INTRODUCTION -

All imagery exercises on this site fit into goals of improved posture, pain and tension reduction and elimination, or greater grace in movement. These goals are all strongly related. The imagery on this page is “universal” because it can be beneficially used by anyone. This is in contrast to the “type-specific” imagery that is most effective when you have identified (in the illustrations) your “type” and your “opposite.”

Before reading any of the coming instructions and exercises, scroll down the length of this page and look briefly at the various illustrations and images. This may help you to more quickly understand the initial instructions and exercises. If you arrived at this page before the home page or the principles page, you will probably need to read them to begin to understand what is going on here. If you have read any of my articles, some of the imagery here will not be new… though newly presented.

For you to get the value out of this page, you need to “do” the imagery exercises. “Do” is in quotation marks because there is little or no physical “doing” in the exercises. Rather, there is mental work… that of imagining… which causes physical changes or what can be thought of as structural adjustment or “morphing.” If you have trouble understanding some part but are still interested, reading the articles or reading them again may be next for you. You can also email me at alextec_swmo@hotmail.com with questions or comments.

All of the imagery is based on manipulation of the sensations that we feel on the surface, or near the surface, of our bodies. To successfully use the imagery system outlined here, it is unnecessary and, in fact, can be interfering, to think about our factual interior parts… bones, muscles, viscera… with which we have less sensory contact.

For most of the imagery it is important to be able to distinguish the two basic parts of our body’s surface… the dorsal and the ventral surfaces. The drawings below show you this distinction, which will be, to some extent, already intuitively understood by many of you. What may be new in this description of dorsal and ventral is the inclusion of the face and, in fact, the whole body surface.

fig. 1 – the archetypal form of the dorsal and ventral relationship

fig. 2 – the evolution of the dorsal and ventral surfaces

fig. 3 – the dorsal and ventral surfaces depicted on various animals

fig. 4 – front, back, and side views of d-v surfaces on human

The dorsal surface is that half (roughly) of the body surface that historically faced upward and the ventral surface historically had faced downward and had more contact with the ground. Even on the highly evolved human, during active life the dorsal surface tends to face more upward than the ventral surface and preserves a relationship between the two surface that began eons ago.

What is that relationship? How does it affect us?

fig. 5 – the two stages of uprighting

A turtle on its back is in trouble (see fig. 5). If it is unable to turn itself over, it will die. If it manages to turn over it has become “uprighted”… and undoubtedly feels considerable relief. When we are on are hands and knees, we do not think of ourselves as uprighted, but we are…partially. Crawling is considered an important developmental stage for children. So, uprighting for humans is a two-stage process. Being on our hands and knees is the completion of stage 1. Fig. 5 is a drawing showing this sequence. In the illustration, we begin to see the natural and ideal relationship between the dorsal and ventral surfaces.

Healthy posture for humans as well as four-legged animals requires a generally expanded dorsal (upper) surface and a generally toned or gently tensed ventral (lower) surface. Otherwise, we may seem to stand, sit, and move effectively enough but we experience unnecessary tension. The next illustration (fig. 6) shows what I call an archetypal tetrapod (or quadruped), though it should perhaps be called a land-bound archetypal tetrapod. Humans are also considered tetrapods.

Notice that the figure on the left has an expanded dorsal surface and a more contracted ventral surface. The figure on the right shows an expanded ventral surface and a more contracted dorsal surface, which is not appropriate for efficient existence on land.

fig. 6 – the archetypal dorsal-ventral archetype (and anti-archetype)

A simple imagery exercise will, I hope, demonstrate to you the value of this concept.

Simple instructions for attempting this image exercise and most others, as well: Sit “up” comfortably in a chair (not leaning back against the back of the chair). Your eyes can be open or closed, whichever seems to work better now. (Later, for most imagery, I think eyes staying open is better. It is in the real everyday world that we want to maintain some of the changes the imagery can bring about). Visual imagery can seem to take place on you, in front of you, a little above or below you, or even off to one side or another. All have slightly different effects. At the same time, the tactile/kinesthetic changes are felt on your body surface and in your structure.

Above all, be patient. Breaking habits, including habits of mind, is not an easy task. I takes some diligence… but it can be very rewarding.

The following exercises are composed of “universal” imagery, imagery that is appropriate for anyone. (This is in contrast to the more advanced imagery that I call “type-specific” imagery, which contains different versions of imagery for people with different postures and tonal patterns.)

EXERCISE ONE – The appropriate dorsal and ventral relationship

Using some or all of the above illustrations as guides to locating and “sensing” your dorsal surface and ventral surface, proceed to imagine the following: Imagine that your entire dorsal surface is expanded, blown up a bit like a balloon. In addition, think of it as white and made only of something very light and fluffy like fuzzy fur or loose cotton balls. Try to feel the light, fluffy sensation on all of the dorsal surface. It may be difficult and seem impossible to think of the every bit of the dorsal surface that I have described, but the closer you get to fulfilling the instruction, the more you will benefit and be impressed by this “simple” exercise.

Next, but just as importantly, imagine that your entire ventral surface is gently contracted or condensed. Also think of this surface as dark gray or black, is thick, dense, and heavy, perhaps like thick dense rubber.

So your dorsal surface is made of puffed-up cotton balls and the ventral surface is made of slightly shrunken or contracted thick dark rubber… or some other similar combination of materials. Mentally move around to include all parts of the body surface in the exercise. Every minute you spend in life with this sense about you will improve your structure/posture/use. You will also be reorganizing your kinesthestic sense, which F.M. Alexander said was “debauched” in most of us.

fig. 7 – the dorsal and ventral surfaces exaggerated on us

“CALM UP AND TENSE DOWN” is my way to verbally recall this visual and tactile image. This is quite opposite of the usual fluctuation we go through in life, no?

