Come back here with you're head up, Charlie Brown!

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The Posture Police caught up with Charlie Brown coming out of a humiliating therapy session with Lucy that was not worth the nickle he spent.  Let's see if we can give him some tips to turn Lucy's mean-spirited criticisms into constructive observations that he has the power to change.  

Take a look at what just happened . . .



Charlie Brown:  Oh, good grief.  What now?

Posture Police:  Lucy came down on you pretty hard there.

Charlie Brown:  You can say that again.  I'm just a failure.  That's all there is to it.  The harder I try, the worse I get.

Posture Police:  That's because you're end-gaining.

Charlie Brown:  Good grief, I can't stand anymore criticism! 

Posture Police:  Now hold on a second.  Lucy listed for you and showed you all of your shortcomings . . .

Charlie Brown:  I know!  That's all I am.  Millions of faults all stuck together forming something that sort of looks like a human.  Why do I have to be me?  I wish I were some with no faults or maybe just three faults.  I think I could handle three.  But all faults?  I can't do anything but be discouraged.

Posture Police:  Charlie Brown, you're "faults" as you call them are what you do.  They're not written in you're genetic code.

Charlie Brown:  They're not?

Posture Police:  No.  If you're doing something one way, you can change how you're doing it right?

Charlie Brown:  I guess so.  But how?  I try so hard.  If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.  Just Do It, Nike.

Posture Police:  I think that whoever said those things was giving some pretty poor advice.

Charlie Brown:  But I have to try, right?  What else can I do but try?  Oh, I'm so sick of trying.

Posture Police:  So stop trying!

Charlie Brown:  You want me to give up?  I'm only eight years old!  Oh, but I should give up.  I'm a total, utter, failure.

Posture Police:  I'm not suggesting that you give up.  I'm suggesting that you do something different instead of always trying to do the same thing.  It's like you're running faster and faster in a circle.  You try harder and harder, but with the same habits that just get you right back to where you started.

Charlie Brown:  What habits?  You mean my faults?

Posture Police:  Yes, you're faults, but let's be less judgmental and call them habits that get in the way of you achieving your goals.

Charlie Brown:  Lucy said that I lack coordination and that my movements are erratic.

Posture Police:  I saw the instant replay of you running and I agree with her.  She wants you to fail, so she doesn't offer you an alternative for your "faults".

Charlie Brown:  Ok, I'm listening.

Posture Police:  When you were running to kick that ball, do you remember how you were going about running?  Were you aware that you were moving erratically?

Charlie Brown:  No.

Posture Police:  And there's the problem.  How can you change that if you aren't aware if it while you are doing it?

Charlie Brown:  Good grief.  This is complicated.

Posture Police:  I think it's pretty simple.  As I mentioned before, you were end-gaining.  You were thinking only about kicking the ball, but you were ignoring the means-whereby you got there.

Charlie Brown:  The means where-who?

Posture Police:  The means whereby you do something.  They way you do something.  The steps involved in doing something.

Charlie Brown:  I understand.

Posture Police:  Good.  You ignored how you were getting to the ball and were only thinking of the end goal - kicking it.  You completely stressed out about getting to the ball and exhibited poorly coordinated, erratic movements as pointed out by Lucy.  Lucy isn't helping you though by simply pointing them out.

Charlie Brown:  I should have kept that nickle in my pocket, but I was so desperate.

Posture Police:  Let's look at what you are doing when you run.  Here's a ball.  Go over there and run and kick it.

Charlie Brown:  Are you going to pull the ball away?

Posture Police:  No.

Charlie Brown:  Ok.  Here I go.

Posture Police:  Ok, stop just a minute.

Charlie Brown:  But I didn't even get to the ball yet.

Posture Police:  You're already end-gaining.  Just like in the instant replay, you are pulling your head back and down, and therefore compressing your whole spine.  That pressure in turn prevents your legs from moving freely under your torso.  You're not present as you're running.  It looks like you're only thinking about the ball and you're forgetting how you're moving and where you are in space.  Can I put my hands on your neck and back to show you what I mean?

