Beyond all rights and wrongs, there is a field – I will meet you there.
Rumi
I hope it has been clear that the issue of posture is not merely physical, but goes to the very core of our being. It affects our health, our emotions and our attitude to life. Your posture is a direct reflection of who you are, or at least who you perceive yourself to be, and without a doubt it can directly affect how others see and treat you. Your posture is an integral part of who you are, so by changing your posture for the better, you will not only change the way you sit, stand and move, but also enhance the way you think and feel. In turn when you are able to think more clearly and feel calmer, you will inevitably have better posture. As we have seen, poor posture is not just something that happens to you; it is actually the consequence of the way you have been using yourself in all your actions. By learning and applying principles of the Alexander Technique and implementing the suggestions in this book, you will slowly but surely start to feel more balanced, coordinated and integrated, and this will help you to feel at ease with yourself and others.
Many other aspects of your life can come back into balance. Improving posture is not only good for your health; but also beneficial for your social life, your working life, your relationships with others and, indeed the whole of your life. Robert Louis Stevenson once said: ‘To be what we are and to become what we are capable of becoming is the only end of life’; many of us however have yet to discover what our hidden potential really is. Because improving posture can increases inner confidence, this can help us to explore our creative talents – some that may have been suppressed for many years and others that we may have never used.
To really improve your posture on a deep level you will need to move away from the idea of trying to adopt a particular way of positioning yourself while sitting or standing and realize that the effects of posture, whether good or bad, pervade the whole self, being inextricably bound up in everything you do or say. It is present when you greet somebody new, or tie up your shoes, or even in the way you bring a glass up to your lips. It is the accumulation of the way you use yourself in all things. Posture is part of the way we think, our attitude to life and how we react emotionally to other people. The only effective and lasting way that we can change our posture is to change the way we use ourselves, physically, mentally and emotionally, as it is by changing our thoughts and attitudes that we really bring about change in the way we live.
Alexander once said that we translate everything, whether physical, mental or spiritual, into muscular tension. In other words, past traumas and unexpressed feelings can be trapped within the muscles and culminate in the fixed posture that we have adopted. Some of these habits can originate from before we could talk and therefore feel a part of who we are. Without our realizing it, these suppressed unconscious feelings can result in habitual reactions that are running our lives and our relationships with others. Sometimes certain things that people say or do can ‘trigger’ past feelings that are totally out of proportion to the present incident, and our reactions can result in further muscle tension, which only compounds the problem. Even when we are not reacting in certain situations, these outworn mental and emotional ways of protecting ourselves can be physically held in the body in the form of excessive muscle tension, eventually turning into such strong habits that they can dramatically affect our posture. As a result, other systems (like the respiratory or circulatory systems) within the body will have to work much harder because of the huge pressures and limitations exerted on the internal organs, muscles and joints. Eventually the body may lose the ability to function normally, resulting in illnesses.
You do not necessarily have to enter into years of therapy in order to change your behaviour; simply learning to inhibit the automatic habitual reaction before you act can change a great deal about the way you think and behave during your daily activities. Aristotle is reported to have said: ‘Anyone can become angry – that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way – that is not easy.’ By using inhibition, you can bring under control many of the emotions that may have become out of balance and learn a new constructive conscious control of yourself. Through consciously choosing to release the muscular tension that has formed due to suppressed emotions, rigid thought patterns and fixed prejudices, you can live a happier, more harmonious life.
As you have seen, trying to change one’s posture by merely altering one’s body position really achieves nothing of any lasting benefit, and in some cases can actually make matters worse. However, to bring awareness to how we sit, stand and move, and then to decide to move with consciousness and deliberateness, can speak volumes about who we are. There is, in fact, no one right posture – any position is a valid position; poor posture is merely a habitual tendency that is often inappropriate for the task at hand. No one position will cause you harm if done once in a while; it is the subconscious stereotyped behaviour patterns – your postural habits – that you repeat hundreds of times a day without knowing it, that cause many of your postural problems. Often children will walk around a playground on tiptoe or walk on their heels, and as it is done consciously (i.e. it is not habitual), it does not cause a problem. If, however, they did either of these actions habitually, it would obviously result in some leg or foot problems in the longer term.
