Is Being Upright A Good Thing or Not?

In most human cultures, we have a bias to being upright.

In school, we are told to sit up straight. If we meditate, we are encouraged to be upright. People spend many hours trying to sit up straight – mostly failing at it.

It’s carried over to the Alexander culture – with ‘use police’ on the lookout for slumpers!

But have you ever asked the question – do you even want to be upright?

And – why is that considered such an ideal? (Especially when it seems so hard to achieve!)

For some people, slumping is pleasant. It is associated with relaxing, taking time off and daydreaming – is that so wrong?

Of course not!

Looking at other mammals, we can see they have no ideas against letting their spines curve and roll into a bundle. Cats are famous for the curling – no-one told them they couldn't. If we tried to gift them an Alexander training, they would probably refuse.

Posture involving rights and wrongs is so 1950. Postural movement is really about your response to a situation, and what you want. Until you answer these three questions – you cannot judge whether your Postural movement is appropriate or not:

What is the purpose of your activity?
What is necessary for you to do that?
What is unnecessary for you to do that?

"Should I sit like this?" is a question student often ask.

"I don't know," I answer, "what do you want?"

Posture is movement, and movement is led by desire. Think about exercises or Asanas – people wonder the right way to do them, without really knowing what the purpose of it is.

Efficiency is my preferred guiding idea when analyzing Postural movements - is one way is more efficient than another? The concept of perfect Posture is a fantasy, a fairy tale told by people who don't know any better. 

When a teacher starts telling you "You should do this with your body" without putting it in any context, be very suspicious. Start screaming and run out of the room. (Just kidding).

Remember – perfect Posture does not exist. It's fine to curve your spine as you settle into the chair with a cool drink to watch your favourite show.

Avoid talking in rights and wrongs –train Self you to analyze and figure out what is best in the specific situation. If you're having trouble with that, then join my BodyThinking Online course, and get a coaching session with me thrown in.

This is Postural analysis for thoughtful people.

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