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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Improve your balance
Good posture necessitates being in good balance. This unremarkable comment can however, come as a surprise to some of us when we think that our posture is entirely related to just how we hold ourselves. And although this is true in the main, we are not living in complete isolation and there is one fundamental constant in life.....and that is the effect of gravity and its unremitting pull with which we all live. We are all balancing on two small feet (no matter how big we think they are, they are small in relation to our overall height!) and being upright creatures (or should be) we need to be in balance.
When we are young children at the age of 2-4 we haven't developed any bad habits so all movements are free and easy and we do not suffer back pain or any other physical discomfort as a consequence of poor posture. But as we get older, we do develop habits that affect us. So being in balance is crucial if we are to avoid making unnecessary effort in our attempt (even subconsciously) to remain upright and avoid falling over.
Balance when standing or walking is all very well and something we take for granted. Indeed why shouldn't we? After all, everyone else can does, but it's surprising how off balance we can be and still not fall over; our survival instincts kick in and tensions are set up in our hamstrings, calves, ankles as well as our lower back neck and shoulders; we brace ourselves against the constant pull of gravity. This tendency can become a habit and it's worthwhile doing something about it. If simply standing, you need to be with your weight over your heels, not leaning either forward or backwards.
When we want to carry something, we add weight in an uneven way....probably in front of us in our arms if it's a box or books, or to one side if it's a bag. This weight is invariably high up....in our arms or on our back, so this increases our instability. When carrying things, it's best to spread the load, split the weight into two bags, one for each hand, a diagonally worn shoulder strap of a bag can spread the weight more evenly across the body. Back packs are OK but need to be adjusted fairly high up to help avoid hunching. Basically, carry as little as possible!
Try this experiment to see how you can compensate correctly when carrying a weight.
You will need a heavy bag or pile of books for this exercise and place them on a table immediately in front of you so that you can reach them easily without straining. Position yourself close to the table.
Free your neck by letting your head balance loosely on the top of your spine at a point between your ears. Let your nose drop a few millimetres to help release neck muscles, and then think upwards. You need to be upright so that you could draw an aproximate line from your ear, through your shoulder and your hips down to your ankles. So think ‘loose and tall’. Check yourself by standing side on to a mirror.
Now pick up the heavy bag or pile of books that are just in front of you and hold them against your chest. You are going to do this exercise with an added weight to make the demonstration and experience more noticeable. Remain upright. Keep your neck free while you extend your arms forwards so that you’re holding the bag or books away from you at chest height. Whilst doing so, attempt to allow your body to come back from your ankles so that you are slightly leaning backwards to compensate for the added weight in front. Ensure that you do not arch your back nor bend in the middle in any way. Arching in your waist weakens your back and causes strain.
Bring the books back to your chest, and allow your whole body to return to vertical. (Note that the weight you are holding to your chest still causes you to lean back slightly.) Now extend your arms forward again at chest height to hold the weight away from you again. Remember to keep your neck free. Again, let your body come back from your ankles so you are leaning backwards to compensate from the weight in front. Don't arch your back, but come back from your ankles.
Allowing your body to compensate in this way is healthy. Pregnant women should also endeavour to compensate for their growing weight by coming back from the ankles.
This exercise demonstrates how a weight held in front of us changes our balance. In order to minimise strain, always carry a weight as close to your body as possible.
[Exercise taken from Perfect Poise, Perfect Life by Noel Kingsley]
