Here FM is teaching a young student this skill… to bend forward primarily using the hip and knee joints while allowing the head, neck, and back to remain lightly poised, long, and released. She probably had the ability as a young child. 

I believe that learning to move into this sturdy yet light position of mechanical advantage is made possible in the image exercise that I am presenting here… without the guidance of a teacher.   

To the uninitiated (and even those familiar with my imagery) this image will be very peculiar. However, since I believe that with practice this image provides the “guidance” needed to execute a healthy unobstructed “monkey” (with practice) I will proceed. The first two illustrations are merely to explain the origin of the third illustation, which contains the actual image sequence.

Illustration 1 – One of my early depictions of the evolution of the “full” dorsal qualities on the body

 
Illustration 2 – Early article showing one useful/healthy imaginary conception of “neck free, head forward, and up.” 

Illustration 3 - The first figure on the left describes how many of us feel, I suspect… able to breathe but still feeling submerged in a worrisome environment. The second and third figures represent my impression of myself during and after my first Alexander Technique lesson. I felt like my head was coming to float above the “morass.” (As I described it then I think that I meant dirty water). Like a cork on the water. This suggested that I felt more like the first figure on the left before the lesson.  

The “director” segment is shown with a full dome-shaped dorsal surface and a flat, taut ventral surface. The front part of the arm and half of the shoulder is part of the director segment, as depicted in Figure 3 on human-like models. 

In the third figure, the front part of the arm and shoulder is shown bobbing up and floating with the head like a cork on water, bobbing about very very gently . Everything that is white is floating on the water surface. 

Imagine that you are in water and this is happening to you. 

If you experience success with this portion of the image (which is an increased sense of lightness and at least a fleeting sense of your director segment floating) then next imagine that your “motor” and “rudder” segments begin to float to the surface as well, one step at a time. If you are standing while doing this exercise, the imagining, with a little diligence, should induce going into a healthy squat or “monkey.” If you are sitting, it should promote your moving forward and coming out of the chair… but not to full standing but rather to the monkey position. If the parts 7, 6, 5, 4, and 3 are thought to be progressively losing some of their buoyancy, you should eventually end up standing. (If you are fully standing and imagine losing all buoyancy in 7, 6, 5, 4, and 3, the image should take you to a deep vertical squat (or to a chair if it is behind you).  

This image, like all imagery, must be experimented with diligently for a period to gain more permanent benefit and knowledge from it… as well as to see it as something other than silly. 

Best of luck… and email for any assistance or with any comments, 

John Appleton

Those of you familiar with my imagery will find some familiar ground in this imagery advice… yet this is new. The illustration directly below is one of my “bear rug” depictions (perhaps it looks more like a “reptile rug”). This is the depiction of our dorsal surface stretched out.  

The image to the left is a depiction of where we most benefit from sensing freedom through our bodies. It is an illustration of splits running through the body (but not to the edges). These splits show areas of freedom most important to graceful and fluid movement. Imagining freedom in the body in this way is counter-intuitive… and new. The locations suggested for promoting (imagining) maximal freedom in the body are unexpected… down through the spine, along limb bones, and other strange locales. But that, I suspect, is partly why these locations are valuable to see as free… even almost totally free or disconnected…as shown in the drawing. We allow ourselves to remain tied up in these areas (even when we physically stretch to limber up our head, limbs, or trunk). 

What is most interesting is the “fact” (test it and you will agree) that these same locations where I suggest that we benefit most from imagining splits, separation, or total freedom in the body are also where we most easily can carry weight (even our own) without doing damage to ourselves. It is also where we can benefit from imagining that our body weight, plus any additional weight, is carried from. 

You can see that at the bottom of this first illustration (above) are instructions for where, especially, not to allow a sense of being split, or being weighed down dorsally, to prevail. This is because these areas… at the mid and lower back, at the neck and lower part of the neck (often described as the upper back), and at the bridge of the nose… are structurally weaker spots for many people, places that often do not feel strong or sturdy. The image instructions below can help overcome those problems.  Before reading the imagery instructions, however, it can be useful to look at where the locations of splits or weights would appear on a human, which is evolutionarily more complex in shape than the simplified version first shown.

 
Illustration showing the dorsal and ventral side of the splits (the dotted lines)
(Splits on the ventral surface of the face are not shown).

Illustration showing weights attached to the dorsal side of the body. 

