It takes time and patience to change your posture. The above video illustrates one of the key concepts that my work is based on. Most people are splayed open at the front of the body, while collapsed and tight at the back of the body. What blows my mind is, eight years after setting out to radically change my own posture, I am still stuck in so many long held patterns.
This blog has many videos of me – what you see is what you get. I am not lighting them or doing multiple takes. I am interested in presenting myself as I am – human, all too human. The truth though, is that there isn’t a single video that I don’t want to put in the trash bin for one reason or another. It is hard for me to see past my bell’s palsy, which caused half of my face to stop working about 18 months ago. I also have a lipoma on my upper back that makes my dowagers hump – which is much better than it was – look much worse than it is.
But for the purpose of this blog, and what I am trying to teach, it drives me batty every time I see my slightly elevated chin when standing. You can see it in any video where I am in profile.
My personal project over the last year has been to shorten the rectus abdominus, the six-pack muscle. I don’t want a six-pack but I do need a shorter front body. In my mind, shortening the rectus abdominus would bring my head more level with the earth.
You can see when I am in profile that there is a bit of a collapse in the middle of my back (T12/L1) and that collapse at the back elevates the front of the rib cage slightly. Again, I have been consciously working on this for a long time and, while there has been major improvement, I still have far to go. But the work towards a balanced body and to change your posture is the work of a lifetime; and I am in it for the long haul.
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