POSTURE AND FELDENKRAIS METHOD BRISTOL

Muscles are not meant to support weight directly, but to align the skeleton to support the body in gravity and to generate the forces necessary for movement and interaction with the surrounding environment. A good natural balance produces a skeletal alignment (posture) that may seem similar to that prescribed by proper posture as described above, but that is maintained in a very different way. Proper posture is produced by continuous effort, natural balance can be relaxed and effortless.

Three interlocking factors contribute to postural problems -- poor balance, unnecessary effort, and lack of self-awareness. This lack of self-awareness is widespread in contemporary society. Few people are aware of how poor their balance is or how much unnecessary tension they carry. Habitual tensions in the ribcage and neck pull the head and torso forward, worsening balance. Poor balance adds tension, as muscles contract to support off-center weight. Excessive tension serves to reduce awareness, closing the cycle of mutually reinforcing feedback among the three.

The key to improving posture lies not in effortful adherence to an external ideal of proper posture, but in increasing self-awareness, which leads to reduced tension and improved balance. The Feldenkrais Method® of somatic (body) education, developed by Israeli scientist Moshe Feldenkrais, DSc, provides excellent tools with which to accomplish this.

The Feldenkrais Method uses gentle touch, movement, and directed attention to increase self-awareness and help you return to to the easy, fluid movement and balance that are your natural birthright. The Method is taught in two forms. In group Awareness Through Movement® lessons you are verbally guided through gentle movement sequences which help you learn to move easily and efficiently. Individual Functional Integration® lessons add the element of touch as a teaching tool, and are more responsive to your individual situation and limitations.

As you learn to move with greater awareness and fluidity, your body will naturally align and balance itself in gravity. Good posture emerges as a byproduct of fluid aware movement, rather than something to be achieved through effortful striving.