Perhaps imagining that weight is being placed upon you is easier than that splits are showing up between sections of your body. It is also the topic of this blog entry. So first, I will explain the image of weights being precisely placed on your body: 

This image is not for newcomers, though newcomers may begin to learn from reading this blog entry. The group of image exercises described here require the ability to experience a good level of success with the basic “lamb and egg” exercise found on the universal imagery page… and a large level of success with this sequence may also require having worked with the type-specific versions of the “lamb and egg.” An article I wrote, “Self, Other, Earth, & Cosmos - and the Dorsal/Ventral Relationship,” could also help in preparation for these images as well. It can be downloaded from the Article page. 

(Click on illustration for an enlarged, once or twice, separate page version)

Maturing gracefully is no easy feat. Right? Because of that fact, I think that this sequence of image exercises is an important tool. It provides experience in the healthy range of movement that should come with growing through the stages of maturity. To successfully go through the various images that are presented in this illustration (described below) will take work… but the rewards make it worth it. Not only will the body experience new freedom and organization, but it will go through unexpected emotional experiences. Both your range of movement and your emotional range is stretched by these images.

(Instructions on how to successfully imagine in general and how specifically to imagine the basic “lamb and egg” image are not provided here.
See http://posturereleaseimagery.org/archives/232 and  http://posturereleaseimagery.org/posture-exercises-universal-imagery , exercise two.) 

The original “lamb and egg” depiction, #2, is the familiar one that many will have seen and hopefully worked with. It is an image that brings about the lengthening and widening or general release of the entire dorsal surface and a total “embracing,” or gentle contraction, of the ventral surface. It is very effective for when imagining while sitting up in a chair. The size of the egg promotes the sense of the embracing of a child or loved one.

If tensions in any part of the dorsal surface are difficult to release with imagining #2, it can be helpful to work on imagining #1, either while sitting on the front edge of a chair or while on your elbows and knees on a mat, folded into a loose fetal position. While imagining the #1 image also in that horizontal position you can find yourself folding further into a fetal position without physical effort and with considerable release of the dorsal and condensing of the ventral surfaces. If working with #1 in a chair, you will end up folded over your knees with you legs drawing in. Be careful you don’t tip forward on the the floor!

Next, when both the #2 or #1 & #2 have become easier to accomplish (with benefits), you might try your mind on #3. Do not start imagining #3 “cold” but rather just after you have established success with #2. Start this image while seated on the front edge of a chair. Since the object that is being embraced in the image has grown considerably from #2 to #3, the challenge is to maintain the gentle contraction of the ventral and the nice expansion of the dorsal surface. In other words, beware as you imagine opening up that you dorsal surface does not “kink” in places (the result of “doing” the exercise rather than imagining. There should be a sense, perhaps strong sense, that the ventral surface is being stretched like rubber, maintaining its own ”desire” to collapse inward to where it was.

But you are not wishing to return to #2. Rather, you are attempting to open yourself up, to expose yourself to a bigger world, while maintaining the healthy dorsal-ventral relationship. As you progress through this image, you may have the urge to stand at some point. If not, allow yourself to tip forward a bit and you will eventually have that urge. Go ahead and stand. But do not straighten your legs or arms too much. If you are imagining well, you will have no desire to do so. With this image going well, you are in a position appropriate for practicing Tai Chi. However, do not move yourself into such a position. Allow the image to take you there… which it will when you have all body parts appropriately imagined. I know this is not easy! Rome and good use/posture were not built in a … you know. This image produces the mind/body capable of emotionally opening oneself up to a group and perhaps even a large group of people, with honesty and confidence.

The last image, #4, has with it a degree of openness that is sought and found by very few, I am sure. 

#1 is a self-nourishing image.

#2 is also self-nourishing but is one where our mind/body is prepared to care for and protect another as well, who may be a child, spouse, friend, or person in need.

#3 produces a mind/body state that includes caring for a group or protecting/defending oneself, another, and many others. This is a mind/body state that I suspect martial art disciplines seek to attain and work in. It is also the mind/body state appropriate for an honest and secure leader. 

But #4 is unique. In this mind/body state one is caring for a very big sphere, the world and beyond. Caring is there and the desire to protect is there, but the desire to protect or defend oneself as well is reduced. Feeling vulnerable is not a problem. It is an asset. The best of leaders should have some level of this sort of confidence and engagement.  

While developing a capacity to experience #4, awe is felt, as well as numerous other feelings that come while reaching this feeling. These might include sadness and regret, contrition, elation, peace, plus other feelings that come before releasing to a new level, like frustration and fatigue. And all the time there is the sense of being stretched, both physically and emotionally, to a new sense of self and other.

