Part 1: The Posture Problem
Help!
Life is closing in on you.
Your back aches.
It is hard to relax.
You slouch.
It’s hard to enjoy simple pleasures.
You feel stiff.
Sports are out – too many injuries and not enough time.
You feel stuck.
You try to take breaks at work but you forget. When you “sit up straight” you get stiff. You stretch and strengthen your back at the gym but often this just leaves you with pain and stiffness. You end up slouching through the day hoping for the best.
Sound familiar?
What happened?
As a child you moved freely. You took risks with your body and joy in simple pleasures. You were slim and toned and happy. As an adult, is it too much to ask for freedom, energy, and joy in moving? What stands in the way of rediscovering your body?
The problem is progress. The easy life provided by technological wonders has come at a cost. The modern world – localized, immobile, and focussed as it is – conspires to shut our bodies down. We sit cramped and slouched focussing on a two dimensional information screen hour after hour. When not working, we spend much of our time in the car or staring at a smartphone. We were not designed to misuse our body like this and we are paying the price.
. . . Sitting well in front of a computer all day is an epic psychophysical challenge.
Quick fixes?
What about walking computer stations, ergonomic chairs, sitting on a bouncy ball, getting a bigger computer screen, RSI reminder programs? Surely these make your work environment more “healthy” don’t they? These are drops in the bucket. They help, but they don’t fundamentally change your environment – overfocused and cramped.
Sports help, but sports alone can’t compete with the rest of your life. Spending 12 hours a day misusing yourself and then doing sports for one hour doesn’t get to the heart of the problem. In fact, sports can be dangerously confusing for a body that has spent the whole day confined, especially when we spend little time warming up and refining our sporting technique. Don’t get me wrong. I love sports. But sports and fitness regimes alone do not solve the problem we are discussing.
Just give up?
“C’est la vie” you may say. “I’ve still got decades left that I can abuse my body in this way and then I’ll just retire and relax. I can live with it a little stiffness and slouching.” Unfortunately these problems eventually invade life in ways that can’t be ignored. You miss work and lose focus due to back pain. You lose confidence and poise due to your deteriorating posture. The “shutting down” of your body reduces your creativity, openness to new ideas, and productivity. Your personal and emotional life suffer. The problem is psychophysical. Not only is your body collapsing and tightening but your focus is narrowing and your stress levels are going up.
You could quit your job and live in the forest, hunting and gathering all day I suppose. But maybe there a way to continue living your same life – differently. Not changing what you do but how you do it.
Part 2: The Solution
Imagine reformulating your daily activities – re-engineering the way you move and balance as you live. Learning to recognize and override the downward, inward tendencies brought on by the modern world. Instead of pulling yourself down or stiffening you learn to maintain the length of your spine, open up your torso, maintain ease and mobility in your muscles, maintain an open field of attention. – even in front of the computer, even in front of an audience, even in front of your boss. You learn to choose to stay open in the face of it all.
It is difficult to change
This is quite a challenge. Most of our nasty habitual reactions are subconscious. You notice them only when you begin to hurt or someone comments on your lousy posture. In fact, you may have completely forgotten what feels like to be long and free, let alone what is anatomically correct. Most of us have no idea what healthy use of the body really means and how to coax ourselves in a constructive, safe, realistic way.
It is also easy to underestimate how challenging the tasks of modern life are. Sitting well in front of a computer all day is an epic psychophysical challenge. You need to learn to generate a healthy response in the face of a dramatically unhealthy environment, hour after hour, day after day. You need to stay up when everything around you is pulling you down. You need to stay open when everything around you is trying to close you.
So how do you do it?
Difficult. But doesn’t this challenge sound intriguing? What would you need to face it?
It takes dedication, discipline, intelligence, creativity and commitment over a long period of time. You really need to know what you are doing, what the challenges are, why you are doing it, and how to do it. Like a good leader you need to have the wisdom and courage to maintain yourself in the face of adversity – to be boldly independent but not to be afraid of seeking out help. Like a good artist, you need to be honest with yourself and venture into the unknown. There are no gimmicky short cuts.
. . . Instead of pulling yourself down or stiffening you learn to maintain the length of your spine, open up your torso, maintain ease and mobility in your muscles, maintain an open field of attention.
If you choose this route you are also going to need some help. You need an expert on how to confront this challenge in a sophisticated, multi-dimensional way. You need an Alexander technique teacher.
With an Alexander technique teacher you explore your habits of alignment, muscle tension, and habitual reaction patterns, working with daily activities such as sitting, standing, speaking, and working in front of the computer. Alexander teachers skillfully remind you what it is like to move open and freely using hands on guidance, explanations, and tips and tricks. Together, one-on-one, you and your teacher delve into your psychophysical life and come up with some solutions.
Between Alexander lessons you practice what you have learned – calming tension and guiding yourself to healthier support patterns. As lessons progress your own process becomes stronger and subtler, even in the face of modern pressures. You begin to explore and grow on your own, redefining yourself in relation to the world around you. Over time you notice that the problems you began with, the chronic pain, the stress, the slouching, are slowly disappearing and a freer you is coming to life.