Charlie Brown:  Ok.  Oh, wow!  Now I feel what I'm doing.  You're right!  I feel that I am pulling my head back and down.  Even when I'm just standing here.  So I must be doing it even more when I'm running.

Posture Police:  Now you are getting the idea.  Pulling the head back and down is a startle response, like if you just saw a grizzly bear over there!  If you do that while you run, you'll slow yourself down and will interfere with your natural, efficient coordination.  You are naturally well-coordinated, Charlie Brown.  You just need to get out of your own way.  You're not doomed to be a failure if you learn how to change your habits.

Charlie Brown:  Wow, thanks.  I don't feel discourage anymore.  I think I have a lot of work to do, but there might be some hope for me yet!

Posture Police:  Glad to be of help.  You are a good man, Charlie Brown!

Penalty For Failing To Bend Over Properly: Back Pain!

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Dog walkers of NYC are responding to increased fine from $450-$4500 and are diligently cleaning up after their dogs.  Unfortunately while doing so, they've caught trying too hard to "bend properly".  Could this sign be responsible? 

 


Why is the Red Stick Person on the sign bending like that?

Let's find out!







Posture Police: Excuse me Red Stick Person. . .

Red Stick Person:  Good evening officer! 

Posture Police:  I'd like to speak with you regarding how you're bending over to clean up after your dog.

Red Stick Person: Isn't this how you are supposed to bend?  I've always heard that I should bend like that in order to avoid hurting my back - bend the knees, not the back and keep the back straight, right?

Posture Police:  Yes . . . and no.  Let's start by talking about what the "major joints" are - HIPS, KNEES, ANKLES.  If you bend at these joins as opposed to bending your back, you are less likely to put stress on the smaller joints formed by the vertebrae of your spine.

Red Stick Person:  Does that mean that I must always bend at the major joints or else I'll be bending wrong and hurting yourself?

Posture Police:  No.

Red Stick Person:  Does that mean that if I always bend at the major joints that I'll be bending correctly and never hurt myself?

Posture Police:  No.

Red Stick Person:  Uh-oh, so how do I know if I'm bending correctly and not hurting myself?

Posture Police: Pay attention to how you are using yourself regardless of your bending position.

Red Stick Person:  Uh . . .What do you mean "using myself"?

Posture Police:  I mean are you compressing in on yourself?  That would be an example of poor use.  Are you you compressing your spine?  Also poor use.

Red Stick Person: In which situation?  Am I compressing when I bend my major joints or when I bend my back?

Posture Police:  In either situation.  How you use yourself permeates all situations, positions and movements.

Red Stick Person:  So bending at the major joints can help me to avoid back injury, but what really counts is how I'm using myself!

Posture Police:  You've got it.  Bending at the major joints is what Alexander Technique teachers call "mechanical advantage".  It helps to set up the potential for good use, but it doesn't guarantee good use.

Red Stick Person:  Great!  Um, but how do I know whether or not I'm using myself well?

Posture Police:  Well, you may not know.  Compressing can become a quite habitual and unconscious habit.

Red Stick Person:  Can Alexander Technique lessons help me to identify my unconscious habits?

Posture Police:  Yes!

Red Stick Person:  How?

Posture Police:  By helping you to actually feel how you habitually compress yourself, so you can stop doing that and allow yourself to relax and come up to your full height.

Red Stick Person:  Instead of scrunching myself down?

Posture Police:  That's right.

Red Stick Person:  I'm standing here all day on this sign demonstrating to passers-by that they should clean up after their dogs.  I always see people walking along hunched and squeezed and pulling themselves down.  And some of them try to keep their backs straight when they pick up their dog's poop, but they look so stiff!

Posture Police: I think you've got the idea!

Red Stick Person:  So, where can I find an Alexander Technique teacher?

Posture Police:  You're lookin' at one, Red Stick Person!  Here's another tip.

Red Stick Person: Yes?

Posture Police: Learn from your Red Stick Dog!  Your dog,  like most animals and small children has incredible use!

Red Stick Dog: Woof!

