You Don’t Have To Think About Posture

I’m watching these posture videos on Youtube and almost all of them tell people to think about their posture.

While the Alexander Technique produces improved posture, it doesn’t talk about posture directly. It doesn’t want people thinking about their posture. It wants people to think about their use aka how they do things.

So while the posture videos by chiropractors talk about keeping the ears above the shoulders and the shoulders above the hips and the hips above the ankles, the Alexander Technique issues no such instructions.

Instead it tells you to think about releasing unnecessary tension and compression in your neck and back particularly and the result of this letting go of unnecessary tightness results automatically in improved posture.

In this Google video, San Francisco Alexander teacher John Baron says: “In this way, you don’t have to think about posture. Posture happens. Posture is an effect of the connection, this connection between the head, neck and back, which [F.M.] Alexander called ‘primary control’.

“When we’re aware of that connection, then nature does its job. We don’t have to think about doing posture right. Posture means to fix. We want fluidity.”

About Luke Ford

I've written five books (see Amazon.com). My work has been covered in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and on 60 Minutes. I teach Alexander Technique in Beverly Hills (Alexander90210.com).
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