Perfect Poise, Perfect Life
Bring your body into balance and revolutionise your life
By Noel Kingsley
Publisher Hodder Mobius
AVAILABLE HERE
« My new old clock | Main | Can or can't? »
Books on head?
I received a call from a well known society magazine yesterday as they're doing an article on deportment and posture for an issue later this year and they wanted to ask a few questions. For instance, how have ideas of deportment changed since the 1950s or earlier, when we were trained to walk with books on our head?
Well, we don't see many people walking around with books on our head these days, but in some countries they'll certainly carry huge baskets, pots, bundles of clothes and anything else as it's a wonderfully efficient manner of carrying. When the weight is centrally located over the spine, it is carried by the whole body without us compensating by twisting or leaning in the way that we would if it was held at one side or on our back. The perpendicular alignment allows the weight to go evenly down through our spine and legs. This method of carrying can help avoid backache, neck pain and a host of other discomforts. However it is essential that we are in good balance in the first place as adding weight to our posture if it's already out of alignment can cause huge strain and problems if we continue to do so for lengthy periods of time.
However, it's quite possible to carry books on top of our head in the manner of traditional deportment lessons and have quite a stiff neck in the process! Ideally we want to be free and allow our head to 'teeter' on top of our spine, just as it may have done when we were three years old. Most westerners have difficulty in carrying their own head around freely, so it would be almost impossible to carry large weights on top of our head without causing severe problems.
I guess 2007 brings new requirements, instead of piles of books, we carry laptops, but I've yet to see a city worker coming off the underground carrying it on their head. And it wouldn't be too cool if we dropped it either, so it's maybe best not to try.
But the need for good poise doesn't end with the traditional deportment classes of the 1950s but is just as important now as it ever was, if we are to avoid crippling back ache at the computer and cope with modern day stress. Yes, it's 'cool' to hang out, but rather than collapsing or stooping in stature as though the weight of the world is on our shoulders and we can barely cope with the responsibility of getting out of bed in the morning, it would be far healthier and totally 'cool' if we can carry ourselves in such a manner that we appear to be able to handle untold responsibilities and pressure without blinking an eye. It's also healthy.
If we can improve our poise by ridding ourselves of a few outworn habits, we can breathe better, avoid unnecessary strain in our back, legs, neck and shoulders. We can carry the weight of our responsibilities with relaxed upright poise that has a care-free quality while also being supple and lithe while also being grounded, strong and resilient. We can have 'stature'.
No, we don't need books on our head, but we do want our head to balance freely and we also want to be upright and expansive. But this isn't clever. This only involves allowing our body to do what it can, quite naturally. As long as we're not handicapped in any way, we have an instinct for healthy poise from birth and it's with us until we die. We also have all the muscles, ligaments and bones in all the right places, just as they were when we were three years old. We have a 'postural mechanism'. I've worked with some people aged 102 and 104 years old and they too have improved their posture so they're more upright, they've increased in height(!) and improved their breathing, flexibility and balance. It's never too late. It's pretty cool to be so agile and healthy at such an elderly age, but you know what, we'll be unlikely to get there unless we help ourselves a little when we're younger. Now is a pretty good time. I should correct myself; we may well make improvements at any age, but if there's less wear and tear on our bodies for the first 50 years, it will be a whole lot easier to maintain later.
Forget the books on head, but you can 'free your neck' and think tall.
