Perfect Poise, Perfect Life
Bring your body into balance and revolutionise your life
By Noel Kingsley
Publisher Hodder Mobius
AVAILABLE HERE
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Weight over my heels
Standing in the kitchen this morning making my porridge, I became increasingly aware of a point in my heel that's about 4cm forward of the back of my heel. It's located just under the ankle. My attention was drawn to it as being pretty well where my body weight should be supported when standing.
If my body weight sways forward of this so it's over the balls of my feet, then I'm actually leaning forward and there will be extra tensions involved in keeping me upright. After all, the weight of our head should go down through our neck, the weight of our shoulders and torso goes down through our pelvis and this is carried by our legs. And our leg joins the foot at the back of the foot, so this is roughly where the weight goes as gravity always works in a vertical manner.
But it's easy to get into the habit of standing with the weight of our body forward over the balls of our feet. This may be OK if we're going to run, dance or jump, but if we're just standing around making porridge or waiting in the post office queue, then our weight should be over our ankles. Leaning forwards causes a lot of strain and may be a cause for neck tension, breathing problems, aching knees and back, stiff hips, tight calves and stress....to name only a few. This habit can come about for various reasons including anxiety, impatience, willing to impress others in meetings and just by picking the habit up from parents and others of influence.
It's good to notice where our weight is going so we can make sure we're not leaning when we don't need to. I like to catch myself out leaning so I can choose to do something about it, and by bringing my weight back a bit from my ankles, I have the opportunity to reduce tensions elsewhere. This will help with calmness, confidence and general wellbeing as well as just posture.