There is a danger in trying too hard to succeed with #3 or #4 especially. Trying too hard will cause you not to keep all of your dorsal surface released. Any sense of work and strain should be experienced along the dorsal-ventral seams and on the ventral side, never on the dorsal surface. Visit image #1 anytime to reestablish the basic dorsal-ventral relationship, which you want to extend as far as you can honestly through the succeeding stages of openness.

Let these images be an extended project. The tortoise wins this race, not the hare.

Good luck.

Interestingly, this bed-making metaphor can be expanded almost into a PRI imagery exercise… almost. If you are familiar with the location of your dorsal and ventral surfaces as I have defined them… you may be able to turn this metaphor into an image exercise.

Think of the top sheets and/or blankets as representing coverings (sensations) on your dorsal side. You can first stretch out the sheets and even the white blankets and then tuck them between the mattress and the board, box spring, or the floor below, if you wish. Think of whatever is below the mattress as your ventral surface. Therefore, where the sheet or whatever is tucked in is your dorsal-ventral seam.

With this information, you can start “making your bed,” all over your body. Perhaps you want to leave everything untucked but still nicely straightened. This can be nice if you want it looking/feeling orderly but not tightly military. But in this case, you have to be carefull to stretch out your dorsal surface/sheet or blanket gently. It is especially easy to create a diagonal ripple or two and stretches that destroy the job. Our own bodies have unnoticed diagonal pulls, so playing with your sheet or blanket of our dorsal surface (not just on your back) can be very educational. You may sense asymetrical pulls you were not aware of before.

It is maybe best on parts of your bed to not “make it” but to crumple it up a bit. A tightly made bed might look good, but it isn’t necessarily comfortable to “wear.” Some parts of your “bed” may be more comfortable rumpled and other parts stretched. You may find you want it made in a peculiarly personal way. Remember to make the head of the bed… and even with a blanket that you might want to tuck in in places! The ventral surface in this metaphor is best when it is fully supported by the ground, perpaps through its legs, if it has some. Every part of “your” bed’s ventral surface should feel as securely and certainly landbound as your real bed is. 

Finally, remember that since “your” bed is actually you, then whoever or whatever is making the bed is clearly NOT you. Let’s name the bed maker Grace.

Sweet dreams. 

Experiment.

The image exercise here may relate somewhat in effect to the last blog posting, Can NON-awareness and LACK OF control be good for you ? . But it is also different in what posture release it provides.

Study the three “bear rug” style depictions of the dorsal surface common to all tetrapods (that includes us).

All versions of the “bear rug” (dorsal) view show the creature split into the three functional segments, “director,” “motor,” and “rudder.” All segments on the figure on the left are proportional. In the middle figure, the motor segment is larger and the director and rudder segments are smaller. The figure to the right has features opposite of those found in the middle figure. Now, your task is to mentally see if you can come to feel (kinesthetically about your body surface) like the middle figure. 

The split between the director and motor segments run precisely through the middle fingers, the shoulders, and the very base of the neck (C7). The split between the motor and rudder segments runs precisely through the third or middle toes, through the knee, around to the hip/leg socket, and back through the very base of the lower back at the start of the “tail.”

By imagining the qualities of the middle creature, I suggest that you will feel something akin to “collected.” Maybe you will feel like you are being a bit “proper” but also more balanced and sturdy. If you imagine the qualities of the figure on the right, I suggest that you will feel a bit strung out… not good. I don’t recommend this image except as a way to compare it with your experience from imagining the middle one. But if there is anyone out there who enjoys and finds the ”strung out” qualities of the creature on the right, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. It would mean I am wrong about the meaning of this image… and I don’t want attest to something that doesn’t hold true.

One interesting feature of the exercise is the sensations from experiencing the sensation of half of your hands and arms smaller or bigger than the other half and half of your legs and feet smaller or bigger than the other half. It will move you.

Later,

John

I think that the image exercise I am introducing here is “universal,” meaning that it potentially has positive effects for all types (postural) of people… and no ill effects. (Let me know if I am wrong and it makes you feel worse or less released!) 

The odd part of the exercise below is that it is based on an image designed to make us seemingly UNaware of two large portions of our body and OUT OF control of those areas. From this image, I contend, we develop greater awareness of our over-absorption and over-control of self. See what you think. It may not be an easy one to succeed with, even partially. You will need to be familiar and successful with some of the other imagery on this website in order to successfully tackle this one, I suspect. And you will have to be familiar with what I mean by the “director,” “motor,” and “rudder” segments… and also their specific locations.

