Connect with your psoas muscle

The psoas muscle is right at the core of your body running down from behind the belly button to the hips. It's quite an interesting muscle because it used by your body in stress response and while contracted it has a distorting effect on your posture and leads to subtle energy usage. For many years while under stress, I had trouble with front thigh numbness which I now believe to be caused by a constantl;y tight psoas muscle. The only unfortunate thing about the muscle is that it's not easy to sense because it's right in the middle of your body.

One easy way to stretch this muscle is to lie on the floor and bring both knees to the chest. Then allow one leg to straighten out on the floor. This stretches one side. Now repeat the exercise by bringing both knees to the chest and allowing the other leg to straighten out on the floor. Co-ordinate these movements with your breath and you will have quite a nice relaxation exercise.

Another way to relax this muscle is to imagine the base of your spine stretching away from the mid point of your spine, as if the vertebrae are being gently opened up. Imagine this sense of opening and relaxation in this area and you might find it letting go. After a while you will get a sense of the tension in your psoas muscle as you go about your day to day business - try and keep it as relaxed as possible.

Finally, it is also interesting to me that one of the focus points for breath meditation is the area behind the belly button. It's as if tuning in to this area has a naturally soothing effect on the mind - relax your psoas, relax your mind.