The Psoas, An "Eco-Messenger" (The Work of Liz Koch)
“Like a fish, or for that matter a caterpillar, our head to our tail moves as one. Stabilizing one end of the caterpillar by pressing down your finger only makes the other end of the caterpillar flail. The same is true for the head and pelvis. When one end of the spine is overstabilized (or unstable), the other end will become disorganized. To either end, our Psoas messages all core disruptions. By returning the core to its fluid primal origins, compensatory behaviors involving the Psoas often find resolution.” Liz Koch
ReThinking the Psoas With Liz Koch
From a Muscle to Develop to An Exquisite “Eco-Messenger” Sensor Connecting Ground to Heart
“Shaped by personal, social, and global flows of information, the psoas responds to not only stress signals but also impulses that stir our hearts and resonate deep within our bones. By having respect and support for our biological intelligence, the psoas emerges as a messenger that reveals deeply moving stories about compromise and sourcing as well as depletion and nourishment.”
Move Better, Feel Better presenter Liz Koch sees the Psoas as an exquisite sensory organ connecting the ground to heart and everything in between.
Liz Koch is an international teacher and author with 43 years of experience working with and specializing in the psoas. Educating both laypersons and professionals around the world, Liz is recognized by colleagues in the movement, wellness, and fitness professions as an authority on the “core muscle” of the human body. Liz is the author of The Psoas Book; Core Awareness: Enhancing Yoga, Pilates, Exercise & Dance; Unraveling Scoliosis CD; The Psoas & Back Pain CD; and she is a contributing author to Maiden, Mother, Crone: Our Pleasure Playlist and Stalking Wild Psoas: Embodying Your Core Intelligence.
Her presentation for Move Better, Feel Better Summit focused on her newest work “Stalking the Wild Psoas: Embodying Your Core Intelligence.” As a conference bonus, Liz shared her essay “Wild Psoas: Eco-Messenger for Thriving.”
Here are a few excerpts from that publication:
“The curling of a leaf, caterpillar, spine, rivulet, embryo, horn, pinecone, hair follicle, and galaxy reveal expressions shared by all living processes. These biomorphic expressions are found throughout nature in diverse species and within every micro or macro scale of the universe and are synonymous with the expressions of living water
” Liz Koch
Microcosmic Orbit source: Sharon Smith,
“Within Eastern philosophy, the psoas may well be housed in what is referred to as the governing and conception vessels. These two opposite but complementary flows connect within the soft palate, through the tongue, to form a harmonious flow creating what is said to be a microcosmic orbit. Rather than a segmented structure, the spine is recognized as a multidimensional life form.”
“Disrupted proprioception is always received and messaged by the psoas. Nurturing proprioception is thus fundamental for aligning with the axis of the earth as well as sustaining a healthy core psoas.”
“Like a tuning fork produces a pure tone, the psoas is in resonance with the wisdom of our bone, vibrating the very essence of life and putting a bounce in our step.”
“As a core messenger, the psoas always signals skeletal issues such as bone loss, joint dysfunction, proprioceptive interruptions, torn ligaments, and imbalances between pelvis and skull. The psoas also speaks to the exhausted, undeveloped, overwhelmed, and un- resilient nervous system. Whether overwhelmed by fear or willfully recruited, the psoas will compensate for injured or lax ligaments, bone deficiencies, and neurological and proprioceptive disruption.
“The psoas reveals the truth about our relationship with the earth; as messenger, the psoas is therefore rarely the problem.”
“The wild psoas begins to reappear as a different critter than the psoas objectified as muscle. Liminal and orbital, the wild psoas appears as a 360-degree receiver, transmitter, and inner communicator. Embodying the wild psoas is not a task to achieve but an adventure requiring childlike play. Rewilding the psoas— reclaiming what is felt deep inside and bringing it into the world—is not work but a creative expression: a flourishing.”
We will explore this concept of Psoas as receptor, as well as the Whole Woman® concept of “pelvic wall” in the Pelvic Floor series beginning in October.