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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Beating stress
When it seems that all of the world’s troubles have taken up residence, lock stock and barrel in our neck and shoulders, then we know that tension is a problem. The muscles we’ve got in this part of our body are no weaklings, and they have the strength to really put us in a vice. This isn’t just a problem in itself, painful as it may be, but it can have disastrous knock-on effects to our whole posture, our breathing, and our ability to think clearly. And when we can’t think clearly, then life gets even more stressful!
Emotional stress and physical tension are inextricably linked up; pent up emotions can make us stiffen our muscles, and over tense muscles can cause anxiety, so it all gets worse. It seems that we’ve got our own helter-skelter downward spiral all to ourselves without going to any fairground! The unfortunate thing is that this one’s not much fun. We need to break the cycle. Whilst the external factors that cause us stress may be outside of our control, it may be possible for us to change the way we respond to them. Seeking help from an Alexander Technique teacher will be helpful, and if you feel that your symptoms are serious, you should consult your doctor. However, there are several things we can do to help ourselves.
Our body will function best if it’s loose and expansive; the way that nature intends us and how young children will show us. We can make our body looser by simply choosing to be so. Let’s start with our neck. Our spine comes right up to a height of between our ears and this is where our head balances. We should allow our head to roll forwards a little so that our nose drops by 1cm as this action helps to release tension in the big muscles in the back of our neck. Think of your head ‘teetering’ on top of your spine. We must not hold our head in any particular position as the ‘holding’ will involve tensing. Just allow it to balance. Allow your shoulders to relax and to be wide. You mustn’t force anything, and just let nature ‘do it’ for you.
Another important consideration is to ensure that we’re breathing! This may sound silly, but any physical tensions in our body reduce the efficiency of how we breathe. We tend to hold our breath, particularly when feeling stressed, which is the very time that we need adequate oxygen! You can increase the oxygenation of your body and expel toxins by simply performing the following procedure. Breathe out as far as you can, ideally without collapsing in stature. Keep your full height whilst breathing out fully, then simply ‘let go’ and allow the air to come in. Don’t suck; just let the air come in. You may notice that you get more in than you sent out! Do this again, but no more than six times. If you feel any dizziness, stop immediately.
Ideally we need to maintain upright posture that is both loose and tall whilst breathing freely. If we can maintain this quality during the day, we may find life a lot easier. The problems that we originally found to be the source of our stress may become just water off a duck’s back.