When changing our posture on a deep level, we are not really learning anything new, but rather rediscovering something very old. Almost every one of us had beautiful graceful posture when we were small, and by using the Alexander Technique we can rediscover that this free and aligned posture is still within us, although it may have been dormant for many years or even decades. Improving posture really means bringing our habits to conscious awareness and deliberately choosing to replace those that are no longer serving us with new ways of responding that are more beneficial and natural. Alexander once said: ‘When an investigation comes to be made, it will be found that every single thing we are doing in the Work [the Technique] is exactly what is being done in nature where the conditions are right, the difference being that we are learning to do it consciously.’
“I had chronic back trouble for up to 20 years which was related to a football injury. Often my back would go into spasm, which would put me in serious pain. I tried everything from acupuncture to chiropractic. I even had surgery, which involved the removal of two discs but this was never completely satisfactory. Then I went to an Alexander Technique teacher. He taught me how to walk correctly and how to sit down correctly. He explained to me about the weight of my head on my body and made me aware of the importance of good posture and how to have conscious control of it. … Of all the therapies I tried, none of them has been as good as the Alexander Technique.”
Eamon Dunphy, former Irish international football player and sports journalist
The first and most important habit to change if we are ever going to make progress is the tendency not to be truly present while we go about our daily activities. This is a habit that prevents us from being in the here and now, and unless we are conscious in the present moment, how will we ever be able to be aware of what we are doing? Alexander called the habit of not being in the here and now ‘mind-wandering’, and once we start to practise being more present, our posture will invariably start to change. Notice young children who have beautiful posture – they are completely focused on what they are doing, and we can do the same. It just takes a little practice.
The psychologist and spiritual teacher Dr Richard Alpert (Ram Dass), author of Be Here Now, often talks of ‘Somebody Training’, which he says begins at a very early age. We all came into the world with an open mind, an open heart and a free body – as small children, our thoughts, actions and emotions were pure and uncomplicated, and we did not have concepts of what we should do, say or feel. However, as we grew up, our parents and teachers wanted us to grow up to be somebody special, and they set about training us to really be ‘somebody’. They may not have realized that we were already special just the way we were, and they set about teaching us what to say and do. We were even instructed as to what we should be feeling and how we should express ourselves. This ‘somebody training’, which takes place over many years, is often based on the values and ideals that our family and teachers themselves were taught when they were growing up. After this ‘indoctrination, socialization and child development programme’ we unsurprisingly often end up ourselves wanting to be ‘somebody special’. The only trouble is that the ‘somebody’ we end up being is not usually the person we really are, as it is based on someone else’s concepts and theories. Along with this artificial personality comes an artificial posture, because our posture is really a compilation of fixed thought patterns and false ways of being that we have been taught, and is not really us. The main problem is that we do not realize it, but all we know is that we may feel unfulfilled in our work, in our relationships and in our lives in general. It is interesting to realize that many people aspire to be more sophisticated, yet the very word ‘sophisticated’ means ‘to be false, no longer simple or natural’. So in reality the unnatural posture that many of us have adopted is also our prison. It was created by the indoctrination that planted in us erroneous ideas about who we really are.
50: Having good posture is enjoyable, flowing and relaxed; it includes having good balance, poise, awareness, grace of movement, free thinking and free emotions.
The story of Zumbach the tailor illustrates this well. A man went to buy a suit for his wedding and, wanting only the very best, he ordered his suit from the most expensive and reputable tailor in town. The tailor’s name was Zumbach and he took hours meticulously measuring and remeasuring. The suit took many weeks to make and finally the day arrived when it was ready. The man happily made his way down to the tailor’s shop, only to find that the suit did not fit at all. Angrily, he called Zumbach and said, ‘There is something wrong with this suit! One sleeve is much shorter than the other!’ ‘There is nothing wrong with the suit,’ Zumbach replied, ‘it is just the way that you are standing.’ Zumbach then adjusted the posture of the man, pushing his shoulder right down and said, ‘If you stand like this, the suit will fit perfectly.’ The man was still not convinced and said, ‘But what about the bulge in the back of the neck, surely that should not be there on such an expensive suit?’
