“I have terrible posture.” “My mother always told me to stand up straight, but it’s just so tiring.”  “I try to push my shoulders down, only to have them slide up again within minutes–they seem to have a mind of their own!”

If any of these complaints sound familiar, you may have been struggling in all the wrong places. Posture is not a static experience. We are constantly in motion  – walking, reaching, even now as you’re sitting and reading this. So how can one find the right posture for everything? And what does posture have to do with balance?

Try this: Stand as straight as possible and don’t move. If you wait a few minutes, you may notice that you are swaying, you might even end up doing a figure eight from your ankles up. If you tried to stay still long enough, you’d lose your balance. Fighting to stand up straight doesn’t help your posture or your balance.

Imagine having the ability to CHOOSE the posture that’s needed in any situation. To be able to crouch down to play with your grandson. To be able to bend over your guitar and still dance on stage. To follow through on your tennis swing without falling on the court.

If you have hunched shoulders, or a heavy head, you can’t be at the top of your game, and your balance will be off. Yet you can’t force yourself to have good posture. After all, if that worked, you wouldn’t be here now.

Feldenkrais® lessons can help you re-train yourself effortlessly and elegantly. Without stress or strain, you can discover  your true, balanced posture for  any situation. It’s such an exciting possibility that Moshe Feldenkrais coined a new word for it. He called it acture: the ability to move in any direction without strain.

Wouldn’t you enjoy some of that?

Articles

Exploring Better Balance through the Feldenkrais Method – Lavinia Plonka

Testimonial

The most important change that I’ve noticed in myself is a remarkable transformation of my skeletal posture and movement. This is reflected in a more comfortable walking as well as in my thoughts: they flow more easily, and I am less judgmental of the things that come to my mind, no longer thinking in terms of what I “like” and what I “dislike.” I feel like honey. I feel that I have much more happiness in my life and this definitely has an impact on the people around me. I feel a lot of internal peace. I am now able to say NO without feeling guilty. I am choosing what my organism requires from me (rest, quietness, no rush).

Rosmery Naranjo, physiotherapist, Medellín, Colombia.