Red Stick Person:  Yes, she hasn't interfered with her natural balance and coordination.

Red Stick Dog:  Woof!  Woof!

Posture Police:  I have one more question.

Red Stick Person:  Yes?

Posture Police:  Why don't you bend your elbows when you scoop your dog's poop?  You look rather stiff!

Red Stick Person:  Doggonit!  I didn't realize that I was straightening my arms like that!  Thanks for cluing me in to how I was holding my arms!  Ahh! That feels much better to let my elbows bend a little!  Hey, did anyone ever tell you that your hat is kind of old-fashioned!

Posture Police:  Ah yes, but some habits I choose not to change, my friend!!!

PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC ALERT: Sightings of shoes wearing people!

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Wearer Beware:  Cunning pumps and sneakers spotted all over New York City and in towns and cities around the world wearing people instead of people wearing them!  The "worn" pedestrians, young and old alike, appear completely oblivious to the con job being pulled on them by their swindling souliers (a French word for "shoes").

Two journalists have taken it upon themselves to inform the public!!!  Take a look at the articles mentioned below!
If your shoes don't fit properly or are restricting, they can effect how you use your entire body.  How you interact with your shoes, regardless of fit, is equally important.

Article number one reveals the benefits of spending as much time as possible barefoot.  This is especially true for young children.  Unfortunately, when browsing through a children's shoe store, one of the first things a parent may notices is the abundance of high-top shoes.  Finding myself in this situation when shopping for my older child's first pair of shoes, I asked a sales associate what the benefits of high-top shoes were?  I was met with the response:  "To support your child's ankles".  I wondered why a child would not naturally be able to support his/her ankles and if the stiff ankle supports might actually interfere with the child's natural development and balance and if this ankle stiffness might contribute to compensatory stiffening in other areas of the body.  Other walking animals don't wear ankle supports.  Why would humans need them?  We then noticed that most of the shoes' soles were very stiff.  How could stiff soles promote natural walking?  I was also concerned about the arch supports interfering with the natural development of my toddler's arches.  Babies are born with flat feet and arches develop over time.  We sought out shoes that were as close to barefoot and our children are almost always barefoot at home.  The clearer the contact with the ground, the more readily you spring up from that contact to your full height.

Follow this link to read more on the topic of children's feet and shoes:

Article number two talks about Alexander Technique teacher and high-heel expert, Chyna Whyne.  Heels tend to lose their sexiness when the wearer is clearly uncomfortable.  When I was first introduced to the Alexander Technique, I swore off heels for awhile, but once my back became stronger, I discovered that they could be enjoyable to wear from time to time if I allowed the shoes to almost become part of my feet and to let my weigh distribute evenly over them.  Mindful wearing of high-heels can be fun!

Read more by following the link below:

INTRO TO THE BLOG: TAKE THE POSTURE TEST!

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What is "Good Posture"?
Take the Posture Test!
by Lindsay Newitter, AmSAT-Certified Alexander Technique teacher

The Alexander Technique is often spoken about in connection with posture.  People often pursue  Alexander Technique lessons in order to improve their posture.  So, is the Alexander Technique really a method for improving posture?  Let's find out!
Poor posture is a symptom of an underlying coordination problem involving the total patter of how you use your whole body.
What does that mean???
Let's put that idea aside for a moment and come back to it.  
  
Now take a moment and answer this question for yourself:  What is good posture?    Do you define good posture as standing or sitting up straight?  Most people do.  I did.
Do the following . . .
For the purpose of the experiment, let's say that good posture is standing up straight.  Now, try the following.  Find a mirror in which you can see yourself from at least the hips to the top of your head.  Turn so that you see yourself in profile and pretend that someone has just asked you to stand up straight!  Now stand up straight.

And now two questions about how you are standing:

1) Are you actually standing up more straight?  If you do what most people do, you arch your lower back and thrust your chest forward.  Take a close look.  If you are doing what I am presuming in order to straighten yourself, you are actually pulling yourself down (back and down that is).  You are exaggerating the lumbar curve (in the lower back) and decreasing your height.  It's slumping, but slumping backwards!

