When you stand are you balanced in an easy way for your body. How does gravity go through you? These stones on Holy Island (Lindisfarne) are balanced or they would fall over.
How we balance all started when we stood for the first time and took those first steps to start walking. Our head balances on top of the spine like a ping pong ball with the hips knees and ankles in line below. We fell over as small children as we learned how to balance.
This easy effortless way of balancing gets interfered with as we develop unhelpful habits resulting in tension when you stand and move. These habits keep us upright so we do not fall but there is a strain on our bodies. Many people lock their knees back in standing which pushes their hips forward altering the alignment of the spine and how their shoulder girdles sit on top of the ribcage.
Notice how much weight you have through your heels. Many people have a lot of weight through the front of the feet but you need 60% of your weight through your heels. So just notice what your habit is.
In standing just stop and notice your body thinking down your spine through your pelvis, down your legs to your feet. Feel the floor below your feet. Then think back up your body growing up like a tree. Your head is like a ping pong ball floating at the top of your spine.
Now expand your awareness all around you. Look ahead being aware of your peripheral vision, think above your head up to the sky, think behind you (if this is difficult place a hand on your low back and notice it) and then think out to the sides.
Expanding your awareness in this way enhances your nervous system.
STOP AND NOTICE how you are using your laptop or mobile as you read this. We have habits which are out of our awareness.
If you are sitting are you sitting in a slump ? Are you sitting on your sitting bones? Are your shoulders hunched forward? Are your feet wrapped around the chair ?
Sitting well using a mobile phone
Sitting with good use with a laptop
If you are standing is your weight equal through both of your feet? Are your knees locked back? Notice if your shoulders are hunched and your neck is poked forward.
Alexander Technique Teacher, Richmond, North Yorkshire
