A COMPLETE GUIDE TO PREVENTING BACK AND HIP INJURIES BY STRENGTHENING THE MUSCLE GROUP CONNECTING YOUR UPPER AND LOWER BODY Connecting the lower spine to the hips and legs, a strong and flexible psoas muscle is vital for everyday movements like walking, bending and reaching, as well as athletic endeavors like jumping for a ball, holding a yoga pose and swinging a golf club. With targeted information and exercises, this book’s step-by-step program guarantees you’ll transforms this vulnerable muscle, including: •Develop a powerful core •End back pain •Increase range of motion •Improve posture •Prevent strains and injuries Packed with 100s of step-by-step photos and clear, concise instructions, Psoas Strength and Flexibility features workouts for toning the muscle as well as rehabbing from injury. And each program is based on simple matwork exercises that require minimal or no equipment.

Located deep within the anterior hip joint and lower spine, the psoas major (usually just referred to as the psoas) is critical for optimal postural alignment, movement, and overall well being. The psoas is the only muscle in the human organism that connects the upper body to the lower body, and its importance extends to the nerve complex and energy systems. As modern-day populations grow more sedentary, psoas-related lower back and hip pain, and the ailment of "sitting too much," are on the rise. Even the most active of athletes can suffer from psoas imbalance and pain. The Vital Psoas Muscle demonstrates how to keep the muscle in balance through specific exercises designed to strengthen and utilize this amazing muscle, and discusses its vital role in the emotional and spiritual state of the human being. The interconnection between the psoas and the root chakra is explored, along with yoga poses and postures that stimulate the psoas. Eighty full-color illustrations depict anatomical details, and show the key stretching and strengthening exercises in this practical and comprehensive treatment of the most important skeletal muscle in the human body.

The first book to comprehensively discuss the function of the psoas in posture, movement, and exercise, The Psoas Solution identifies the functional anatomy, biomechanics, and motor control of the psoas and its role in core and hip stabilization. Integrating research with clinical experience, Evan Osar identifies the psoas's role on the hip, pelvis, and low back and demonstrates how to incorporate the psoas into functional movement patterns including squatting, lunging, and bending. The Psoas Solution includes corrective and functional exercise progressions for improving and integrating the psoas into daily activities. Health and fitness professionals will find this a valuable resource full of applicable strategies and exercises to incorporate into current rehabilitation or training programs. Abundantly illustrated with full-color images throughout, this book also provides most complete review on the relevant research on the psoas available. For years the psoas has been a muscle mired in controversy. It has been linked to common postural and movement dysfunction including anterior pelvic tilt, hyperlordosis of the lumbar spine, and low back pain. Strategies to improve posture and reduce pain have primarily involved stretching the psoas and strengthening its antagonist, the glutes. However, recent clinical research has revealed that the psoas is much more than a simple hip flexor and plays an integral role in both posture and movement. This professional treatment manual for health care practitioners and students gives an overview of the ways that non-optimal use of the psoas can affect breathing, posture, and movement. It outlines specific treatment strategies that enable patients to develop awareness and utilization of the psoas muscle to achieve three-dimensional breathing and improve balance and body mechanics.

An indispensible resource for those interested in all forms of movement education, including yoga, pilates, dance, and more Somatic educator and writer Liz Koch has spent decades studying the principles of Core Awareness—a body-based approach to movement that utilizes attention to inner sensation as the key to increasing strength, gaining flexibility, preventing injury, and improving resilience. In this book, she shares her vast knowledge of Core Awareness with readers, providing movements, stretches, and mindfulness explorations that she developed herself. Her exercises are designed to enhance sensory development and shift readers from the standard paradigm of the body as an "isolated object" to a holistic paradigm of the human being as part of a living process of dynamic expression. This shift in perspective offers practitioners and teachers of movement, yoga, pilates, bodywork, exercise, and dance an empowering model for self-healing and the key to becoming stronger, more flexible, and more resilient. As Koch describes the practice of moving from one's core, she highlights the importance of engaging the psoas muscle—located on either side of the spine—to integrate the body, mind, emotion, and spirit. Koch also discusses how the pelvis is the foundation of our physical core, the vital connection with our bones, and crucial in gaining a sense of support, nourishment, joint integrity, skeletal balance, and healthy muscle tone. Rewritten with updated information, this revised edition includes 247 new photos and 25 new Core Awareness explorations—with 64 in total. A suggested reading list at the end of the book provides resources for continuing the development of the ideas presented within the book.

Understanding the basics of stretching -- Focusing on facilitated stretching -- Using the spiral-diagonal patterns of PNF -- Stretches for the lower extremity -- Stretches for the upper extremity -- Stretches for the neck and torso -- Combining techniques to release fibrotic tissue -- Stretching routines for specific activities -- Routines for common soft tissue injuries.