POSTURE ALIGNMENT
OVERVIEW
These days in our busy lifestyles, many of us spend our time hunched over a table in a desk job or shuttling between places with no time to take a pause and look at our postures. Our posture is our body's foundation and it is imperative that we take care of and correct our posture.
Over the course of our lifetime, our posture gradually changes and this can be attributed to the below factors:
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the many hours of sitting at school
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lack of exercise in later years
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our fear reflex that is constantly being stimulated
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the speed with which we often have to accomplish our tasks
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the goal-oriented attitude that we are taught as children
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a distinct lack of interest in the present
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the development of habits, both physical and mental
While many of our bodies' postures may be incorrect, they can be corrected with suitable guidance around body alignment. Through consistent and conscious correction, one can rid themselves of their discomforts and the benefits are numerous:
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Move through life with greater ease
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Become more aware of yourself, physically, mentally and emotionally
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Prevent unnecessary wear and tear on your body
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Detect excessive muscular tension in yourself and teach how to let go of this unwanted tension
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Recognise your patterns of behaviour and change them
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Become more conscious of your habitual ways of performing actions
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Rediscover the grace of movement you once had as a child
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Be truly free
Posture correction is a process of unlearning and relearning. Once we stop doing what is causing the problem, the 'right thing' will automatically take its place. Observing oneself is the first major step to becoming aware of how much we misuse our bodies in even the simplest of activities. Participants will be made to observe if they are standing up straight, leaning forward or leaning backward. If they are leaning forward or backward, they are made to observe if the lean starts from the ankles, hips, upper back or shoulders.
The mechanics of movement are split into actions. In each action, participants are made to explore themselves, apply the basic movement and discuss the applications to daily life.
"If you teach an individual to be aware of his physical organism and then to use it as it was meant to be used, you can often change his entire attitude to life and cure his neurotic tendencies."