PSOAS MUSCLE - PASSIVE STRETCHING + ACTIVE LOADING

Social media is awash with “ways to get more flexible” - some of them promising huge changes over short periods of time.

But these methods do not work. Sitting in deep, end range stretches is not sustainable without building strength.

The truth is that the more access you have to ranges of motion, the more flexible you are. And how do you gain more range of motion? 

Yep, through strengthening 

If you want a more mobile & flexible body, one that is capable of a wide range of movements, one that can bend, turn, twist, lift - then you need to add load into your movement routine, you need to add a strength component to the stretch. 

Do this & your mobility & flexibility will, over time, increase.

And guess what, a body that has capacity to move in different ways, to respond to the environment around it, is a body with a more attuned nervous system; more flex-able, more response-able.

So teach your body to move in a variety of ways, & teach your whole self to be more resilient, more organised & less inclined to get overwhelmed &/or stuck.

Psoas muscle passive stretching & active loading practice

• Place a block, bolster, rolled up blanket, cushion (or nothing at all) under your sacrum

• Draw knees into chest, notice how the tail bone curls under

• Keep one knee hugged in & the tail bone curled under, while you lengthen through the other leg - stay here for 5 breaths

• Slowly start to lift the leg up, notice the engagement, maybe there is some tremor in the leg, go easy.

• Repeat this 3 - 5 times. 

• Pause & notice what you feel before switching legs