How Are Your Groins Connected to Your Humanity?

"The groins are of great importance for humans because their full extension creates the upright posture unique to our species. In a sense, when we are not balanced and stable through the groins, we're not fully human."

-Arthur Kilmurray

The groins are fascinating territory in the human body. Not technically an anatomical term, the groins are broadly the area in the body where the legs and the torso meet or fold into each other, a juncture where we like to keep our junk. It's an area of great hoarding, a veritable junkyard, a treasure basement to rummage through with glee and fascination.

Anatomically speaking, the groins are broadly described to include the 5 adductor or inner thigh muscles (lower inner groin); the iliopsoas complex (upper inner groin); and the part of the quads (rectus femoris) that acts on the knee (as in straightening it) and the hip (as in flexing it) as well as the sartorius and the tensor fascia latae. To me, the groins can be broadened to include any myofascial structure involved in the articulation or interaction between the leg bones and the pelvis, and therefore, by proxy, the sacrum and the spine. So, for example, the hamstrings can be thought of as the back groin--they cross and act upon the hip and the knee joints and are the antagonists to the quads mentioned above.I would include the glutes and the piriformis too.

Opening and balancing the groins is a lifelong practice, which requires utmost patience, gentle dedication, thoughtful awareness, less teeth grinding, less sitting (or should I say slouching), a willingness to do exactly the opposite of what you think you know or should do, an explorer's mind, to name but a few qualities. I am sure you can add to the list based on your experience. 

What does it mean to have open or balanced groins? According to Kilmurray, a body is open when it allows bodily fluids and energy to flow freely through, in, and out of it. This means that the bones must be centered in relation to each other, so that they can channel the energy of gravity and allow the various bodily systems to function efficiently in conjunction with the force of gravity. This also means that muscles will work optimally without unnecessary tension and the organ body will be supported rather than encumbered or collapsed.

What does this mean in practice? The short answer to this question is that to cultivate balanced and spacious groins we must do the work of separating the legs from the pelvis and differentiating these areas on a psychosomatic level, so that we can quite literally allow for the free flow of information between the legs (our connection to the earth: a fundamental and non-negotiable connection) and the rest of the body; in other words, so that we can be grounded, which is what allows freedom in movement and in self. 

Groins often feel anything but open. They feel bunched up, gummed up, glued, stuck, tight, gripping, sore, bulging, thick, dense, insert appropriate groin descriptor here.

But what does this concretely mean in practice? Below are a few examples of ideas that you can work with in a variety of poses:

• In any pose, think of allowing the very top of the thigh bone, where it feeds into the hip, to settle into the back of the leg/hamstrings. If you try to this muscularly, you will achieve the opposite effect. Think of your hamstrings broadening, like a hammock receiving the thigh bone. It's more about becoming aware of that area and realizing if you are holding any (residual) gripping (for example in the gluteal fold, where the hammies and buttocks meet; also affectionately known as the butthigh or thass area), which might prevent you from releasing the thigh bone into the back of the hip socket. It's not about pressing with the front of the thigh into the back of the thigh, it's about mindful direction. You can do this in constructive rest position (see image below), in lunge (for both legs!), any of the warrior poses, etc.

Constructive Rest Position from http://alexandertechnique.com/constructiverest/

• Partial "supported" squat: You can do this with a chair without arm rests (such as a folding chair). Sit at the edge of the chair, with the thigh bones forming a comfortable V shape: not too wide, not too close together. Track your toes and knees in the trajectory of your thigh bones (and subsequently adjust if there is any discomfort in the knees), have your shins vertical with the floor. From there, take your hands behind you on the chair and lift the pelvis away from the thigh bones, as you let them drop away from the frontal surface of the thighs (see bullet point above). See if you can maintain this sense of separation as you sit back on the chair. From there, with the hands holding the edges of the chair seat and supporting you, you can take the pelvis away from the edge of the chair and slowly and repeatedly squat down towards the floor, becoming aware of the tops of the thighs descending and the pelvis ascending, imagining and feeling tremendous space between the surface of the hip crease and the thigh bone. If you get into it, it can be quite profound. It will also make you realize why "regular" sitting (excuse me, slouching) is so detrimental to our health and well-being: it literally cuts off communication between the lower and upper body.
• In poses like baddha konasana (bound angle) and supta bada konasana (supine bound angle), please stop thinking of your knees getting to the floor. Rather, think (again) of letting the thigh bones move into the backs of the legs in addition to moving them away from each other laterally (you can also think of the inner surface of the pelvic bones—the ilia—expanding and broadening).
• In poses like parsvottonasana (pyramid), parivrtta trikonasana (revolved triangle) and urdhva prasarita ekapadasana (UPEP or standing splits) the inner thighs tend to collapse onto each other. What I find very helpful here, especially in the back (or lifted) leg) is to create space between that side of the pubis and the upper inner thigh.
• This is a fun one and will help you with differentiating your thigh bone from your hip point in any number of poses (for example, vrksasana or tree pose, padangustasana B or extended hand to foot pose, baddha konasana, and the like): from standing, take your hands on your hips, then lift one foot off of the floor and look at the bottom of this foot as if to see if you stepped on gum, while keeping that hip point facing straight ahead and taking care not to hike it up.
• Sitting on tennis balls: the possibilities here are beyond the scope of this post. Everything I learned about tennis balls and how to use them for myofascial release and space creation I learned from the fabulous Megan Davis and Jenny Otto. 

The above just scratches the surface of how you can begin to have a meaningful relationship with your groins. There are a myriad of ways to do that. If you have a specific question, feel free to drop me a line. If you have a tip, I would love to hear it. If this was helpful, spread the word. If you are interested in a topic and would like me to write about it, I would love to hear from you. 

Groinfully yours,

Anna