2) How do you feel?  I am guessing that you probably feel uncomfortable.  Perhaps you are holding your breath or your breathing has become more shallow.  If standing up straight is so good for you, why does it feel so terrible?
Now for part two of the experiment . . .RELAX!  Relaxation is good for you too, right?  Just like good posture is good for you?
What happened when you relaxed?  Did you slump forward?  Did you arch your lower back?  Did you poke your chin forward?  And now try to sit up straight again.  Are you again arching in your lower back and stiffening so much that your breathing is constricted?  Most people pull themselves down and collapse in on themselves when they "relax". 

Most people fluctuate back and forth between collapsing down on themselves and stiffing to do what they think is "relaxing" and sitting or "standing up straight".  Neither of these states is natural.  Our bodies naturally support themselves with their postural support muscles (for example the muscles that run along either side of the spine.)  You don't need to do any exercises to make those muscles work.  If you learn to get out of their way, they will support you and you'll put an end to the uncomfortable and perhaps painful flipfloping between holding yourself up and pulling yourself down.

So, what is "good posture"?  Instead of defining "good posture" as standing up straight, let's call it getting out of your own way and allowing yourself to come to your full height.

What does "Getting out of your own way mean?"  What is "your full height?
Many people overuse the muscles in their shoulders and upper back, resulting in a "hunch" forward.  If they stop overusing those muscles, then tone will be redistributed to the back and the legs, which will allow for more release in the shoulders and then more tone in the back and legs.  This give and take over a period of time results in a much more balanced distribution of tone (without doing any dedicated excersizes).  An indirect result of this redistribution of tone will be that the person finds themselves standing up straight without extra effort because the muscles that are well-suited for postural support are doing their job properly.    For most people, coming to their full height will look like standing up straight.  For others, coming to their full height may not equal looking completely straight . . .

Here is in example as to why someone might not stand straight, but still have excellent posture:
I have scoliosis in my lumbar spine.   In the past, I alternated between collapsing into the curve and willfully holding myself up so that I wouldn't look crooked.  I caused myself great discomfort by engaging these habits.  Through practicing the Alexander Technique, I learned how to become aware of and stop what I was doing and to allow my postural support  muscles to do the work of supporting me.  I can now come up to my full height without unnecessary tension and discomfort.  It's unlikely that the lateral curve in my spine will completely straighten out, so my "full height" includes an extra curve in my spine. 

Good Use vs. Good Posture
Alexander Technique teachers, through hands on, kinesthetic re-education, teach people how to become aware of habits that prevent them from standing, sitting, moving, and breathing naturally.  F.M. Alexander, who developed the technique, referred to these habits as the way in which we "use" ourselves.  The way in which we use ourselves affects everything that we do.   

If you improve your use, you will come up more to your full height.  What we call "poor posture" is not a condition.  It is something that we do to ourselves by using ourselves poorly.  People who study the Alexander Technique note improvement in their posture, but not by directly trying to fix it.  If you use yourself well  you'll likely come up to your full height . . . and receive many compliments on your improved posture!
   
If you understand what I've said and you're trying to apply it on your own and find that you're not making progress, that is very normal.  Most peoples' sense of how they are holding themselves and is not accurate.  What feels right is often what is habitual.  A quick and efficient way of breaking long-held habits (habits so deeply ingrained that you may not be able to feel them) is to have a new experience.  Alexander lessons will give you a new experience, which will tune you into your old habits.  Once you become aware of your old habits, you can start to change them.  How can you change something that you aren't aware of?
And one more thing . . . the "new" experience of improved posture, balance and coordination that people have when studying the Alexander Technique isn't really new.  It's a restoration of your oldest experience.  It's what you were likely born with and embodied as a young child, but had long forgotten! 

This blog examines the subtleties of how we use our bodies and the day-to-day choices that we make that effect how we use our bodies and in turn our posture.0

For more information regarding the Alexander Technique, visit my website www.lindsaynewitter.com or email Lindsay at lindsay.n@gmail.com.




 

Apprehended and Awaiting Trial: Computers and office furniture.

