The amazing psoas muscle

The psoas muscle (pronounced so-az) affects every facet of your life, from your physical well-being to who you feel yourself to be and how you relate to the world. A bridge linking the trunk to the legs, the psoas is critical for balanced alignment, proper joint rotation, and full muscular range of motion, according to Yoga Journal website.
Recently in a yoga class with Baxter we focused on the psoas muscle with various yoga poses.
This Yoga Journal article talks about 10 yoga poses you can practice to release your psoas, such as Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (Pigeon Pose), pictured to the left.
Lunge variations, Vrksasana (Tree Pose), Tadasana (Mountain Pose) are also some poses that can be performed to work the psoas.
Also from the Yoga Journal website, in walking, a healthy psoas moves freely and joins with a released diaphragm to continuously massage the spine as well as the organs, blood vessels and nerves of the trunk.
Wow, one muscle does all of that?
Wikipedia says the psoas major is a long fusiform muscle located on the side of the lumbar region of the vertebral column and brim of the lesser pelvis. It joins the iliacus muscle to form the iliopsoas. In less than 50 percent of human subjects, the psoas major is accompanied by the psoas minor.
Baxter also wrote about the psoas muscle, The Psoas Muscle and Yoga, on his blog: Yoga for Healthy Aging.