Foot Support for Artistic Expression

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Foot Support for Artistic Expression

Finding the sensation of healthy support from his feet made a lovely difference in Eric’s life. In the accompanying video this musician/songwriter shows how his musical expression changes depending on how he lives in his feet.

Your body can move around in the world without your being fully present in it. You may have good body awareness in general but lack presence in specific parts or areas of your body. In the video, Eric speaks about “finding his cuboid.” He’s referring to finding awareness in a specific region of the foot that activates better organization of the entire lower extremity. For more about foot organization, see Know Your Feet, my online workshop.

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Celebrity Spine

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Celebrity Spine

Vince Vaughn hasn’t signed up for online coaching with me, but if he does, I’ll be ready! This actor is frequently cast as an unconscious oaf who goes through a humanizing rite of passage. He’s good at it, and his fine serious talent shines through all the silliness. The other day I rented “Delivery Man.” Because Vaughn is in nearly every scene of this movie, it became impossible for me to ignore the way he moves. One could assume his lumbering gait is due to his 6’5” height, or is part of his characterization. But I think his  gait is an artifact of a spine that, lacking normal curvatures, doesn’t properly rotate…

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Core Support, Kneeling and Stiff Toes

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Core Support, Kneeling and Stiff Toes

What follows is my response to a letter from someone who had difficulty kneeling on a yoga block as shown in the abdominal core lesson of my DVD. I know that when someone raises a question, others are likely wondering the same thing…

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Shoulder Pain and Sitar Playing

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Shoulder Pain and Sitar Playing

Below is a video I made for one of my Skype coaching clients.  She’s a petite woman who is learning to play the sitar, a difficult and awkward instrument to tune as well as to play. I've been helping her with her sitting position, and with pain in her left shoulder that had become  severe enough for her to seek medical help. The exercise I shared in this video has helped her exchange upper shoulder tension for secure support that links her shoulders to her mid-back.  The video also includes a brief review of abdominal support and pelvic inclination. Many musicians—most anyone who plays a stringed instrument—could benefit from this exploration.  Not to mention non-musicians who simply have a habit of loading stress into the upper shoulder area…

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Low Back Pain and Substance Abuse

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Low Back Pain and Substance Abuse

A year ago I posted a piece about the relationship between joint pain and digestive abuse–an after-effect of  holiday cheer.  You’d think I’d learn, but guess what?  This year I’m fessing up again, with a different twist. Beginning in December I experienced pain in my right hip, with radiating pain down my right leg and into my knee and low back stiffness. This was demoralizing because I’d been low back pain-free for three years, ever since becoming sincere about tending to my deep core strength. The pain was weirdly intermittent. A good Pilates class seemed to chase it away, but in a few  days, back it came…

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Posture Tips for the New Year

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Posture Tips for the New Year

(Posture Tips for 2013) Magazine writers often ask me about quick fixes for poor posture. While this isn’t my real mission (see mission statement at the bottom of this page), I try to translate my teaching into tips. I like how a recent interview turned out, so I’m sharing the whole thing below.  Looking forward with eyes and heart:  1. Can you offer a few tips for improving your walking stance and posture?  When walking, look forward to your destination with both your eyes and your heart.  It’s fine to glance down to be sure of your footing, but avoid fixing your gaze on the ground…

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Important News About Your Pelvis

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Important News About Your Pelvis

Looking back at my recent video posts, I see that I’ve been focusing on the pelvis and hips.  That’s not so surprising, because experience has shown me that if your pelvis is balanced and adaptable, then many other aspects of good posture will follow.  In my book and DVD I call the pelvis “The Root of Posture.”

This video adds another detail to our pelvis investigations.  It introduces anatomical information that can help change the way you sit, the way you connect to your deep corset muscles, and the way you stand, walk and dance…

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Poor Posture: Arms Akimbo

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Poor Posture: Arms Akimbo

This post is a reply to a reader who expressed concern about her habit of standing with hands on hips.  Since the term, "arms akimbo," has been around since Chaucer’s day, I’m sure my correspondent is not alone in her curiosity about it. You can assume this posture in a variety of ways:  with the elbows thrust back and chest forward. or with the shoulders rolled forward and chest resting down and in.  Either of these positions can be varied further depending on the position of the neck and head.  The chin can be thrust forward or pulled back. Fingers may be spread, or fists closed.  Try on some of these options yourself and marvel at how expressive your body can be!

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A Message from Mary

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A Message from Mary

It is my great pleasure to share my first full-length DVD with readers and fans of The New Rules of Posture.  HEAL YOUR POSTURE–A 7-Week Workshop has been my labor of love for the past 20 months, and now, finally, I can turn it over to your hands and bodies.

The workshop format encourages you to explore the content over several weeks.  The extensive menu allows you to focus on the sections that most suit your needs and interests…

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The Passenger Seat

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The Passenger Seat

What’s the rule? A car length for every 10 mph? I don’t always follow that rule, but my friend drives way closer to the car ahead than I like. We’re in freeway traffic that is crowded but moving. Several times the brakes are necessary when our lane unexpectedly slows. I sense myself applying brakes of my own, griping my calf and digging my heel into the floorboard. I’m gripping a phantom steering wheel as well–my traps (upper shoulder muscles) clenched in an effort to gain control. My tongue presses back into my throat in a half-swallow. My mother was a nervous passenger, too…

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New: 7 Week Workshop DVD

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New: 7 Week Workshop DVD

Since 2007, when The New Rules of Posture came out, I’ve had scores of requests for a video to assist readers in moving through the explorations and practices in the book.  We all take in information through various channels, but when it comes to body learning, there’s no good substitute for the senses.  Words, no matter how pictorial and evocative, have a hard time becoming flesh.After many months resisting the video project—I knew it would be a mountain–I finally jumped in.  The first step was to find a videographer—an easy task, you might think, here in Hollywood-land.  But I had a bite-sized budget and a yen for quality—two things that might be hard to match.  Eventually I found Ian Campbell, who, I learned after I’d hired him, studied yoga at my friend Mike Nalick’s studio.  (You’ll meet Mike in my DVD workshop.) This was the first of many good omens…

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When to Build Good Posture

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When to Build Good Posture

When do you become most aware of your posture? When you’re checking out the fit of some new jeans? When walking into a new situation, uncertain as to how you might be received? You can be dressed to the nines, but if your posture projects shyness or uncertainty it sabotages the impression you want to convey. But by then, it’s too late to develop good posture…

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