Many people who come to see me have chronic pain problems caused by the old wives’ tale of ‘Stand up straight, shoulders back, stomach in etc,’It is still a generally held belief that these harsh instructions will help you stand up well rather than slouching. I too, have experienced this, having spent my formative years in Her Majesty’s Foot Guards in the army, where this was the ultimate posture for smartness. These instructions apply to both men and women usually originating from well-meaning parents which has led to lifetime belief systems that this is the posture to have? The worst possible thing would be slouching with the weight of the head causing us to stoop, better get those shoulders back?
When I first came across the technique in the late 1990’s, my first teacher tactfully pointed out to me, that even though I had left the army ten years previously, that I was still metaphorically marching around creating no end of tension for myself with my military bearing. This was a ‘light bulb moment’ for me which initiated a journey of healing and transformation. Standing to attention creates a lot of tension!
What I learnt subsequently, is that the military posture is attempting to correct a wrong with a wrong. Both the stooping of the slouch and the hyper extension of the military posture are both interferences in our natural ways of being and are unnecessary. In both extreme cases, these ways of being are habitual and have become normal for us so they tend to sit outside our awareness until the inevitable musculo-skeletal pain manifests and then we reach for the pain killing medication, Be prepared to keep popping the pills because you are not getting to the root of the self-perpetuating problem!
Alexander Technique lessons will raise your awareness to recognise these postural tendencies so you’ll be looking to lower that dose. What the technique teaches us is that the upright human body works on the same principles as building blocks ie. the heavy bits need to stack on top of each other – pelvis (hips) above feet, shoulders above pelvis, head above shoulders. With the military posture and the stoop, this isn’t happening so the body is going to complain – it’s common sense! When the shoulders are back, there’s nothing beneath them – ouch! Come and regain the posture that you once had as a child with The Alexander Technique. Less excess tension, more joy!
