Psoas focus in Yoga – practice to strengthen and lengthen for greater spinal stability

≤30 min. Years ago author Liz Koch wrote "The Psoas Book" which had a profound effect on the yoga community and became a must-read for yoga teachers because of the critical importance of this deep interior muscle that is the sort of guyline for the spine. Psoas are deep muscles in the core, extending from the 12th thoracic vertebrae to the 5th lumbar vertebrae; they stabilize the spine and connect your spine to your legs. Knowledge of and focus on the psoas is important for structural alignment and is critical because most of us have a lifestyle wherein the psoas muscles contract due to sitting, driving, walking -- let alone the impact of stress, which also cause a shortening of the psoas. This a a practice that you should come back to again and again, because that is what it takes; repetition with daily attention to keep your psoas muscles relaxed, stretched, and strong.