Envision your body as a chemistry set enveloped in a casing (skin and fascia), supported by an internal scaffold (bones), and enlivened by a motor system (nerves and muscles). Everything is interrelated through tubes and labyrinths of cobweb-like fascia. Bone, sinew and digestive juices all work together to make your day. Or not. To further this idea, I’ll share an example from my own embarrassing recent history…
Read More(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…
Read MoreHere are two great suggestions for your holiday shopping: first, The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. This clear and interesting read applies the insights of neuroscience to the mundane matter of changing our habits. Our brains are plastic—bodies too!—so why not use that plasticity to our advantage? Duhigg says a habit is composed of a cue, a routine, and a reward. It only takes a little self-examination and some perseverance to unpack these parts and make a change. The other suggestion, of course, is my DVD, Heal Your Posture, and my New Rules book, which tell and show you how to change your brain’s postural mapping of your body…
Read MoreRecently a reader asked for help understanding her “swayback”, AKA lumbar hyperlordosis. She had been taught–as have many of you, I suspect—that the correction for exaggerated lumbar curve is to tuck the tailbone down as if aiming it at a point between the heels…
Read MoreThis week I read an article about a young woman who does not experience pain. The article contains messages of human generosity and connection woven through the story of a genetic anomaly. It got me thinking about pain as a gift, as something to be thankful for in this season of giving thanks. Pain can signal danger and the need for protection—we can’t ignore that kind of pain. But I’m thinking more about the mundane, ignorable pain of getting up from the computer after sitting there too long, or of having to roll too gingerly out of bed in the morning…
Read MoreThanks to my colleague and proud father, Charles, for sharing his time in the accompanying movie. And for sharing his problem—I’m sure he’s not the only new dad who finds himself with unaccustomed aches and pains. His problem is fairly universal too, so his solutions can apply to your life, even if you aren’t rising to feed someone at 4 a.m. It’s a matter of having the right support: support from the pelvis for the spine, support from the spine for the shoulders, support from the shoulders for the hands and arms…
Read MoreWhat are you doing with your body when you find yourself at an edge? Are there places in your life where your body defaults to a curl or twist? Concealed at those same edges may be opportunities for changing habits, postural or otherwise….
Read MorePeople often tell me they “slept wrong”, waking up to a painful neck or shoulder. Others, wanting my opinion about pillows, mattress firmness and sleeping positions ask, “how should I sleep?” In general, my response to questions about sleep is this: how we sleep depends on how we live—what we’re doing with our bodies and minds while we’re awake. Recently I read several articles that confirm me in this view…
Read MoreLooking 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…
Read MoreThis 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!
Read MoreIf you look for “hamstring stretches” in Google Images, you’ll get a page full of illustrations most of which demonstrate what I’m trying to show you not to do in the accompanying video. This young man, for example, is mostly stretching his lower back and giving himself a crick in his neck. How you position your pelvis and spine makes a huge difference in the effectiveness of your stretching. I also hope to convince you that your hamstrings don’t exist in isolation in your body and that to lengthen them effectively involves changing how you use them in daily life…
Read MoreI like this illustration for The New Rules of Posture so much that I’ve begun using it as a logo for my work in general. It depicts one of the characters in my book as she cleans a chandelier. Here’s the story with its “posture moral” at the end.
What I’ve called “posture zones” are muscular and connective tissue structures that lie roughly perpendicular to the body’s vertical mid-line. When we’re under stress—even a pleasant stress like Alison’s excitement at discovering an Art Deco treasure in her new apartment—one or more of the posture zones tightens in order to keep the body stable. The posture zones are like valves whose closing deforms the body’s mid-line and in so doing distorts posture…
Read MoreThis started out to be a video blog about the way short, tight hamstrings impact your posture. But in order to stretch your hamstrings effectively, you’ll need some information about your hips joints. So, first things first…
Read MoreMaybe you’ve had one of those headaches that seem to start in the nape of your neck. Surprisingly, tension in the neck is often a result of tension in structures that lie in front of the neck: the jaw, throat and tongue.
For most of us, concentrated thought involves verbalization. When you’re puzzling over something, your tongue and back of your throat (think of the place where you swallow) unconsciously become active, even though you’re not speaking. Next time you review your bank statement, notice what’s going on in your throat or tongue…
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