Move from Pain to Power
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Align your spine by
walking standing |
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How to have your chest proudly forward without straining to
"stand up straight" |
Move naturally so your body can align and heal itself:
We can’t rely on body-workers alone to fix us: There is little point in chiropractors, physical therapists and even yoga if you undo the treatment every time you walk and sit.
We need at least 3 things for complete alignment:
- Learn to stand, walk, and sit properly with primal movement.
- A few exercises to prepare by releasing hip tension to balance muscles and align the spine.
- Proper supports: shoes, chairs, and desk / computer ergonomics, addresses root causes.
RELEASE the HIPS EXERCISES
Releasing hip tension is the first step to aligning the spine. The right hip angle determines posture. The ilio-psoas muscle complex is the key to releasing the muscle imbalances caused by chairs and other factors. It feels amazing and is much more effective that stretching.
ALIGN by STANDING and WALKING
Some people try to stand up straight by pushing their chest out, but that does not usually work. The real cause of a sunken chest is corrected at the exact opposite are of the body: from behind the knees. The muscles at the back of the leg determine hip angle and spinal posture. Pushing the back of the legs back is the starting point.
From there you need to understand how your check points feel when standing: head , chest and lower back position. How the weight distributes across your feet.
When you walk it gets even more complicated, its very awkward at first and your legs may feel rubbery and too loose and drunk.
It is necessary to do some release exercises to loosen your hips first so you can get in this greater range of motion.
My Experience
I've got my walk down so I feel light and flexible ready to pounce into action or run a race.
Like I can just take off running and turn quick, like running a pass pattern in American football.
My center of gravity is lower and I feel stronger.
Waling feels more effortless like rolling.
I can feel my spine. It feels like a steel beam from my tailbone to the crown of my head.
My arms feel lighter as the shoulders are aligned.
My attention is actually more in my legs and feet. Feet are one indicator that the movement is right. The heels are no longer thudding but the weight is distributed over the feet with an even roll from outer heel to big toe with greater push off and nice stretch in the ankle. The feet turn in and aim straight ahead. If feels like a foot massage in my zero drop wide toed shoes or barefoot. It keeps my consciousness in my body and out of my head, I worry less and enjoy my body more.
My hips swing freely but tightly and efficiently. I can feel my lower abs and public area activated and alive. It feels sexy. This is actually the sexual center energetically, the second chakra, which is also a center of creativity. For meditators this opens the root chakra that also for me often automatically opens the crown, which is what I feel with the "steel beam."Spinal alignment is key to energy flows and meditation, so I feels some of those benefits just from walking: less anxiety, more alright about everything.
Its very difficult to communicate in words what I feel and what you have to feel your way. Some of it is too subtle for video for the untrained eye. You can try based on what I described here. It’s best if I watch you and tell you what your standing position is first and have you do some partial moves.
PROPER SUPPORTS address ROOT CAUSES of misalignment
Chairs and Toilets have limited our range of motion and the amount of movement in a day through desk work.
Most people never do the “primal squat” that was once used to defecate and work with things on the ground without a table or waist high stove. The primal squat is often done by immigrants from some Asian countries that can be seen resting in this position, which looks impossible and painful to the modern chair bound person. The primal squat puts hip flexors through a full range of motion and also opens up the rectum and colon to assist in their functions.
There are better chair designs or modifications with cushions, as well as standing desk alternatives that are flexible with seating options.
Shoes are not designed properly. The ideal is barefoot, although that is not always possible.
Barefoot shoes are entering the market, including some with degrees of cushioning with barefoot features: zero heel rise, wide toes, and relative flexibility which is in a trade-off with cushion.
For running and casual wear Altra is great. Dress shoes that are soft and flexible are Ecco.
Under-developed Upper Palates can be seen with crowded teeth, narrow faces and mouth breathing. This often accompanies a narrow air way that leads to snoring or sleep apnea. It also leads to forward head posture (ears in front of shoulders, rather than above) that sets up spinal curves of a sunken chest and forward hips, the most common pattern.
This is the result of bottle feeding, soft foods, and sinus congestion that leads to mouth breathing.
These things prevent proper pressure from the tongue and teeth on the upper palate to expand it as the child grows. Some adult orthodontic improvement is possible, but this is a separate complicated subject so I deal with this separately as facial posture:
There is also often a problem with short molars leading to under-bite. This can lead to spinal collapse, scoliosis, kyphosis, for reasons that are not obvious.
Facial Posture: How it Affects Your Health 3 Keys to Facial Posture and Health
