Hint: It’s Not Standing Straight

“Sit/Stand Straight!”

Every Parent To Their Child

At some point we have all been on the receiving end of an admonishment to stand or to sit “straight”.

This well-meaning advice is not helpful as there are no straight lines in nature and the spine itself is curved.

It is mostly received as an invitation to stiffen the spine, arch the lower back and pull back the shoulders while thrusting the chest forward in a military pose.

It is only a matter of time, however, before a shift of attention, fatigue, or simply the force of habit pulls us back into our usual way of holding ourselves. We are back where we started, feeling even worse about our inability to maintain “good” posture.

For we all understand that good posture is important.

That the proper alignment of the skeleton associated with good posture leads to many physical benefits such as better movement, improved breathing, less fatigue and fewer injuries, just to name a few.

We intuitively understand that the importance of posture goes beyond the physical aspect.

The way we carry our bodies also conveys a lot about us and how we feel about ourselves. Good posture portrays self-confidence, self-respect and leadership. It even makes one more attractive.

Language conveys this collective understanding.  A person who “holds her head up high” in defeat maintains her dignity and is worthy of our respect, even admiration.

“Hold your head high” is a slightly more useful instruction than to stand “straight.”

It implies lengthening one’s spine against gravity. To stand or to sit “tall”.

But even here, it is implicit that more conscious effort is required to stand “straight” or to stand “tall” in order to achieve good posture.

A person who stands tall by holding herself rigidly erect does not have good posture either.

For she may have assumed a good “position” by stiffening her spine in an imitation of good posture, but her actions and movements are stiff, as if “she had swallowed a yardstick.” She often struggles to be spontaneous in her actions or in her behavior.

When we fail to maintain good posture, we blame ourselves since we feel we are not making that effort. If only we could do our best and keep up that work to keep ourselves “straight” or “tall”, we would have such good posture!

What if I were to tell you that good posture is achieved by doing less, not more.

And that you are already doing the best you can!

That the reason the command to “stand straight” or “stand tall” does not work is because poor posture is a habit, not directly under our conscious control.

That improved posture cannot be achieved simply by making a few adjustments to how we stand or sit.

Good posture, in fact, begins from the inside out and involves our whole self. A change in the nervous system is required before a change in posture becomes established.

To understand good posture, let us first look at instances of poor use of oneself, at what constitutes poor posture.

Dr. Feldenkrais writes in “The Potent Self” (pg 54), “The most common bad use occurs when we are in rage, in terror or in extreme emotional stress. Violent emotions produce a wide-spreading excitation of the muscular system and make fine control impossible. The aim is then achieved by sheer expenditure of energy, and no precise delicate action is possible.

In such states of intense emotional excitement, we are unable to see alternative ways of performance; we act under inner compulsion.

Bodily, this expresses itself through a generalized muscular contraction within which the violent action that we may perform is only a small part of the total effort. The purely mechanical efficiency is also very low.”

As the opposite of the above, good posture allows for refined movements done with ease and precision.

To act with maximum freedom and maximum efficiency.

To move with poise and spontaneity.

Dr. Feldenkrais continues in “The Potent Self” (pg 54), “The common association of good posture with poise – that is, mental or emotional tranquility – is in fact an excellent criterion of good posture. Neither excessive muscular tension nor emotional intensity is compatible with good posture.”

Morihei Ueshiba or O Sensei, the founder of the marital art Aikido agrees when he says, “A good stance and posture reflect a proper state of mind.”

The conventional definition of good posture only applies to a person at rest, i.e. either in sitting or in standing. This is a very restricted way of thinking about posture, as a static position instead of a dynamic process.

Good posture is not about what position we are in but about how we get into, maintain and move out of that position as we go about life in the presence of gravity.

In other words, posture is how we make use of ourselves to move in order to do what we want.

It follows naturally from the above that proper posture depends on the activity one is involved in. Good posture for walking may not be the appropriate posture for practicing Judo or playing tennis.

For a tennis player, the proper posture is to “split-step” just as their opponent is about to hit the ball.

The tennis split-step is a small hop you make just before your opponent’s racquet makes contact with the ball. The player lands on the balls of the feet, his feet spread wide apart and knees bent, in order to be able to push off quickly in either direction. The idea is to be able to move quickly the moment you can make out the path of your opponent’s shot.

The timing of the split-step sets the elite players apart from the amateurs and often makes the difference in whether the player gets to the ball in time or not.

Elite tennis players time their split-step to the split second. They also begin to move in the right direction even while they are in the air as they come down.

If the player split-steps late, or does not pause to take one (as many club-level players are wont to do), they are either late to react to their opponent’s ball, or are moving in wrong direction and may have to reverse direction, which causes them to lose precious time.

The tennis court is 1.5 seconds long, when measured in terms of the time it takes for the ball to cross the distance from your opponent to you. Hence every fraction of a second counts.

Similarly, when martial artists take up a fighting stance, they are balanced on both feet placed wide apart on the floor, softly bouncing on the balls of their feet. This fighting posture allows them to move powerfully and quickly in any direction, either to initiate an attack or to respond to their opponent’s move with minimum effort or preparation.

