Feeling and consciously using the psoas muscles

Once you feel comfortable with the details of Door or Bar Hanging, and can expand the chest during Spinal Elongation Breathing without tightening the abdomen, then consciously relax the abdominal wall while you practice. While relaxing the abdominal muscles, straighten the spine against the door. Notice a feeling of "pulling in and up" deep inside the upper abdomen, behind the front lower ribs. This feeling will help you develop awareness of the left and right psoas muscles. 

Feel this same sensation of pulling in and up deep inside the upper abdomen, behind the front lower ribs, when you walk and sit. This will keep your lower spine more lengthened, without "sucking in your gut".  Tightening the abdominal wall in order to pull in and flatten the belly, or straighten the lower spine, will hamper your energy flow and constrict the abdominal organ space, resulting in increased overall tension of your field. However, using the psoas muscles in this way will increase alignment of the lumbar spine, as well as drawing the belly in, without tightening it.

When the head is held as if gently pushed back from the upper lip and suspended from the crown, there may be a tendency for the lower ribs to push forward.  In the early stages of postural realignment, prevent this by keeping the lower ribs tucked back slightly. As with all aspects of the postural change process, practice leads to a decreasing need to “posture” consciously, as the changes become the new normal structural state.

Remember to keep the lower ribs tucked back from inside, not from tightening the abdomen. This will put you in touch with the psoas muscles. You are not actually sinking the lower ribs back, which would result in a forward slouch. You are instead keeping them in a straight line with the abdomen below and the chest above. Feeling the tucking sensation will stabilize the mid-torso, and allow the spine to lengthen equally along its front and back. The feeling, once developed, is of a subtle pulling in and up deep inside the mid-torso, at the lower rib area. Feel this most easily in Door & Bar Hanging, and then apply it at all times. Like all structural improvement, intention is initially required. Gradually it will become automatic.

Door & Bar Hanging are the key to developing this awareness of the psoas muscles, and alignment of the mid-torso. With the middle and lower spine flat on the door and the abdomen relaxed, you need only feel what is already occurring inside. It also helps to have a clear mental picture of the anatomy involved.

Standing Pelvic Alignment

Balanced alignment of the psoas muscles is also essential for correct leg movement, and pelvic alignment. In whatever pattern the feet are placed, check your alignment so that the pelvis is not tilted back, or pushed to one side. The knees should remain at least slightly bent, and the arches of the feet lifted by distributing the weight equally on the three corners of each foot.

If the pelvis is misaligned or the knees locked back, stress will be triggered in the lower back and knees, and balanced integration between the lower and upper halves of the body becomes impossible. In early stages of the realignment process, maintaining structural alignment in the lower body while "standing around" requires greater intention than aligning the upper body, although it is also dependent on upper body alignment. This is often due to weakness in the legs and buttocks. Practicing an aligned lower body while standing will strengthen the lower body, improve energetic flow, and help in healing lower back problems.

Positions for Practice 

The exercise is initially learned while sitting, and then applied in other positions. Sit erectly so that the "sitting bones" of the pelvis (the ischial tuberosities) are directed straight down into your chair. Align the head and neck by holding the head as if it is gently pushed back from the upper lip and lifted from the crown.  Practice while sitting erectly without touching the back to the chair, as well as while leaning back, supported by the chair.

Also practice Shoulder Widening Exercise when standing, walking, in the Structural Alignment Positions, and during Door & Bar Hanging. Always erect the spine.  Aligned placement of the shoulders begins with an erect upper back and chest, which begins with an erect head and neck. 

Applying Force 

  Hold the hands by curling the fingers of each hand with the other.  One palm will face up, and the other down. Practice alternately so that each hand has both positions.  Keep the arms near the abdomen, rather than lifted away.  Gently, but firmly, pull the elbows out to the sides without letting go of the hands. 

Keep the shoulders consciously dropped.  Let the outward force at the elbows be reflected up to the shoulder joints.  This will increase the sense of widening at the shoulders. This is a subtle feeling, but can definitely be felt. 

Adding the Spinal Elongation Breath 

 Shoulder Widening may be practiced without including any special breathing.  Until an aligned shoulder girdle becomes normal and automatic, a brief realigning of the shoulders may be done at any time during the day as a postural reset.   Learning this is described below in the section:  Practicing without Holding the Hands.  

However, practicing Spinal Elongation Breathing during Shoulder Widening Exercise will increase the effectiveness of the shoulder widening process.  Inhale while gradually adding outwardly pulling force at the elbows.  Hold the breath, if comfortable, while strongly maintaining the Shoulder Widening.  Then slowly release the widening force while exhaling.  

Releasing the Force

Slowly release the outward pull of the elbows, and the active pulling-down and widening of the shoulders. Maintain the same dropped and widened position of the shoulders, now in a relaxed state, with the arms hanging loosely.

Rolled-Forward Shoulders 

If your shoulders are usually rolled forward, then also roll them back, while performing this exercise. Be sure not to roll the shoulders back so far that the shoulder blades begin to move toward each other. 

Remember to “roll the shoulders back, without drawing them together”. 

Practicing without Holding the Hands 

During practice of this exercise, feel the muscles that do the work of active shoulder alignment.  Muscles in both the chest and back are included. After mastering the Shoulder Widening Exercise using the hands held together, practice actively aligning the shoulders, while the arms remain relaxed. 

Maintain the dropping and widening of the shoulders, even when you raise the arms above shoulder height. This stabilizes the shoulders and makes arm movement steady and connected, while reducing the triggering of tension patterns in the shoulders and neck.   Conscious practice of Shoulder Widening during arms-overhead exercise positions, such as Door & Bar Hanging, and Backbend over Roll, will facilitate the development of this awareness.