Long Belly, Long Back, Psoas to Improve Walking (Patrons)

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  • Prerequisites: the short OR full-length Long Belly, Strong Back lesson, and watch the video below
  • On a subsequent listening, try starting the audio at 37:30 to do the standing explorations before AND after the mat lesson

Further escape cultural constraints of belly-shortening, and get to know the miraculous direct muscular connection from your legs to your spine. Awaken and integrate your psoases, discover how they can lengthen and erect your spine in any position, and improve standing, walking, running, sitting…and basically everything.

Average Challenge   back-lying  side-lying  standing 

42m
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Before you begin read this for practical tips and your responsibilities, and check out Comfort & Configuration below.

Recorded live in a Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement (ATM) class, this lesson is copyright Nick Strauss-Klein, for personal use only.

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Watch this anatomy video before playing the audio below. Click the graphics for larger views.

Anatomy talk + "loving Feldenkrais warning"

Front view. Green = psoases. Red = iliaci. Source

Front view of iliopsoases. Source

Psoas side view with transparent ilium. Arrow shows leg flexion function. Source

Arrows show movement of pubic bone, and simultaneous correlated actions

Referenced at 17' into the audio lesson

We offer over 50 free lessons, but this one's just for Patrons. You can learn about it in the free lesson notes and comments below. To access the audio, join The FP at the Patron level. Learn more

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  • Comfort & Configuration
  • Curiosities
  • Lesson Discussion
  • Context
  • Related Lessons
  • Source

As usual in Long Belly lessons, when you bend your knees and stand your feet, have them at least as wide as your hips, and your knees quite bent (if comfort allows), so the sense is that your lower legs are balanced and standing nearly vertically. NOTE: Compared to the side-view illustrations above, this means the hips are more bent (the femur is more toward vertical).

For the brief side-lying step, have nearby something for head support unless you can very comfortably use your arm. A pillow between your knees can also be very helpful.

To reiterate the “loving Feldenkrais warning” one more time:

We are not “targeting” the psoases for improvement. We are integrating them into an image of whole body action. Do not narrowly focus your attention or efforts on finding or using them. Instead, patiently explore the movements, sense the details, experiment, and refine! As you move and investigate, include your psoases consciously but lightly in your imaginings.

 

To help integrate your learning with upright life:

On a subsequent listening it may be informative to start the audio at 37:30 in order to do the standing explorations before AND after the mat lesson. And you might lie on your other side for the brief side-lying step.

While standing, in addition to touching your pubic bone as needed for reference, you can also touch your sitbones for a moment to light them up in your awareness as you do “1% of a squat,” and as you lighten one heel.

Also in standing you might experiment with different widths of your feet. Sometimes a narrower stance can help make the hip joint action and pelvis orientations clearer as you take “1% of a step.”

Finally, when you begin to walk, you could also try walking a few small steps backwards. This can be helpful for finding the sense that the pubic bone lengthens down and under to begin to take a step.

Some Patrons and I reflected on this lesson in an 8-minute discussion right after it was recorded. Please comment below to participate in the discussion.

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This lesson is found in Patron Treasures, our collection of lessons exclusively for Feldenkrais Project Patron-level donors.

It was designed to refine your learning after Long Belly, Strong Back study. All those lessons are in the red box at the heart of our Action Heroes Deep Dive. Be sure you’ve done at least the short or full-length Long Belly, Strong Back lesson before this one.

This lesson was recorded in a Patrons Quarterly meeting on November 20, 2025. See the Lesson Discussion tab for a conversation with students after this lesson was recorded.

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Got a question for Nick, or a thought about this lesson?

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6 Comments

  1. Nick Strauss-Klein on December 18, 2025 at 1:18 pm

    Copying over some lesson discussion from the original Patrons Quarterly unedited video version of the audio lesson above.

    Irene Collins on November 21, 2025 at 8:13 pm
    Hi Nick,
    I wasn’t able to make Thursday’s meeting but played “Long Belly, Long Back, Psoas to Improve Walking” this afternoon. I got into the pose of your last screenshare, the baby resting above, and promptly fell asleep. I guess I needed it, and a very relaxing position. The subtle movements of the pubic bone using the hip flexors has a very soft feel with no extra muscular engagement. Will play this lesson again soon. Thank you for this lesson.
    Irene

    shan shnookal on November 26, 2025 at 6:36 am
    Ah, it took me three sessions to complete the lesson, as there was so much for me to explore/(re) find/ and let GO! I found that after the smallest movements, there were many bits of me that found it hard to let go, to get back to neutral. I suspect that’s related to my habitual over-use of my lower back extensors, as well as holding on in so many other places… But i’ve got the glimmerings of a much easier way of “being”, and look forward to doing the lesson again, and consolidating some new possibilities.

    Nick Strauss-Klein on November 26, 2025 at 9:21 am
    “Glimmerings” of ease are a perfect and natural part of the learning process. Indeed, keep exploring! Also check out my new “Action Heroes” Deep Dive when it arrives soon. It has a very clear sequence of lessons pointing toward this learning.

    Christine Barrington on November 28, 2025 at 5:47 pm
    I missed the live session, but circled around to this event the day after Thanksgiving. After standing and washing so many dishes for the holiday, my psoas was happy for the break–and the healing. Thanks so much!

    Ellen on December 18, 2025 at 12:13 pm
    This might be (again) one of my favourite lessons! The idea of moving the pubic bone down completely frees my low back muscles from firing like crazy. I just took the lesson into a 45 minute walk and returned with NO low back pain. Thanks so much for this whole set of lessons, Nick. And the way you cue these lessons is particularly brilliant.

    Nick Strauss-Klein on December 18, 2025 at 1:08 pm
    Fabulous! As I’ve said in class, I’ve thought of you often as I’ve developed these lessons, considering our related lower back injuries. I have the same kind of response to these lessons: they leave me pain free and empowered to move and exercise more! This is why there are now more than 10 lessons at The FP that focus on or incorporate the Long Belly, Strong Back gestures! You can find them all in the newly published Action Heroes course: all nine in the red box, plus lessons 3b and 3d!

    Ellen on December 18, 2025 at 1:19 pm
    Oh, my! I didn’t know that Action Heroes was already available. This may well be my deep dive for the foreseeable future! I suspect many of the other folks with low back pain will find these lessons useful and maybe even exciting, even in their quiet-ness! Thanks, Nick.

    Nick Strauss-Klein on December 18, 2025 at 1:26 pm
    My pleasure, and deeply so! The new course reflects 15 months of studying, exploring, teaching, and recording in this vein. I just published it this morning (including three new lessons – have fun!). The email announcing it is going out tomorrow! It brings me joy that you’re among the first to know.

    Reply
    • Ellen on December 18, 2025 at 1:40 pm

      And your diligent and curious work brings all your FP students great joy! See you in the live classes in the new year. I hope you get a delightful break with your family.

      Reply
  2. Chris Sigurdson on December 26, 2025 at 4:14 pm

    brilliant and subtle. Need to repeat. Have had lots of pain on R iliac crest. think this will help but have to be very small and mindful and keep looking for a sense of lifting almost with my neck so I don’t go into lower back extension

    Reply
  3. MARIBETH BRAINERD on December 30, 2025 at 4:18 pm

    Is there a “next lesson” 2.0 available for this?

    Reply
  4. Sheila on December 31, 2025 at 12:25 am

    Oh how I just LOVED that! Thank you so much. I think it might free me up for a gentle jog in the morning. Happy New Year!

    Reply

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