The way we hold ourselves affects us in more ways than simply how we look.
How we sit and stand lead to habits of tension that affect our performance in all of life’s activities. Even more crucially, the mechanical use of our bodies affects our biological functioning.
Consider this young man. His posture is placing huge demands not just on his muscles and joints, but on all aspects of his biology, including his breathing, digestion, circulation, which in turn affect his immune system and state of mind. In short, his “whole self” is impaired.
Most people hold tension in their muscles which leads to distortion of their posture. Over time these distortions become each person’s norm, and feel so right that a properly balanced body feels unnatural.
Here the pupil was completely unaware of their habit of distorting themselves to their right side (giving the impression of a scoliosis of the spine). During the lesson the pupil was invited to let go of this habit, and re-experience properly balanced posture for the first time in many years.
Good posture is effortless. The military-style “stand-to-attention” is many people’s idea of good posture, but it is incredibly hard work! The muscles of the back and neck have to work constantly to hold the position, resulting in permanent tension and pain.
Here the pupil was again unaware of their habit, and was invited to let go of their idea of good posture, resulting in greatly reduced effort (note the more natural curves of the spine have been restored). Pain in the neck and back was also reported to have reduced noticeably after just one lesson.