Posture and the Alexander Technique:
Good posture is less effort than slumping
This series of four older articles:–
- Good posture is less effort than slumping
- The truth about posture
- Four reasons for NOT sitting up
- Posture that works
What’s the worst thing for your posture?
In the long term, the worst thing you can do to your posture is force yourself to sit up straight.
You don’t believe me? Well, since I can’t blame you for not believing me, I’ll just ask you to consider the evidence. Then you can judge for yourself.
Here’s the evidence. Any movement always begins with your head. Your head leads and your body follows. It doesn’t matter what the movement is: looking at something, standing up, walking, talking — even breathing. So how do you move your head?
How you usually move your head
You move your head by bending your neck. If your neck is stiff you bend lower down your back as well. Worse, as we shall see, forcing yourself to sit up straight will make your neck stiff.
Notice, that’s just how you do move your head, even though it’s bad for your back. It’s not how you should move your head.
How you should move your head
Your head should move freely at the joint between your skull and the top of your spine. Its anatomical name is “atlanto-occipital joint” but let’s just call it your head/neck joint for short.
Moving your head from your head/neck joint is an essential part of effortless good posture.
How your head/neck joint works
Let me show you how this head/neck joint works.
Put your index fingers lightly in your ears and nod your head a few times (don’t nod too far). Notice how your fingers don’t move. If your fingers do move, it means you’re bending lower down: bending your spine as you usually do. In that case, try a smaller nod and see how that works.
When it works, your head is not moving forwards or backwards, up or down. Instead, it’s rotating, turning about the axis you are marking with your fingers.
Just in case you’re wondering what happens if you need to look down further, here’s the answer. When you need to look down further than your head/neck joint allows, your whole spine should tip forward from your sitting bones. It should tip as one single unit. Not only is bending of your spine to look further down completely unnecessary, it just adds to the slouch you’re trying to get rid of when you force yourself to sit up straight.
How you force yourself to sit up straight
When you force yourself to sit up straight, you don’t stop pulling your spine forwards. You’ve forgotten how to do that. (These other posture articles will teach you that long-lost skill). Instead, you tighten your back and neck muscles extra hard and force yourself straight by pulling against the muscles that are holding you slouched down.
What the effort to sit up straight does to you
That extra hard pulling in your back and neck stiffens your whole body, making it harder for you to move. The effort tires you out while achieving nothing useful.
All that tightening also makes your head/neck joint even stiffer than it was before. With a stiffer head/neck joint, it becomes even less easy to move your head. You’ve really no alternative but bend your back even more the next time you want to look down.
So every time you force yourself to sit up straight, you make straightening up even harder. At some point, you have to give up and admit you can’t win at that game.
Is it then impossible to sit up straight?
Not at all. Done properly, done the way your body is meant to work, it’s not only possible, it’s easy. In fact, done well, sitting up straight becomes effortless — totally effortless.
The essential first step to sitting up straight without effort is to learn and practise Semi-Supine. Read “The Hows & Whys of Semi-Supine” — and watch the videos that come with it.
Next: The truth about posture
… but, after the Semi-Supine, I think you’ll find these seven articles most helpful: Straighten out a stoop (or even a hunchback)
The other articles in this category are here:‒
Personal Coaching by Philip Pawley
If you want to get the best kind of help, come to me for an introductory lesson in Liverpool.
If you’re too far away, then the next best thing is to get personal lessons and advice from me online at Repoise.com, my on-line school. (Both far-away and local pupils use Repoise).
In more detail:–
If you’re in Liverpool (or can get to Liverpool)
- There’s nothing better than individual lessons. My practice is at 37 Hope Street, Liverpool L1. Ring me on 0151 708 6172 to book an initial consultation and first lesson. (Leave your number so I can get back to you).
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If you’re short of funds, you can still have first class training from me — though it will require a little more work on your part.
The thing to do is have an individual, in-person lesson just once a month. That will entitle you to also get regular on-line lessons from me through Repoise. That way, you have the best of both worlds: in-person lessons and very regular, even daily, on-line Personal Coaching by Philip Pawley from me. That’s a real bargain because Repoise costs the equivalent of three lessons a year to everyone else.
Ring me on 0151 708 6172 if you want to arrange this.
- I occasionally run group lessons. If you’re interested in these, go here for details.
If you’re further away and can’t get to Liverpool
- There’s still nothing better than individual lessons. Here’s where you can find a teacher near you in the UK or elsewhere
- I suggest you also get direct day-to-day guidance from me by joining Repoise.
If you’re having plain Alexander Technique lessons from someone else, you still need to discover the Smiling Back Method of the Alexander Technique. You’ll get a lot more out of your lessons when you do.
37 Hope Street, Liverpool, Merseyside L1 9EA, England
Telephone: +44 151 708 6172 Mobile: +44 7872 905 154
Copyright © 2007-2012 Philip Pawley
SmilingBackMethod.com
