Rider from behind

Stenson

Engaging Your Psoas Muscles

Even though the psoas muscles are deep within your body you can still access them and learn to engage them properly so they serve you well in riding.

 “Sometimes I think this body has a mind of its own.” Those are lyrics to one of my favorite songs. We all feel this way sometimes, especially when riding and unable to find that perfect position where we feel comfortable and balanced. When we tire of the struggle we fall back into what feels normal to us but what feels “normal” is not necessarily correct biomechanics. Normal can be an inefficient set of compensation habits, giving the body a mind of its own. It’s struggling to return to its natural position. It shows up when we struggle with our legs pulling up when riding. It shows up when our lower back becomes tight and sore. It appears when our connection with our horse is intermittent. But most of all, it creates a pendulum swing in our balance as our alignment tries to maintain and return to its natural equilibrium.

Dynamic equilibrium can be cultivated and integrated into all that you do, and it is the cornerstone to grace in your riding. By using your natural ability to apply images to your riding and by adding in a few simple exercises your body will realign according to its natural design. After all, grace in motion is your birthright.

Learning to trust your body’s natural instincts and letting your core muscles work for you takes practice and the results are achievable with dedicated mindfulness that can be done while enjoying your ride. Relaxation and alignment is built into the body piece by piece and the first piece to relax is your deep iliopsoas muscle group.

Trying to relax your entire body all at once is almost impossible to do especially if you line yourself up with external ideas of what is proper and then say, “Relax!” Your body will not respond to that command because it cannot. Knowing that relaxation is an upward movement through the center of the body and that the psoas muscles are the dynamic forces that create the chain reaction to being upright and comfortable is important to keep you from collapsing into what feels normal. Your body has to learn how to “let go” of excess tension. Toward this end, communication is key.

Communicating Clearly

If the body, mind, and spirit are communication tools, then the message has to be clear and precise. If your body is working with what feels normal, then the horse is the one who has to interpret the jumbled messages. When you get a clear internal visual of your core muscles, how they function, then you will have an image that helps you to communicate with your horse as an ally. Your psoas muscles play a major role in alignment, symmetry, and relaxation, which are essential for clear communication from your body to your equine partner. Engaging your psoas muscles with awareness will help you master a deeper sense of stability, control, and relaxation throughout your entire body, allowing you to give clear and precise messages that your horse can instinctively comprehend and follow.

Managing Tension

Tension is necessary in our form and function because it holds us together so that we can move. However, it is the excess tension in our bodies that restricts movement of our muscles and joints, inhibits suppleness and flexibility, and creates a hard barrier between you and your horse. A muscle that has too much tension is hard and lacks sensitivity. If muscles are tight, it is like someone who is always talking. That person cannot listen while talking. Tight muscles feel very hard and static to your horse, who has to figure out how to move through constant pressure. Releasing excess tension creates resilient, sensitive muscles with the ability to listen and communicate gently.

The psoas is a hip flexor and when you tense to rebalance, your psoas muscles pull your thighs up and forward which pulls your trunk sideways and your head forward, forcing you to balance with your hands. No amount of telling yourself to sit up straight and relax will alleviate the excess tension in your psoas muscles.

The psoas minor, psoas major, and the iliacus make up the grouping of psoas muscles. The psoas major muscle is the strongest hip flexor in the body (human and horse). All three of your core muscles originate on the spine and insert at the lesser trochanter on the medial and top part of the femur bone. Basically, your psoas muscles run from the lower part of your ribcage to your groin. Its form commands its function.

When functioning according to their intrinsic design, they stabilize and center the pelvis, keeping it from tipping backwards or forwards so it remains balanced upright with the sitz bones pointing downward. When the pelvis is dynamically balanced, the lumbar spine aligns naturally as a bridge from the pelvis to the thoracic vertebra. When the ribcage is correctly balanced on top of the lumbar spine, the head sits comfortably on a ball and side supports from the atlas. When the trunk is aligned, the shoulders rest quietly on top of the ribcage. The scapular bones hang like a cape on the back of the ribcage. The body is most efficient, energetic, and relaxed when aligned upright, in sync with gravity.

Practicing Techniques

What can you do? Even though th

e psoas muscles are deep within your body you can still access them and learn to engage them properly so they serve you well in riding. Learning to feel these muscles is a practice of invoking them from the inside out, not from the outside in. Just imagining it to be so will never engage them properly nor will strengthening your abdominals. Remember, they attach in your groin which will make it easier for you to access them.

Notice when you are struggling and see if you can catch the first impulse of your psoas muscles pulling your legs upward. Remember it is a hip flexor. Instead of forcing your heals down, relax your groin muscles so they can release, allowing your legs to lengthen and wrap softly around your horse. Relaxing your groin muscles will allow your trunk to realign itself and naturally reach upward. Your balance will become more dynamic with much less movement because you can remain in the middle of your horse’s movement. The more you notice, the easier it is to let go quickly. Soon, letting go will become second nature.

Finding Softness

Softness is a greater strength than strength built by tension and hard work. You will have to learn to trust. Your psoas and abdominal muscles will grow stronger with less tension. Your body inherently will know when it is in proper alignment because it is comfortable. Through practice, you are developing your internal awareness of feel, balance, and grace because your core muscles are not struggling against gravity but are working within their inherent design. As with all practices, the more you do it, the better it gets. Your horse will appreciate your new-found softness. Your connection and communication will blossom into a dynamic partnership. Your body will release its natural grace.

Sara Stenson is a student, practitioner, and teacher of T’ai Chi Ch’uan for over 40 years. In the late 1990s, at the request of her equestrian students, she released a video, Chi Gung for Horsemen, and was a guest speaker at Equitana in Louisville, Kentucky, and the Western States Horse Expo in Sacramento, California. She has taught Chi Gung to hundreds of senior citizens for fall prevention at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado. Her passion is teaching riders the T’ai Chi principles of natural movement so communication and connection with their horse is enhanced and makes for happy horses with a light, soft and balanced rider.

 [MSP1]As author for references, none are listed in the article.