The New Rules of Posture: How to Sit, Stand, and Move in the Modern World

Description

A manual for understanding the anatomical and emotional components of posture in order to heal chronic pain • Contains self-help exercises and ergonomics information to help correct unhealthy movement patterns • Teaches how to adopt suitable posture in the modern sedentary world Many people cause their own back and body pain through their everyday bad postural and movement habits. Many sense that their poor posture is probably the root of the problem, but they are unable to change long-standing habits. In The New Rules of Posture, Mary Bond approaches postural changes from the inside out. She explains that healthy posture comes from a new sense we can learn to feel, not by training our muscles into an ideal shape. Drawing from 35 years of helping people improve their bodies, she shows how habitual movement patterns and emotional factors lead to unhealthy posture. She contends that posture is the physical action we take to orient ourselves in relation to situations, emotions, and people; in order to improve our posture, we need to examine both our physical postural traits and the self-expression that underlies the way we sit, stand, and move. The way we walk, she says, is our body’s signature. Bond identifies the key anatomical features that impact alignment, particularly in light of our modern sedentary lives, and proposes six zones that help create postural changes: the pelvic floor, the breathing muscles, the abdomen, the hands, the feet, and the head. She offers self-help exercises that enable healthy function in each zone as well as information on basic ergonomics and case histories to inspire us to think about our own habitual movements. This book is a resource for Pilates, yoga, and dance instructors as well as healthcare professionals in educating people about postural self-care so they can relieve chronic pain and enjoy all life activities with greater ease. Cover Image Title Page Epigraph Table of Contents Explorations and Practices Foreword Preface Introduction YOUR POSTURE IS YOUR STORY ORIENTING AND STABILIZING SIX HEALTHY POSTURE ZONES HOW TO USE THIS BOOK LIVING IN YOUR BODY Part One: Awareness Chapter 1: Your Conscious Body NEUTRAL BREATHING MUSCULAR ARMOR AND THE FLUID BODY RECOGNIZING YOUR WALK YOU MEAN I HAVE TO LEARN TO WALK ALL OVER AGAIN? PRACTICAL BODY CONSCIOUSNESS Chapter 2: Your Body’s Internet HOLISM VERSUS MECHANISM THE ORGAN OF POSTURE CONNECTIVE TISSUE COMMUNICATION ARTICULATE LIVING UNDERSTANDING YOUR SACROILIAC JOINTS SLOW-MOTION EXERCISE PEDESTRIAN BALLET Part Two: Stability Chapter 3: The Root of Posture UNDERSTANDING YOUR PELVIS YOUR PELVIC DIAMOND SHOULDN’T MY SPINE BE STRAIGHT? HEALTHY SITTING YOUR DIAMOND IN DAILY LIFE CHAIRS AND COMPROMISES BODY FASHION Chapter 4: Healthy Breathing STOPPING THE WORLD THE MECHANICS OF BREATHING THE CHEMISTRY OF BREATHING RESTORING HEALTHY BREATHING THREE-DIMENSIONAL BREATH THE VACATION WITHIN YOUR BREATH BREATHING AND STABILITY Chapter 5: Core Connections WHAT IS THE CORE? THE CORE AND LOWER BACK PAIN WHEN TO ACTIVATE YOUR TA COORDINATING INNER AND OUTER CORSETS CORE STABILITY, BREATHING, AND YOUR PELVIC FLOOR SENSING YOURSELF IN RELATION TO OTHERS Part Three: Orientation Chapter 6: Your Heart’s Messengers SUPPORT FOR THE HEART THE POWER OF THE SMALL FINGERS ARM SWING REPETITIVE MOTION INJURIES A BABY’S GRASP Chapter 7: Footprints THE FEET: OUR HUMBLE FOUNDATION FOOT FUNCTIONS ANATOMY: STANCE FOOT AND WALKING FOOT FOOT PRACTICE BUNIONS SHOES AND INSOLES ALIGNING LEGS AND FEET SENTIENT FEET PUSHING AND REACHING GROUNDING Chapter 8: Facing the World A NATURAL PHENOMENON BALANCE FACIAL TENSIONS YOUR MOBILE SKULL THE EYES AND VISION A SENSE OF SPACE Part Four: Motion Chapter 9: Healthy Walking POSTURE IN MOTION SPATIAL ORIENTATION PUSHING AND REACHING HOW DO HUMANS WALK? THE INCREMENTS OF WALKING FEATURES OF HEALTHY WALKING Chapter 10: Articulate Living ARTICULATION MOVEMENT AND FEELING ORIENTING YOURSELF BY THE NEW RULES HEALTHY POSTURE PRACTICES WALKING THE ZONES FITNESS CLASSES AND TEACHERS YOUR WALK IS YOUR STORY HEALING YOUR POSTURE Afterword Appendix OTHER RESOURCES FOR HEALTHY POSTURE Footnotes Bibliography About the Author About Inner Traditions • Bear & Company Books of Related Interest Copyright & Permissions