Perfect Poise, Perfect Life
Bring your body into balance and revolutionise your life
By Noel Kingsley
Publisher Hodder Mobius
AVAILABLE HERE
« Remembering to Inhibit | Main | Pancake Day »
Outside affecting inside
The question came up last Thursday while I was being interviewed for a national UK newspaper about posture, what aspects of our life or health can our posture affect? Well, I immediately thought it may be easier to say what our posture does not affect,.....but I couldn't think of any; at least not instantly.
Whether we consider our posture to be something we see in the mirror, how we appear in holiday photos, how sexy we look at the party or how professional we appear in business, these are all outward appearances. In real terms our posture is the outward expression of what is going on inside of us; how are our muscles working and co-ordinating together.
With over 600 muscles in the body, many of which are to do with posture and movement, it's clear that they need to work together. Being bipeds who stand on two feet rather than other mammals who have four, we need to be in upright balance otherwise we are in danger of falling over. Needless to say, our survival system kicks in and we compensate for being off balance by tightening various muscles. We also get into many postural habits such as slouching and stooping which puts of further off balance; we have some muscles doing far too much effort and others not enough. Our 'posture' is the outward expression of all this inner activity.
Poor posture can also have a huge effect on our breathing, restricting the efficient process of clearing toxic gas and re-oxygenation of our blood. This can have an effect on our emotions so we may be over-anxious, timid and lacking confidence, or lethargic and depressed. Collapse in stature can also put excessive pressure on our digestive system, our bowel movements and affect our pelvic floor. Excessive tension can cause restriction of blood circulation, increasing pressure and putting strain on our heart. Poor breathing and circulation can give us cold hands and feet, inability to concentrate, headaches, dry skin, dull hair and an aged appearance.
Our posture will understandably have an effect on our physical well being in terms of our back, neck and shoulders, which can all get tense, our legs, sore or aching knees and feet can all be brought about by loss of our natural poise.
I'm sorry, is this getting depressing?
The GOOD NEWS is that we have an instinct for good poise from birth and this is with us until we die. We have the same muscular mechanism as we had as healthy young toddlers. We also have a good brain and if we use it, we can change how we 'hold ourselves'; we can have a positive effect on our posture and it is amazing how different we can become in a matter of just a few weeks if we apply ourselves to it. Those of you who use the Alexander Technique will know what I mean, as this technique provides a reliable system or approach for us to make positive improvements to our posture and consequently to our whole mental and physical health.
By improving our posture we can help bring benefits to almost any part of our lives. Our posture is not a separate part of us; it IS us. Our posture may be what we do with our muscles but it affects our whole health, and by means of a little intelligence we can change all that for the better.....we can feel great.