This image involves imagining significant parts of your body as vanishing, disappearing, gone. There are other exercises on this website that involve missing portions of the body, but they are “type-specific,” working best when you know what type you are (and are imagining its “opposite”). But this one seems “universal.”

Study the drawings below and I will give some instructions for doing the exercise. Finally, I’ll give some more thoughts on why I think that it is valuable and effective.

The upper illustration, with a horizontal archetypal creature to the left and and “evolved” upright creature (more human-like), shows the three functional segments of the body, the “director” (to the right of the horizontal creature and the top of the “evolved”) the “motor,” and the “rudder.” The lower illustration shows only the “motor” segement remaining… the “director” and “rudder” are gone.

This is all there is to the image… imagining those parts of you as gone. Any momentary or partial experience you can create of this image should “lighten your load,” taking weight off your shoulders, make your back feel both freer and sturdier, and/or eliminate some “drag” or tension you may be experiencing in your “rudder”. The exercise is a good way of being “less of ourselves,” which can be a good thing. The exercise also allows us to give up control, leaving it up to our innate natural abilities to control the body. The missing parts are the “director” and the “rudder,” which are the parts that control or direct us.

Successful imagining will bring about some shifting of the body as you become less aware of these parts of the body. The head has to be more balanced for its weight to be less noticed. Tensions in the face and neck will disappear as the thought of their presence fades. The tail section or “rudder” segment also is influencing us already, without us noticing. As soon as you can imagine it disappearing, even for a moment, you will be made aware of unnecesary tension you had in the area.

So, this image exercise is peculiar. Elsewhere on this website I recommend imagining that you have a healthy sized tail (which is part of the “rudder” segment). Here I am recommending the opposite. It could make all this imagery seem phoney. But it isn’t. If you feel doubt about the “goodness” of the image, try to imagine its opposite, which is that your “motor” segment is the part of you that is missing. Don’t do it for long though. It feels yucky and isn’t good for you, in my estimation. Go back to the “good” version and stick with it and learn it… and the clarity and reason behind its effectiveness will become clear or clearer.

You may need a review of the body’s functional segments’ locations… so here it is:

The drawings of the human figure above shows the “director”, “motor”, and “rudder” segments split apart. The locations where the “director” splits off from the “motor” segment I think are fairly clear (though need imagery practice to properly locate and sense on your own body). The location where the “rudder” segment splits from the “motor” is a little more complex. Study the leg turned out on the first figure to the left as well as the partial figure that has a red ring around it. You should be able to see that the split between between “rudder” and “motor” on humans is straight up the front of the legs (through the middle toe of the foot) and around the hips to the very lowest part of the lower back.

You may have to return to this image exercise a few times. Good luck. With it, you will lose some “control” and “awareness”… and in the process gain something new, an experience of more of the body’s postential for natural grace. 

P.S. This image does NOT involve any consideration of the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the body, like most other images here do. 

The microcosmic orbit and the dorsal and ventral surfaces?

Hi John

I love your site and found inspiration in it and help in my meditation.

Have you ever seen a picture of the Taoist Microcosmic Orbit, or more specifically the extended (including the legs) Macrocosmic Orbit? Its interesting that the flow of energy corresponds perfectly with your picture of the dorsal and ventral surfaces, yin energy is black and yang is white.

To me, core stability is a quality that the core attains and maintains NOT by being directly strengthened by any particular exercises but rather as a result of MOVING already existing tension within the body to new places and RELEASING it from its current location. No direct strengthening is required to develop what I would call “core stability.” Direct strengthening can cause freezing or fixing of breathing, of the shoulders, of anywhere in the core, which no self-respecting organism, which we should be, would want.

People who have been on this site, even for a short time, should know my simplest image, Calm Up and Tense Down. That image already states that you are not actually “getting rid” of any tension nor are you purchasing any calm from anywhere else. You are using your current unnecessary and inappropriate tension, moving it, and turning it into “intention.” Simultaneously, you are taking that which is at ease in your body, maybe even flaccid, moving it, and turning it into “calm.” Try the simple image exercise for a moment and you should sense what I mean by tension becoming intention as it moves downward. This intention is not specific, like “I am going to buy an apple at the store” but it is a “readiness” of sorts. If you have “calmed up” as well as “tensed down,” you are experiencing increased “core stability,” calmness and readiness. (And, more than before, you are grounded and up at the same time.)