In the previous article, “Chapter 7 – The Elephant in the Room & the Lost Sense,” we covered how the erect human frame is inherently unstable with the head raised high over a small base.

Combined with the various possibilities for movement offered by the human skeleton, this instability allows us to initiate movement in any direction with minimum effort or preparation.

The human nervous and skeletal systems evolved in lockstep to allow us to stay balanced in gravity on two feet instead of four.  

Dr. Feldenkrais writes in “Awareness Through Movement” Pg 68: “The nervous system and the frame develop together under the influence of gravity in such a way that the skeleton will hold up the body without expending energy despite the pull of gravity.

If, on the other hand, the muscles have to carry out the job of the skeleton, not only do they use energy needlessly, but they are then prevented from carrying out their main function of changing the position of the body, that is, of movement.”

Bones can resist compressive loads and hence gravity, without any effort. Muscles need to work to achieve the same effect.

It is for this reason that proper skeletal alignment is desirable. When properly aligned, the skeleton does the majority of work against gravity and the postural “antigravity” muscles in our body do the rest.

Every skeletal muscle has two kinds of muscle fibers: Red (also called “slow- twitch”) fibers and pale white (or “fast-twitch”) fibers.

The red, slow-twitch fibers contract slowly and tire even more gradually while the pale, fast-twitch fibers contract over short periods of time and fatigue rapidly.

Antigravity muscles have a high proportion of slow- twitch muscle fibers and are often called tonic muscles.

The nervous system automatically maintains the “tonus” or contractions in the antigravity muscles in order to exactly counteract the pull of gravity. It can maintain these contractions for sustained periods of time without tiring.

We do not have any awareness of these slow, sustained contractions, nor do we sense the effort in these muscles.

Dr. Feldenkrais writes in “Awareness Through Movement” (Pg 70) – “We are thus not aware of any effort or activity in the muscles that work against gravity. We become aware of the antigravity muscles only when we either interrupt or reinforce them, that is, when the voluntary change is made in clear awareness.

The permanent contraction that is normally present before any voluntary act is done is not registered by our senses.

The electrical impulses, which derive from different sources from within the nervous system are involved. One group of these produces deliberate action; the other causes contraction in the antigravity muscles until the work done by them exactly balances the pull of gravity.”

As we saw in “Chapter 4 – is what you feel important”, our subjective sense of effort has little to do with objective reality.  An entire arm is a 50 to 100 times heavier than a finger, but it only feels like we are making 2 to 3 times more effort in moving an arm as compared to moving a finger.

Therefore the statement from Dr. Feldenkrais, that in a well–organized person, any basic movement done with good posture should feel effortless, the same as moving a finger.

Skeletal muscles with a high percentage of fast-twitch muscles are called phasic muscles.

They can be thought of as muscles that produce movement on demand. Voluntary movement is produced through nerve impulses from the higher centers of the brain to these phasic muscles.

These higher centers of the brain are under voluntary control.  They have an over-riding control over the lower centers which regulate tonic contractions and can temporarily inhibit the contractions of the tonic muscles.  

For example, consider the lower part of the jaw. We keep our mouths closed when we are not eating or speaking.

What prevents the lower jaw from hanging down freely and the mouth from being open wide?

The jaw is in a constant state of being lifted through the contractions of tonic muscles around the jaw, yet we do not feel the effort involved.

In fact, in order to open the jaw and let it drop freely under its own weight, we have to actually learn to inhibit these muscles.

This is also true of other antigravity muscles.

For example, we do not feel the effort in keeping our eyelids open all day while we are awake. It is only when we are feeling sleepy that our eyelids begin to feel heavy.

Similarly, continuous tonic contractions of the calf muscles keep us from toppling forward as we stand just as the muscles in the back of the neck prevent the head from falling forward.

According to Dr. Feldenkrais, (“Awareness Through Movement” Pg 70) “The upright position and all that it involves is organized by a special section of the nervous system, which performs a great deal of complicated work of which no more than a hint penetrates our conscious mind.

This section is one of the oldest in the evolution of the human species; it is certainly older than the voluntary system, and it is also physically placed below it.”

We only have to slip, or lose our balance, to see this part of the brain in action. Before we even realize what is happening, this system takes instantaneous action to help us regain our balance.

Here we have come to an important conclusion.

That the complicated act of being erect in gravity is managed by the nervous system in a way that requires no conscious or voluntary effort from us!

Counter intuitively, it is our default/natural state, one that is achieved by doing less!

Here we make the same argument as in “Chapter 5 – Why doing less is more.” That good posture is achieved by doing only what is essential, and by eliminating the non- essential.  

That is by using the skeleton to do the majority of the work against gravity and only the bare minimum through the automatic contractions of the tonic muscles to keep the bones aligned and balanced.  In the ideal state, there is no voluntary, conscious effort involved in good posture.

In fact, in this chapter and the next, we will make the argument that making an effort actually makes it harder for us to have good posture.

That seems hard to believe for any of us who has struggled endlessly to maintain good posture.

Let us, for now, look at a few examples to explore the concept of doing less in the context of posture.

