Ep 80: Why Is The Psoas Muscle So Important?

In a recent conversation with a fellow yoga teacher, she asked me if I’d ever consider doing an episode on the psoas muscle. Of course, I said YES!

I truly love diving into topics like these! There are certain muscles that every yoga or movement teacher should understand on a deeper level, the psoas is definitely one of them. It’s widely referenced in classes, but just as often misunderstood. So today, we’re unpacking what it is, what it does, and why it matters so much in the way we teach.

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Transcript

Monica: 0:00

In a recent conversation with a fellow yoga teacher, she asked me if I'd ever consider doing an episode on the SOAs muscle, and without hesitation, I said, absolutely, yes. This is one of those topics I truly love diving into because there are certain muscles that every yoga or movement teacher should understand on a deeper level, and the SOAs is definitely one of them. It's widely referenced, but just as often misunderstood. So today we're unpacking what it is, what it does, and why it matters so much in the way we teach.

0:43

Welcome to the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers Podcast with me. I'm Monica Bright and I've been teaching yoga and running my yoga business for over a decade. This is the podcast for you. If you are a yoga teacher, you're looking for support. You love to be in conversation, and you're a lifelong student. In this podcast, I'll share with you. My life as a yoga teacher, the lessons I've learned, my process for building my business and helpful ideas, tools, strategies and systems I use and you can use so that your business thrives. We'll cover a diverse range of topics that will help you, whether you're just starting out or you've got years under your belt and you wanna dive deep and set yourself up for success. I am so glad you're here. Listen, I don't take myself too seriously, so expect to hear some laughs along the way. Now let's do this together.

