This is probably the question I hear most often, after "Can you help me with my back pains?". Actually, I often hear these two questions together.
But, what is posture anyway?
HUMAN BEINGS ARE NOT BUILDINGS AND DO NOT HAVE POSTURE
You’ve probably been told more than once that there’s something wrong with your posture, or maybe you’ve told others the same thing. You might have even been given specific exercises or seen products online that claim to help you maintain a straight posture by mechanical means or even through means of electrical stimulation.
However, the problem with this approach, used by parents, trainers, teachers, and doctors, is that humans don’t have a fixed posture. Here’s why.
Humans are not like buildings or trees. While both humans and buildings experience gravity and need to overcome it, our bodies are designed to move, and our response to gravity is always changing. What many refer to as posture is an attempt to capture the body’s current state, which is constantly changing and adjusting, and define it as “correct.” It’s very much like trying to describe Beethoven’s 9th Symphony using just one sound. That doesn’t seem logical, right? So why do we accept this approach when it comes to our bodies?
While buildings can remain upright due to the principles of statics, human stability (and that of other animals) is dependent on the laws of dynamics. The explanation for this is a complex physical matter that goes beyond the scope of this post. Instead of dwelling on the explanation, I encourage you to experience it firsthand.
FORCING YOURSELF INTO A “POSTURE” HAS A PRICE
Any effort to maintain constant stability and “straightness” goes against the natural structure of our bodies. Forcing ourselves into such a state means we neglect important abilities, we neglect parts of ourselves. Pulling your shoulders back, tightening your “core” muscles, or strengthening your back muscles just doesn’t make sense. Muscles aren’t supposed to be constantly tight. Muscles should contract to move the skeleton or stabilize it while other muscles generate movement.
If you do tighten your back and abdominal muscles (referred to as core muscles by many, which I find truly misleading), here’s what might happen:
Your back (and other joints) become even tighter – based on my experience as a Feldenkrais practitioner, people with back pain tend to hold their muscles back much more than necessary. This reduces mobility and limits the muscles to specific, familiar patterns. Strengthening your back muscles will only worsen this situation.
You breathe less – tightening the muscles around your chest and abdomen restricts the movement of the ribs and thoracic area, hindering one of their vital functions: breathing!
You become stiffer – similar to point 1, your joints will become stiffer, reducing your sensitivity to perceive your environment and limiting your ability to utilize external forces instead of relying on your muscles.
So what can we do?
1. Let go of the idea of posture
There is no right posture to learn, no correct holding of your body to practice. What you need is to restore what is already there, you need to learn how to regain confidence in your body.
2. Experience
Start by checking out the exercise in the video above, It will help you to start pay attention to the dynamic nature of your upright organization.
3. Integrate it into your practice and daily life
start looking at your dynamic stability during daily activities or your practices. It could be walking your dog, practicing Aikido, or playing guitar, ask yourself once in a while “How do I stand (or sit) now?” “am I free to move freely with the same level of ease in each direction?”If not, see what’s hindering you and what could you do to change it.
Did you find out something cool or interesting? let me know!
This post was written together with the amazing Hadas Antman.
Read her post here (Hebrew)!
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