The small child in this photo is alert and poised, with her back freely lengthening, quite naturally. Her head is balanced on her neck in such a way that all her muscles are able to work freely and in co-ordination, so that the heavy weight of her head is transferred evenly right through her body, onto her sitting bones.

If the child is able to maintain this free and easy poise as she grows up, she will be fortunate. Most of us started out life with a similar, natural but unconscious, postural alignment but most of us lose it over time. Many people start Alexander lessons in order to improve their posture and reduce back pain.

In Alexander Technique lessons we can begin to reclaim this birthright, by learning to maintain our poise and increase our freedom of movement, through making conscious choices about the way we use ourselves during all our activities. Sometimes, we even feel younger again.

An elderly pupil recently told me “I wish someone had told me about my sitting bones as a child, rather than hitting me and telling me to ‘sit up straight’! I could never find a way to sit up then but since I’ve been coming to Alexander lessons and I’ve discovered my sitting bones, it’s all so much easier and more comfortable”.

Just telling children to ‘sit up straight’ usually doesn’t work (even without the fear and tension that must have been created by such aggression). There are gentler and more effective ways of encouraging good posture and body use!

Poise and Posture

When we are children, most people have a beautiful easy poise, as is illustrated in this photo of a little girl sitting on a giant snow seat on Newington Green. Despite the obvious cold, the child is sitting easily and in a relaxed manner, whilst many adults would be bent over and tensed up against the cold!

There are many influences in our lives that get us interfering with our natural poise. Our attitudes and emotional experiences are reflected in the way we use our bodies and our minds gradually tend to become rather set so that our view of the world – and our physical responses to it – become rather fixed and habitual. Stress, peer group pressures, accidents and illnesses all play their part in moulding our habitual body use and many of us end up crumpling our bodies down into ourselves – whilst others over-extend and arch their backs in an attempt to ‘stand up straight’ – both of which pull us off our balance and poise.

Fortunately, F M Alexander realised that we are able to reduce some of these effects if we are willing to let go of habits of thought and behaviour that interfere with our natural use. During Alexander Technique lessons, we can learn how to do this and in so doing, regain much of the fluid, free and poised way of being and moving that we had as children and feeling more comfortable in ourselves.

Monthly Archives: February 2012

The poise of a 3 year old

Poise – Why do we lose it?

Poise and Posture