# PSOAS 'core muscles'



## Guest (Mar 15, 2006)

I was so excited when I stumbled onto this. This might be a 'clue' to the body/mind portion of DP. I'm not saying it's the whole answer but it has been proven that body work can bring up all kinds of amazing realizations and 'releases.' This is just a couple of the paragraphs from the link:

http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/170_1.cfm

Either emotional trauma or an ongoing lack of emotional support can also lead to a chronically contracted psoas, and thus to a loss of core awareness. If your fight/flight syndrome is triggered into constant arousal, eventually you lose contact with your inner world. One psoas workshop participant, for example, recalled her mother repeatedly admonishing her, "Look where you're going, young lady." Constantly receiving the message that her body couldn't be trusted led her into chronic anxiety. She realized she literally watched every step she took, forcing her skeleton to sag under the weight of a drooping head.

As an adult, learning to consciously release your psoas can rekindle vital energies by re-establishing your connection to your body's internal signals?your instinctual somatic wisdom. Releasing your psoas encourages this process by allowing you to trust your skeletal stability instead of holding yourself up by muscular effort. Sensing your bones supporting weight translates into a physical and emotional feeling of "standing on your own two feet." With a properly functioning psoas, the bones bear weight, the muscles move the bones, and the joints connect the subtle energies of the body. Energy flows through the joints, offering a sense of continuity, like the string flowing through a pearl necklace that transforms it into something more than the sum of its parts. The psoas, by conducting energy, grounds us to the earth, just as a grounding wire prevents shocks and eliminates static on a radio. Freed and grounded, the spine can awaken.

(underlined portion is mine. info provided just as 'food for thought.') :wink:


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## Pablo (Sep 1, 2005)

I have worked with releasing the Psoas with the Trauma releasing exercises we mentioned in a few other posts a few days ago. They are key muscles in the fight/flight response but I have come to the conclusion in my body that they are blocked not by being frozen or contracted themselves but because of the tension in my neck, so my conclusion is that the communication between my psoas and my brain is blocked by the problems in my neck.

An example of this is when I do the yoga shoulderstand asana my legs start to shake and my psoas is activated, which is a reaction i dont get from any other pose, so I think i can safely conclude that my trauma or problem is activated when working with my neck/shoulders rather than the psoas themselves.

I imagine that the majority of people with trauma problems or DP have problems with communication between the brain and the psoas but that doesn't mean that they have problems with the psoas themselves but it is a great place to start 

I liked the gist of the article that it is important to re-establish your instinctual somatic wisdom. This is what I think I have lost and am working at anyway.


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## Guest (Mar 15, 2006)

Pablo said:


> I have worked with releasing the Psoas with the Trauma releasing exercises we mentioned in a few other posts a few days ago. They are key muscles in the fight/flight response but I have come to the conclusion in my body that they are blocked not by being frozen or contracted themselves but because of the tension in my neck, so my conclusion is that the communication between my psoas and my brain is blocked by the problems in my neck.
> 
> An example of this is when I do the yoga shoulderstand asana my legs start to shake and my psoas is activated, which is a reaction i dont get from any other pose, so I think i can safely conclude that my trauma or problem is activated when working with my neck/shoulders rather than the psoas themselves.
> 
> ...


That last thing is what really struck me, too, in the article.....'re-establish your instinctual somatic wisdom.'

It's very interesting what you say about your neck. I've had problems with my neck, too. I was in a car wreck in the early 80's that impacted the left side of my neck. A couple of years after that, my brother had a 'fit' and while I was sitting in a kitchen chair, he grabbed my hair and pulled my head forward and beat me at the base of my skull. ;( That hurt me more in my heart than anywhere else, if you know what I mean. He could have killed me hitting me there...or paralyzed me. At any rate, I feel sure there is 'stored junk' in my neck in spite of getting worked on regularly at the chiropractor's office. I have to say that it has definitely helped but I still have stuff going on with the left side of my neck especially. sigh....


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## Pablo (Sep 1, 2005)

kwgrid said:


> That last thing is what really struck me, too, in the article.....'re-establish your instinctual somatic wisdom.'
> 
> It's very interesting what you say about your neck. I've had problems with my neck, too. I was in a car wreck in the early 80's that impacted the left side of my neck. A couple of years after that, my brother had a 'fit' and while I was sitting in a kitchen chair, he grabbed my hair and pulled my head forward and beat me at the base of my skull. ;( That hurt me more in my heart than anywhere else, if you know what I mean. He could have killed me hitting me there...or paralyzed me. At any rate, I feel sure there is 'stored junk' in my neck in spite of getting worked on regularly at the chiropractor's office. I have to say that it has definitely helped but I still have stuff going on with the left side of my neck especially. sigh....


Many of the health professionals I have seen talk about somatic imprint of traumatic memory, which I think means that your body stores an imprint of the traumatic experience which can be reactivated by anything which reminds you either consciously or subconsciously of the initial event. I have really been questioning where memory is stored as it is assumed that memory is stored in the brain but why does body work and yoga type exercises bring out strong emotion and trigger flashback and emotional memory? My personal thinking is that memory or at least traumatic undigested memory is stored in the body.

Im sorry to hear about your car accident. I read about a type of work recently called Sensorimotor psychotherapy which treats trauma from car accidents well by completing the instinctual human reaction to the accident through body awareness and instinctual awareness of what the body would have done if there wern't restriction with seatbelts etc. If you are interested http://sensorimotorpsychotherapy.org/

Im not sure whether a regular chiropractor will get to the route cause of the problem. I have seen one recently who specialises in Neuro Emotional Technique (NET) which focuses on the emotional reaction in the spine to memory rather than jumping straight into correcting physical problems. It seems to help, although I will know more in a few weeks after a few more sessions.

My thinking is that the neck is often a place of tension because it is imbetween the head and the heart so if there is a conflict between these two aspects of yourself there will be tension in that area, although there could be a far more simple reason and im overthinking things.


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## 1A (Aug 12, 2004)

kwgrid said:


> Constantly receiving the message that her body couldn't be trusted led her into chronic anxiety. She realized she literally watched every step she took, forcing her skeleton to sag under the weight of a drooping head.


The paragraph above is an important one.


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## 1A (Aug 12, 2004)

DP may cause hemorrhoids too.


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## Guest (Mar 16, 2006)

1A said:


> DP may cause hemorrhoids too.


1A, you are always good for a chuckle.

I can list about 100 things that can cause hemorrhoids. Why shouldn't DP be on that list, too. :lol:


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## chiara (Nov 5, 2005)

I have neck problems too they were one of the root causes of my anxiety disorder.Neck problems caused panic ( without me knowing it was from that just felt so wierd) but also my anxiety and panic would cause neck problems, never ending cycle!
I finally after many many years got some physical therapy for it and it helped very much. The problem is still there and always will be but at least I can be helped.


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