MOVING VIOLATIONS

by Joan Arnold

(Self Magazine, 1993)

Your body is designed to be a resilient, movable suspension
system, and if bones are out of alignment, muscles
have to work harder to maintain balance. But proper alignment
involves more than just standing or sitting up straight. Many of us clench our buttocks, lock our knees, arch our backs and throw back our shoulders to maintain
good posture. Doesn't work. What does work is what some
aligrunent specialists call "allowing," which simply
means teach’ng your body to let gravitY do its work, without
interference from your tense muscles- allowing the
shoulders to stay down, relaxed and wide; allowing the pelvic muscles to hold belly and back firm without a gluteal death clamp; allowing the legs to support without locked knees.

One of the best methods for helping people relearn how to move is the Alexander Technique (AT). Developed by
Frederick Matthias Alexander in the late 1800s, AT works from,
the top down, teaching that releasing the tension
first in the neck and shoulders allows the rest of the body to
follow. The following moves use some basic ATprinciples. Read our instructions, use the "rigth" and "wrong" photos as cues and
try to internalize these principies.

Joan Arnold

copyright: Joan Arnold