Michelle Thielen is a Certified Yoga Therapist, keynote speaker, author of Stretching Your Faith, and Exit Wilderness, A Roadmap Out of Depression and Hopelessness. She has been teaching somatic movement through dance and yoga for over 25 years, led over 200 teacher trainings, and is passionate about helping the world live a life of purpose.

You can find Michelle on platforms such as Kino MacGregor’s OmStars, YogiApproved, beYogi, GAIA, Yoga Journal and more. Michelle enjoys teaching at yoga festivals, traveling the world, playing piano and leading worship at her local church. Check out her articles here.

The Mighty Psoas- The Muscle Of The Soul

Psoas is short for iliopsoas

The iliopsoas is called many things: The Trap, a Storage Unit and even the Garbage Dump.

Fight-Flight-Freeze Muscle

The antidote to Fight-Flight-Freeze is our Relaxation Response.

A healthy iliopsoas is important for all the movements that you make in daily life. It is the only muscle that connects our upper and lower half therefore, it involves absolutely everything we do.

It’s vital to strengthen, stretch, and lengthen these muscles to awaken and release the area as well as prevent future injuries and soul wounds.

ORIGIN

The superficial part overlies the lumbar plexus and takes origin from the sides of the 112 and L1 to L4 vertebrae including the intervening intervertebral discs.

The deep part which lies mainly deep to the branches of the lumbar plexus takes origin from the transverse processes of lumbar vertebrae L1 to LS.

Connection Between Psoas and Fight or Flight

As a major hip muscle the Psoas experiences increased oxygen and blood flow. As with any movement, it begins with the brain telling the body what to do and thus, which muscles to recruit.

FIGHT:
In the case of fighting, the brain might signal muscles like serratus anterior, or the psoas to prepare the body to punch or kick the threat, respectively.

FLIGHT:
To flee, the muscles involved in rising up & running away would need to be activated which, largely involves the psoas.

FREEZE:
The body needs to stabilize to hold still, activating core stabilizers including the psoas.
In all of these events, the psoas would contract, and this constant contraction could later lead to pain, discomfort, fatigue in the muscle and much more such as sadness, grief or depression.