Here are some other simple-to-explain images that will also increase core stability without involving any direct strengthening. Act out as well as imagine the instructions within each sentence separately. Wait for a moment for any effect you might experience. Then go on to the next sentence/exercise:

Sit while imagining that you are standing.
Stand while imagining that you are sitting.

Tip your head down while imagining that your head is tipped up.
Tip your head up while imagining that your head is tipped down.

Clasp your arms around your chest while imagining that they are spread wide open.
Spread your arms wide open while imagining that they are clasped around you chest.
If you do not rush through this exercise but wait and allow some shifts that “want” to take place in your body to do so, you will see that a certain RELEASED “core stability” develops in your body… that is not fixed or frozen. Rather, the gracefulness in your movements eminate from the edges of your body (what I call the dorsal-ventral seam) and move inward and around your body only as far as is necessary. What is not needed in a movement remains stable… and in the “stable,” at rest.

As always, I would love to get any feed back… except spam.

I will explain each illustration/chart a little bit and leave you to figure out the rest based on your current experience of the type-specific imagery and what is available to look at again on that page. If you have comments or questions, you can always email me or write something on the blog, which virtually nobody does.

This first chart above is divided into four sections. The individual and smaller creatures toward the outside of each section represent the specific type that section refers to. The depictions of overlapped creatures, which are larger, represent the tonal/shape variations of the left and right sides of each of the four types. In other words, the simpler dorsal-vental figures are not absolutely accurate. They have different tonal qualities on each side of the body. People are not exactly the same on the left and right sides. In fact, to some extent, we are opposite of each side. We all are, according to my thinking, one of the four types but those four types are actually more complex than the simple depictions represent.

See if you can imagine that, for instance, you are basically the 1a-red type but have a tendency to be more like a 1b-blue type on your left side and a 2a-green type on your right side. And try the other versions as well. This is not easy… but some success can give you a much greater experience of a nicely released and yet toned self. Along the way you may feel strange, crooked, and so forth, but with time you will see that these additions of lateral variation to the four types actually takes you to a deeper experience of them and their value. The experiencing of your own type, however, will typically and understandably be the least rewarding and will possibly be downright unenjoyable. Give that one up. You are already too good at living that form. 

The chart above is just another way of playing with the left side and right side variations that are actually part of the four basic types. The white version on the far right is the neutral model from which the various versions were formed.non-existent type, which is dorsally white, is merely the model from which the other forms were made. The upper row of types has influences on its sides of the types overlapped in the lower row.

This last chart I will let you just study. It may clarify something for you… and it may not.

Good luck.

The new illustration above and the image exercise I explain below started with my effort to depict a way to discuss developing a panoramic view of things. I drew circles or rings around the walking model and moved it around. I discovered that when the ring was raised above the head it felt oh so much better. It became my halo. It had a positive effect, like the large brimmed cowboy hats I sometimes wear. Tiping a halo/hat one way or another produces effects equivalent to images that play with the angle of the “director” segment in my imagery. The variations give me a “different slant” on things and increased fluidity in my head and neck (director segment).

This image has lots of possibilities. I suggest that you play with it while walking about and not just while sitting. Make the halo as big or as small as you like. I like it large, about the size shown above. The ring can be thick or thin. One you will prefer. Try it higher or lower. I like it about where shown and think you will too. The reason you have options here is because when you choose the most enjoyable characteristics of this image, you are choosing the most welcome changes in your postural habit structure. 

Basically, I would suggest experimenting with all of the following variations. When imagining one version, try to maintain that version for, say, 10 seconds or even longer. This allows accompanying body shifts that may “want” to take place to do so. It makes the experience richer. Short periods of experimentation can produce incomplete or distorted results. So here are the possible variations I recommend including:

Halo tipped forward, tipped backward, tipped to the right, tipped to the left.

Next, a halo that is tipped forward AND to the right, forward AND to the left, backward AND… and so on.

Later, give yourself two halos that are side by side. Imagine the left one tipped forward and the right one back… and visa-versa.

Later yet, with the two halos, imagine the left one tipped forward and to the left and the right one…

You now can figure out the various combinations. I suggest that each of these experiments will tend to change your countenance and your carriage, to use old useful terms. I also suggest that you might want to wear your halo or halos when you go out for brisk walks. It can make a gray day quite a bit brighter.

Good luck.

P.S.  I neglected to mention that you can certainly imagine the halo or ring to be level ! In experimenting with the other versions I believe that you will discover, however, that your sense of level may go through a bit of change.