In bending forward with good posture, the knees are bent slightly while hips are thrust backwards (as if preparing to sit back down on a chair) to counteract the forward motion of the head at each point of the movement (Fig 1c)

The body pivots around the hip joints and the weight of the pelvis balances out the weight of the head maintaining the Center of Gravity (COG marked with an X) over the feet.

Done correctly, this requires little energy or muscular effort. Further, the integrity of the spine is maintained by keeping it in the “neutral” or same position as during standing (as shown in Fig 1a).

On the other hand, many people keep their knees and hips stiff and bend forward at the waist, rounding the back and compromising the integrity of the spine (Fig 1b). As the head moves forward, it moves the Center of Gravity (COG) in front of the base of the support.

The weight of the head must now be counterbalanced through muscular effort from the muscles around the spine and the back of the legs to prevent us from falling forward. 

This is leads to extra work, stiff movement and poor balance during the movement. The rounded spine loses it suppleness and there are resulting shear stresses on several vertebrae in the middle and lower spine which can lead to injury over a period of time.

A well-organized person utilizes the skeleton in such a way that it stays in balance with minimum of muscular effort throughout the course of a movement. Only the essential, deep postural muscles are involved in the effort to stay balanced.

In poor posture, muscles must do a larger proportion of the work. Muscles not usually involved in postural corrections are also recruited in the effort and hence cannot fully participate in a voluntary movement. As a result movements become stiff and mechanical.

This is the reason a person who makes herself erect through muscular effort and stiffening the spine does not have good posture.

Let’s also look at the example of breathing.

With poor posture, the alignment of the skeleton and the rib cage become distorted, restricting the downward movement of the diaphragm. In addition, certain respiratory muscles are recruited in order to maintain this posture.

They end up being used to brace the “rib-cage”, reducing their participation in the actual act of breathing. As a result, both breathing and movement become more labored and contrived instead of being effortless and spontaneous .

The same system that controls posture also controls balance with the help from the visual, vestibular and proprioceptive systems which provide information about the orientation and movement of the body in space.

We rely on these internal senses to keep us balanced.

Whenever deviation from a balanced position is sensed, the involuntary system automatically makes the required adjustments to stay upright.

If anything lessens the sensitivity of the system to detect these deviances in balance, the adjustments to the posture will be made only when the deviation is already very large.

This will require urgent, more powerful muscular contractions, including from non-antigravity muscles which usually do not play a part in maintaining posture, to bring the body back into balance.

As we saw in “Chapter 5 – Why Less Is More,” an increase in muscular effort increases the noise in the system, which reduces the ability of the nervous system to sense and coordinate movement.

This in turn further compromises the delicate system underlying posture and balance, forming a vicious cycle.

The information from the vestibular and proprioceptive systems becomes noisy and unreliable due to increased muscular contractions in the body. As a result, there is increased dependence on the visual system for maintaining balance.

What should come automatically, effortlessly and spontaneously, now must be achieved through paying attention and making conscious effort.  

Our ability to pay attention and to make conscious effort is limited and the consequences of this shift on our quality of life are tremendous.

We begin to live each moment with less spontaneity. Life itself can seem a constant struggle and even simple tasks begin to seem hard.

On the other hand, when our skeleton does the bulk of the work against gravity, the antigravity muscles do no more than what is essential and they can be reliably operated by the automatic mechanisms which keep us upright.

As a result, we can move with more freedom and grace even as we take on difficult tasks that require refined motor or behavioral control.

In summary, with good posture:

• The muscular work needed to be balanced in gravity is minimized, leaving the muscles free to initiate or control movement.

• The skeleton does the majority of the work against gravity and the postural muscles do the rest: only what is essential to keep us delicately balanced in an unstable equilibrium.

• The nervous system orients the skeleton in such a way that the Center of Gravity (COG) remains within the base of support at all times and in all orientations so that overall balance is improved.  This is done automatically by the nervous system and no conscious effort is required under ordinary circumstances.

• Movement can be initiated in any direction from this position of unstable equilibrium with the minimum effort and preparation.

• There are many options for movement and behavior open to us. We can move in any direction quickly and smoothly. Or make fine, delicate movements with maximum spontaneity and poise. In effect, we can act out of choice instead of compulsion.

• Our internal sensation is of lightness and freedom.

On the other hand, with poor posture:

• We do not take full advantage of the weight bearing capability of the skeleton.

• Muscles are recruited to do a larger share of the work against gravity and to keep us balanced.

• The level of effort sensed in being upright is more than in the case of good posture. Further, these muscles are less available to do the work of moving the body to do what we want.

• Increased muscular contractions increase the noise in the system which decreases the sensitivity of the internal senses which help the nervous system control balance and movement.

• Our sense of balance is compromised and our movements become stiff, mechanical and non-spontaneous.

• We are unable to move as quickly and smoothly, make fine adjustments, or handle movements or even situations that require quick changes in direction.

• We feel heavy and weighed down by life.

In this chapter we looked at what is, and is not, good posture.

In the next chapter we will look at the reasons why this finely tuned instrument goes out of balance, resulting in poor posture and what can be done about it.

I hope you will join me.