Pelvic Tilt and The Neutral Spine

Pelvic Tilt and The Neutral Spine

Dr. Rolf treated everyone (including me with my too flat lumbar spine) as if they were hyper-lordotic. What that did for me was gap the lumbar facets (so they were in constant slight flexion) and make my lumbosacral area unstable.  I had low back pain for years after first being Rolfed. IMO Rolf got most things right, but not this. 

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Posture in Motion

Posture in Motion

I practice yoga to keep my fascia silky enough and my joints adaptable enough that my coordination can stay smooth even as the aging process diminishes my stamina. Yet, here I was, post yoga class, walking in this awkward way. I teach movement, for heaven’s sake. How had I slid into this familial pattern?

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Talk at Google: How to Sit, Stand and Move in the Modern World

Talk at Google: How to Sit, Stand and Move in the Modern World

Jumping off from the subtitle of The New Rules of Posture, I spoke about fascia, pandiculation, tensegrity, ergonomic chairs, spatial orientation, and manspreading. If you enjoy it, please share!

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Office Chairs and Sitting

Office Chairs and Sitting

When you sit with your thighs slanting downhill, your pelvis automatically finds an orientation that supports a neutral lumbar spine.  When a chair is too low, your pelvis rolls posterior so your weight rests too far back—on your tailbone—and your spine above becomes compressed.

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Manspread Explained

Manspread Explained

To roll forward onto an upright pelvis often requires a manual adjustment men would rather not make in public. He told me about friction between the fabric of jeans, an undergarment, and the skin of the scrotum. Especially when the weather is warm . . .

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Sisters of the pelvis

Sisters of the pelvis

We dipped into pelvic dance, the ancient feminine communion originally meant to prepare women for pregnancy and childbirth. We explored the possibility of dancing from our ovaries, from our cervices. If we could dance that way, could we not also walk that way? But where and when, in current culture, would that feel safe?

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Psoas Power

Psoas Power

In my DVD, I speak several times about the importance of propelling the body forward with the back leg and foot, allowing toe-off to be complete. It’s common, in places where space is at a premium (e.g. crowded sidewalks, corridors between work cubicles, small kitchens) for us to pull ourselves forward with the leg that swings forward, rather than propelling our bodies forward from the back leg. When the body is drawn forward from the forward heel, the hamstring muscles don’t complete their potential for movement which is to extend the hip enough to take the leg behind the body.  When the hip doesn’t fully extend, the hamstrings are robbed of the opportunity to let go during the swing phase of the walk.  This is the scenario of perpetually tight hamstrings…
 

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Fluff Your Fascia

Fluff Your Fascia

In previous posts, I’ve written about re-framing our fitness regimes to target fascial conditioning.  I haven’t meant to imply that stretching, strength-building or cardio approaches to fitness are not worthwhile, but rather to emphasize that the type of movement that specifically restores dehydrated tendon and other tight regions of fascia requires a specific approach. Fascia needs to stretch and rebound—to bounce; that’s what keeps it juicy and healthy…

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