need periods of rest and excitement each day. And we need to synch up to the circadian rhythms of the day, trying to get to sleep earlier and wake up earlier.
Lastly, here is the gratitude of the day for my Dad on his upcoming birthday.
Papi, I remember how when I was a child you would drive us to your parents house. We would spend the weekend there and have so much fun with our grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. You instilled in us the love for family. To this day I often think of how lucky we were to have those weekends of family fun and great food!
The best part however was when we got back. The drive back from Caguas to San Juan was long and I would often fall asleep. When we got home you would pick me up in your big, strong arms and take me to my room. I felt so safe, held in your arms. Thank you for taking care of me.
Gracias. Bendición.
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