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Apprehended and Awaiting Trial:  Computers and office furniture.
 
Plea:  Not guilty

Writers, E mailers, Programmers and Internet Surfers file a class-action lawsuit Computers, chairs, desks, keyboards, technology, and society!  The accused have not offered any comment and have placed their fate in the hands of an Alexander Technique teacher. 
Can you relate to this picture?  The means whereby people create and communicate are increasingly computer-based.  Whether you write novels, edit photos, develop software, create PowerPoint presentations or compose emails to your friends and family, are your creative endeavors spent on a "mental" island, leaving your "body" to sink below sea level.  Do you find yourself wondering why your back, neck and shoulders ache after spending time at the computer?  Perhaps someone has told you that it's because of your poor posture, but posture may be the last thing on your mind when you are in the zone.

The PC user often spends hours on end in a fixed position making minute movements to type and execute mouse clicks.  A lot of the strain that we generally experience comes from engaging in sedentary activities such as working at the computer.  People are often tempted to blame their computer, their job, their chair for their troubles.  Purchasing a new computer or chair or finding a new job may not be necessary.  Here are some questions to ask yourself:

1.  Is the work you do at the computer a physical or mental activity?  
The answer is BOTH.  Computer work may seem like a mental activity as it seems to involve quite a lot of thinking and not a lot of moving.  Sure, it's not an athletic or aerobic activity and it may be more intellectual, but  your whole self is just as present as it is when you are playing a game of basketball.  We tend to categorize activities as "physical" or "mental" based on how much we sweat.  The mind and body are equally involved in all activities.  If you behave as a creative or intellectual entity operating outside of your physical being while you work at your computer, you will likely pull yourself down (like in the picture), and may find that your back aches, your neck is sore, you feel exhausted and maybe even less creative.

2. Is your workstation set up to your advantage? 
Using yourself well will give you the greatest advantage, but why not create a work environment that presents less potential for strain? Are you arms parallel to your desk or do you have to raise or lower them to reach the keyboard?  Do your feet touch the floor?  are your eyes level with the middle of your screen?  If the answer to any of these questions is "no", then adjust your chair according and invest in a device to raise your screen or a foot rest if needed.  These are simple, inexpensive solutions that do not involve replacing your desk.  If you have a small laptop with a small keyboard, you may want to attach a full-size or ergonomic keyboard to your laptop.  If you want to do your best work, get yourself off to a good start with a workstation that is adjusted for you.
3.  Are you balanced when you are sitting?  
Most people flip-flop from collapsing down (like in the drawing above) and squeezing themselves to sit up straight (how one would typically stand at attention).  What people do to sit or stand up straight is often just as bad as the collapsed down "poor posture".  They pull their heads back and down, thrust their chests forward and create a downward pressure in the lower back.  This kind of sitting up straight is accomplished by pulling and squeezing back and down, which creates undue pressure in the lower back and is usually pretty uncomfortable and not sustainable.  Balanced sitting involves allowing the sit-bones (the two bumpy bones on your bottom) to contact the chair and to allow yourself to easily balance on them with out squeezing and compressing to hold yourself up.  If you are sitting in a balanced fashion, you should feel comfortable and you should not be interfering with your breathing.

4.  How are you concentrating on your work?  
See if you can remain focused on your work while acknowledging what you see in your peripheral vision, taking note of the sounds you hear around you and the odors in the air.  Keeping all of your senses awake while you work will help to keep you alert and will help to prevent you from straining to concentrate.

5. Take some Alexander Technique Lessons!
Alexander Technique lessons can help people to unlearn their poor habits of sitting so that they balance easily on their sit bones and naturally come up to their full height without any excess strain and can help people concentrate without straining.  The tips mentioned above may be useful on their own, but you will have more tools with which to apply them if you are getting the regular hands-on reinforcement of an Alexander Technique teacher.

Don't you find it easier to think and create when you feel comfortable, energized, and free of aches and pains?

 
Image by:  <a href="http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=2565&picture=creative-daydreaming">Creative daydreaming</a> by Frits Ahlefeldt