Zumbach grew impatient. ‘Sir, I assure you the suit is perfect... it is merely the way you are holding yourself. If you pull your other shoulder up and drop your head down, then the suit will fit perfectly.’ After a few more alterations in his posture, the man left the shop and was walking down the road when a woman came running up to him and exclaimed, ‘What a beautiful suit you have, I bet Zumbach the tailor made it for you.’ ‘How did you know that?’ the man asked. ‘Only a tailor with the special talent of Zumbach could make a suit to fit a person as bent and twisted as you are!’, replied the woman.
In the same way, throughout our lives many of us have adopted various postures as a reaction to certain stimuli or to suit the situations that we have found ourselves in. Perhaps an emotional reason such as shyness or a lack of self-esteem caused us to hunch our shoulders or tense our joints or maybe many hours spent sitting in a car or behind a desk caused a bent spine, but whatever the reason for our poor posture, it can change for the better. Through this process of changing your posture, not only will you be improving the way you look, healing a back or neck problem, or even improving your breathing or voice, you will also be improving the way you think, feel and act. So while it is true that the Alexander Technique has helped many people with a wide variety of health issues, it also has a much deeper purpose: its true power lies in breaking through the facade about who you think you are and helping you to rediscover who you really are. If used at its deepest level, the Technique can help to free you from your past conditioning and the erroneous ideas that you may have about yourself. It has the power to enable you to be the free and creative person that you really are. Even having the desire to improve your posture is an indication that you want to embark on the journey towards true freedom. Remember, though, that the change will happen slowly, so don’t be in any hurry, because it is in hurrying that we start to lose our sense of ourselves once again.
As you take the steps needed to improve the way you use yourself, you will find that you not only are more conscious of how you sit, stand and move, but also become much more aware of the world about you, as your senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell and balance are heightened. You will eventually find that pausing before acting becomes natural and normal rather than unusual, and this will enable you to have a greater choice as you go about your daily activities. Many people find that as they improve their posture through the Alexander Technique, they find a practical philosophy for living and as a result feel more alive. In the Tao Te Ching it says: ‘When you let go of what you are, you become what you might be; when you let go of what you have, you receive what you need.’ Have you ever struggled to achieve a goal, only to find that after you have given up, the goal is accomplished without you even trying? In a way it is the same with posture – once you stop trying to improve your posture and just let go of your tensions, your habits and your thoughts, a new way of being will automatically materialize. This change occurs on all levels. For example, people who have always disliked their work suddenly find the confidence to pursue a career that they have always wanted to have, while others decide to do something they have always wanted to do but never allowed themselves. Improved posture often gives people improved confidence and self-esteem.
I would like to finish with a quotation from A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle:
You are a human being. What does that mean? Mastery of life is not a question of control, but of finding a balance between human and Being.
Mother, father, husband, wife, young, old, the roles you play, the functions you fulfil, whatever you do – all that belongs to the human dimension.
It has its place and needs to be honoured, but in itself it is not enough for a fulfilled, truly meaningful relationship or life.
Human alone is never enough, no matter how hard you try or what you achieve.
Then there is Being.
It is found in the still, alert presence of Consciousness itself,
The Consciousness that you are.
Human is form. Being is formless.
Human and Being are not separate but interwoven.
The Alexander Technique is a very practical way to put the ‘Being’ back into everything that you ‘do’, and by accomplishing this you can truly enter the magical realm of the present moment, which in reality is the only place in which everyone and everything exists. By doing so you will recognize how special you really are. You will be able to prevent the fear of the future or the regrets of the past dominating your life and there will no longer be a need to hide from your fellow human beings. Your new state of being will naturally be reflected in your posture, which will become open, upright and poised without any effort. By improving posture, you will not only improve your physical stance and movements, but you can also rediscover the true magic of what it means to be a living, free and magnificent being. The only thing that you will be required to do is to let go of the habits that hold you back, so that you can come into the present moment and enjoy this incredible journey of self-discovery though conscious choice.
“The Alexander Technique really works. I recommend it enthusiastically to anyone who has neck pains or back pain. I speak from experience.”
Roald Dahl, author of many children’s books