The Great Connector: Psoas and Resilience
The psoas is a deep, powerful myofascial “great connector” that links body and spirit, influencing movement, breath, digestion, grounding, and emotional well-being. More than a physical muscle, it plays a central role in the nervous system’s protective responses, holding patterns related to stress, safety, and the fight-or-flight response. Join Leila on this workshop which uses experiential anatomy, somatic inquiry, and yoga therapy to gently access and cultivate awareness of the psoas, supporting deep healing, inner resilience, and transformation, while also helping address issues such as back pain, pelvic instability, and digestive challenges, drawing on teachings from Leila’s published works.
Course Description
THE PSOAS IS THE GREAT CONNECTOR, a powerful myofascial structure bridging the body from back to front, top to bottom, core to periphery, spine to limbs and spirit to Earth. Hidden deep within the body, this “buried treasure” has powerful physical effects and also subtly affects your entire being. Its multidimensional influences range from how you breathe and digest to your capacity for grounding, wholeness and authenticity.
The psoas holds more than just physical tension; it is the primary myofascial structure involved in protective strategies of the nervous system in the face of perceived threat. As a repository for your flight or fight responses, it bridges the somatic and the emotional realms, influencing your sense of groundedness and safety in the world.
In this workshop, we will use experiential anatomy, somatic inquiry, and yoga therapy tools to gently and sensitively access the psoas and initiate a process of deep healing and inner transformation on multidimensional levels. By cultivating interoceptive awareness of the psoas through a developmental protocol developed by Leila, a spontaneous inner “resourcing” can arise. This psoas protocol can also assist in resolving back pain, pelvic instability, digestive issues and a multitude of other physical conditions. Material will be drawn from Leila’s books Experiential Anatomy, Therapeutic Applications of Embodied Movement and Awareness and Pathways to a Centered Body co-authored with Donna Farhi.
COURSE STRUCTURE
This blended seminar will be taught over 2 weeks in three 2.5 hour live online segments with 2.5 hours of prerecorded video material for a total of 10 contact hours. Handouts will be provided.
What will I Learn?
- Access, soften, hydrate and lengthen your psoas to its maximum resting length through practices of experiential anatomy.
- Experience your psoas as a “homebase” for cultivating a reproducible felt sense of center, stability, and authentic power.
- Consciously engage your psoas to repattern integrated movement that emanates from your center.
- Utilize inquiry to experience the shift in consciousness that can occur with dynamic engagement of your psoas.
Integrate practical tools for befriending your psoas and trusting its inner support in movement practices, activities of daily life, and therapeutic work with yourself and others.
Who is this course for?
This course will appeal to yoga teachers, therapists, students as well as teachers of other disciplines in learning a systematic approach combining anatomy, somatic inquiry, and yogic philosophy to access the psoas muscle as a source of resilience.
Replay
The workshop will be recorded and replay access offered to all students for 21 days after the live event.
Accreditation
Leila is a registered course provider for International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT)
Certification
Upon completion of this course, you will receive a Yogacampus Certificate of Attendance. The course is also eligible for International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) credits.
Meet the Teacher
Leila Stuart BA, LLB, C-IAYT is a retired Registered Massage Therapist and has practiced and taught yoga for over 40 years. She developed and taught an innovative 300-hour Yoga Therapy training for 15 years, focusing on experiential anatomy, alignment and movement repatterning, and embodiment of the deeper teachings of yoga as pathways to self-healing. With a deep love and intuitive knowledge of experiential anatomy, Leila specializes in transforming academic information into somatic awareness and life changing experience. She is an international teacher, online educator, and conference presenter. Leila is author of Experiential Anatomy: Therapeutic Applications of Embodied Movement and Awareness and co-author of Pathways to a Centered Body with Donna Farhi.
Visit www.leilastuart.com
See the following clip for Leila speaking on the psoas and it's significance within the whole body structure:
The psoas connects us at both the physical and nonphysical level. It connects the centre to the periphery, spine to legs, front to back, top to bottom. On a nonphysical level, it connects us to breath, emotion and self.
