“Let’s start with some Alexander Technique directions. We’ll start with ‘free your neck’. See if you can let go of some excess, unnecessary tension in your neck. Easeful upright sitting posture starts with releasing these shortened neck muscles so that they can lengthen, letting your head move up. Let your head rotate slightly forward (lower your nose) and let the crown of your head move up. Correct sitting posture, then, directs us to relax the neck, let the head go up. As you let your head rise, taking the spine and torso with it, you’ll need some oppositions so that you are not sitting up rigidly straight, which you will not be able to maintain. The opposition comes from letting the sit bones, those ‘U’ shaped bones on the bottom of your pelvis, go down into the chair. Really feel your sit bones release down into the chair, as your neck, head, and torso move up. With true correct sitting posture you are actually going up and down at the same time, lengthening your spine. Let yourself breathe fully, and make sure you’re not straining. Correct sitting posture will eventually feel comfortable once your postural muscles get used to it, and you stop over-doing the straightness . Correct sitting posture is not slouching, nor is it military posture.” Mark Josefsberg

 

I could not find the source of this image beyond endless copies on Pinterest. Help?

Today, take time to read these instructions for sitting in the effortless way the Alexander Technique teaches us to sit. Go on, it’s Sunday! You could spend a whole morning practicing…We highly recommend seeing a teacher to learn the technique, but we feel you can get an idea of how the Technique works using the mind to send directions to the body to connect with the earth for support. The oppositional nature of the directions is crucial in the practice. Enjoy your experiment and here are the details of the professional body of teachers if you decide to pursue this further.

 

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This Daily Stillness has been recycled from previously published ones:

#tds1160 Let the neck be free… (Sep 2, 2018)

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