Monica: 1:52

Welcome back to the podcast. I'm Monica, and I'm so glad you're here. Here is where we get real about yoga's role in helping students with conditions and injuries and what you can do to help them find relief while they're in your classes. I was recently speaking with one of my yoga teacher colleagues, and she asked. To me if I'd record an episode on the topic of the SOAs muscle, and I immediately said, uh, yeah. I honestly do enjoy doing deep dives into certain muscles that every yoga teacher or movement teacher should have a solid understanding of. So today we're going to discuss the SOAs muscle because it's widely referenced, but often misunderstood. You've probably heard it called a hip flexor. Maybe you've even heard that it's linked to trauma or emotion, but how well do you really understand what the so as muscle does and why it matters so much for yoga teachers to know it deeply? Let's discuss. Its anatomical function. Its evolutionary history, its relationship with pain and its role in modern movement and yoga. The SOAs major is a deep, powerful muscle located in the core of the human body. It's part of the group, commonly referred to as the Iio SOAs, which includes the SOAs major and the iliacs. The SOAs originates along the lumbar vertebra, T 12 to L five, runs diagonally down through the pelvis and inserts on the lesser trocanter of the femur, which is the upper inner thigh. It is primary job is hip flexion, bringing the thigh towards the torso or the torso towards the thigh, but it's not just a mover, it's also a stabilizer, particularly of the lumbar spine and pelvis. It's the only muscle that connects the spine directly to the legs and that makes it a bridge between the upper and lower body, structurally and functionally. Here's something fascinating and not often discussed, but I teach it when I'm teaching yoga teachers about functional and applied anatomy. The role of the SOAs changed dramatically when we evolved from quadrupeds to bipeds. In four-legged animals, the SOAs helps flex the hip during walking or running, but the spine is more horizontal. When humans became upright, the spine became vertical, and the SOAs had to adapt to serve both movement. And postural stability, particularly in standing and gait mechanics. This dual role stabilizing and mobilizing is unique to us humans who walk on two feet instead of four, the SOAs has to hold the lumbar spine in place while also helping us walk, lift and bend. So think about it. That's a big job for one muscle. Side note, you have two SOAs muscles, one on the right side of your body and one on the left. The next bit of information is something I love to teach about the SOAs muscle. it's the SOAs and quadratus lumborum relationship. These two muscles are close neighbors. They both attach to the lumbar spine, while the SOAs primarily flexes the hip and stabilizes the spine, The QL works to side bend the spine and stabilize the pelvis when the SOAs is tight or overused, the QL often compensates and vice versa. this can create asymmetrical loading in the low back, contributing to lumbar discomfort, pelvic imbalance, or strain on the SI joint. They will often co contract when we're trying to stabilize, especially IMB, balancing poses or core work. But when one is over, recruited or short, the other might be overworked, trying to keep you upright. Now let's talk about the SOAs and the diaphragm because they have a critical connection. The SOAs and diaphragm are connected through fascia at the level of T 12. And L one, and they work together to create core support. So if you're teaching breath mechanics and you notice that a student's breath is shallow, or if the diaphragm is restricted from trauma or tension, the SOAs may. Also become hypertonic, which means it's overactive and tight. That's one reason why breath work. And so as awareness are often linked in both yoga and somatic work. Now, let's talk about pain. We know that pain is multifactorial. It's not confined to damage to soft tissue or bone, or even one single event. The SOAs can contribute to a wide range of issues when it's not functioning well, including low back pain. because of its lumbar attachments. A shortened or tight SOAs can pull the lumbar spine forward into excessive lordosis and inward curve, compressing the discs and creating facet joint irritation. Hip pain. If the SOAs is dominant, it can limit extension through the hip joint, contributing to strain and back bends. Think camel dancers even kneeling lunges. It can also contribute to pelvic instability. Uneven tension in the SOAs can tilt the pelvis forward and interior tilt, and if it's on one side and not both, then it can pull one side forward an action that's not happening on the other side. I wanna stress that these variations can be very small, but if you do some investigating and your student knows that this is an issue for them, then you can take this information and choose what you wanna do about it in your classes. I. Because of its fossil link to the diaphragm. Tension in the SOAs can also affect your breathing patterns, often resulting in a shallow chest dominant breath cycle. And nervous system hyper vigilance. The SOAs is closely linked with the sympathetic nervous system. Chronic stress can lead to, for a lack of a better way to say it, constantly on SOAs, leading to postural holding patterns that reinforce that fight or flight state. So why does all of this matter for you as a yoga teacher? because we work directly with spinal movement, breath and hip mobility every time we teach. If a student struggles in Warrior one, which includes hip flexion and extension. Or feels compression in Cobra or Upward Dog, which requires extension. Maybe they experience low back pain in Shavasana with neutral hips, depending on the student's body type. Or if they have difficulty breathing deeply in twists or forward folds, which require spinal rotation and some flexion, The SOAs could be playing a role here. Understanding the SOAs helps you. Q more clearly imposes that demand hip extension offer variations that respect pelvic and lumbar positioning. Incorporate breath work that supports nervous system downregulation and teach core stability that includes not ignores the deep hip flexors. You also begin to see that not all back pain is caused by a weakness or tight hamstrings sometimes. It's about misunderstanding or simply under supporting the SOAs. Here are a few things that most yoga teachers don't know. The SOAs is active even in rest, in standing and seated positions. It's engaging in order to stabilize. Some students with SOAs dominance may benefit from more eccentric loading or co contraction rather than passive stretching. Okay, tight doesn't always mean short. A SOAs can feel tight because it's weak and overworked, not because it needs more length. I could do an entire podcast episode on the misunderstanding of this. Let me know if you want me to add it to the queue, and I totally will. And walking and slow locomotion can be more helpful for regulating the SOAs than isolated hip stretches. So while you might feel tempted to teach a lizard or a low lunge and call it a day, a more thoughtful approach might include breath based practices to calm, sympathetic tone, GL, and posterior chain activation to create balance and functional movement like walking, lunging and standing balance work. So here's the takeaway. The SOAs isn't just a hip flexor, it's a central player in the story of our spines, our pelvis, the breath, and the nervous system. As yoga teachers, when we understand its complexity, we stop oversimplifying movement. We stop defaulting to stretch it or engage it, and we start seeing how our queuing, our sequencing, and our presence can help students move better and feel safer in their own bodies. Developing an inherent understanding of what each pose asks of the body, plus what students' bodies can and cannot tolerate, will help you help your students, either in your group classes or private client settings. If you wanna go deeper into how to understand anatomy in a way that really applies. To the students that show up in your classes. This is exactly what I mentor yoga teachers on. I'm currently working with a teacher who has injured students, and she wants to deepen her acumen on what to offer with ease. Remember, you don't need to memorize every joint direction of movement to be effective or every single muscle in the body. In order to be a good, informed and educated teacher, you just need to understand how to support the students in front of you, and that's what I help teachers do. Okay. Understanding anatomy, biomechanics, and the effects yoga Asana have on the body helps you help your students. It's so important for us to have this conversation so that you remember that students of all shapes, sizes, alignment and abilities come to your classes and you can serve all of them. You know that my goal is for you to love the yoga teaching life. It's important to understand movement And the issues students come to your classes with. If you want to inquire about working with me, let's jump on a strategy. Call and discuss your current needs and ways I can help you right now. In the meantime, subscribe to the podcast so you're always in the know when a new episode drops, and share it with another yoga teacher who you think would love to be in on these conversations. And thank you for helping to spread the word about this podcast. Alright, that's it for now. Bye.