EXERCISE TWO – Lamb and egg

fig. 8 – lamb and egg

Examine the illustration here. The person on the right is sitting forward on a chair. Follow this example by sitting yourself forward and up in a chair… far enough forward so that a slope in the seat does not make it hard for you to sit up like the person in the drawing. Uncross your legs and rest your hands on your legs. If sitting up like indicated is very uncomfortable for you, just do the best you can.

Next, imagine that you are, in fact, not a person sitting in a chair but, rather, a lamb-like creature balanced on a chair, with its chin, limbs, and tail wrapped around a dark, cool, slightly heavy egg. This egg is something the creature wishes to protect. (This all may sound ridiculous, but you are this far along so don’t turn back.)

You are to imagine, but in no sense imitate, that, as this creature, you have very very light and fluffy fur (of cotton balls, if you prefer). This light fluffy fur extends all over your back (and dorsal surface like the previous exercise) but just as importantly includes your tail (which is long and wide), back of neck, back of ears, head, upper eye lids, and nose.

All the features of your face are very relaxed, just as shown in the drawing. Imagine holding the cool, dark egg as closely as you can, making body contact with it as much as possible as the drawing indicates. You are attempting to cover it as much as possible, with your chin, neck, arms, chest, stomach, legs, groin, under side of tail. Include the gray portions of the under part of the face on fig. 8 as drawn or pulled to the egg if not in actual contact with it. This gray portion is part of the ventral surface that is in contact with the egg.

Take some time with the image. Finally, imagine that you, wrapped around the egg, rock backward a little bit and then imagine rocking considerably forward. At this point, you can allow yourself to actually rock forward enough to be effortlessly over your (actual, not imaginary) feet…and then stand up. Even in the standing position, you can imagine yourself surrounding the egg as you were before. Miraculously you will be standing though your legs are still wrapped around the egg!

You should experience an easy trip to standing position, without the usual effort. You can get better and better and experience its beneficial effects more and more, with repeated experiments with this image. Remember, just imagine, and do not consciously physically imitate the illustration or directions. It is also important to endeavor to experience the qualities suggested all over your body, leaving no surface unconsidered. Do not be surprised if small changes take place that do not seem to be right for the illustration. The goal is to release body parts to their most relaxed and yet structurally sturdy positions… not to learn how to hug an egg!

The purpose of this image is to promote appropriate or ideal postural sensations, which are 1. a sense of expansion on your dorsal surface (the fluffy side) and 2. a sense of contraction on the ventral side (the side in contact with the egg). If you have what feels like success and experience some interesting changes, I would love for you to let me know. If you have troubles with the image, I would like to help.

EXERCISE THREE – grounded and secure

 

fig. 9

The universal imagery I suggest is designed, among other things, to allow the body to do what it once knew, to efficiently respond to gravity. In the previous exercise, I had you envision the ventral surface as pressed up against an egg. This “grounded” exercise does not produce identical changes and sensations, yet, they are similar and compatible.

This image exercise is an effort to give us the experience of being secure in our relationship with the ground. A “sense of security” appears greater in evolutionarily earlier organisms, whether four-legged or “no”-legged, but we can have that sense of security if we experience (and then recognize) the our entire ventral surface IS related to the ground.

The first panel to the left shows an early organism “immensely” supported by the earth. The second panel, in simplified and archetypal form, shows our evolved selves standing. It shows us as we tend to think we are supported on earth when standing… only by our feet. The third panel shows the “reality” that we want to experience here, that our ventral surface is fully in contact with the earth and supported by it. Even the vertical middle part of our bodies, or chest and belly, can be thought to be in contact with the ground.

As you develop an image or sensation that the earth is there to support you completely, you can “test” it by allowing your chin or tail or whatever to drop. The body may shift about for a while, as it finds its new place in relation to gravity. Once you establish the sensation of the ventral surface being fully grounded… while allowing the dorsal surface to expand and float above… you can learn to carry those sensations (and postural advantage) around with you as you move.

EXERCISE FOUR – The ultimate “posture chair”

fig. 10

Posture chairs of different designs have popped up. The ones with seats tilting forward and support for the knees are helpful for keeping people from either slouching or hollowing the back. Balls to sit on and balls with arms keep body posture actively fluid. So they are both good… but I have yet another suggestion for a posture chair that recreates the ancient relationship between the dorsal and ventral surface. This suggestion is somewhat comical and seemingly impractical, but worth considering. Pictured in figure 10, # 1, is a someone sitting in a “chair” that is made to exactly fit his bottom, thighs, calves, feet, and toes. He is “completely”seated. In addition, there is not a “back” to the chair, but a ”front,” which comes up between his legs and makes exact contact with his stomach, chest, and chin. His ventral side is almost fully contacted and supported by something solid, which we discovered was a good thing in Exercise Three, right?

Perhaps if the seat of this chair tipped slightly forward and the seat itself would wiggle just a little but not enough to make one insecure, then you would have the perfect chair. I suggest that you save the money, though, and just make it an image long enough that you generally sit well in any chair. In figure 10, #2, the ventral surface is shown. In #3, the chair is shaped and fitted to intrusively fit your ventral surface more exactly… all to give you more support. People blossom when they have developed a sense of inner security. And so it is with healthy posture. When the startle reflex and fear are gone, the body releases to a less tense, less overworked, healthier state.

Posture is dynamic, not static. So, #4, 5, and 6 of figure 10 offer ways to think of very small movements taking place while sitting. The red dots represent the fulcrum from which the body above slightly can rock or, better, be imagined to rock. #4 is from the hips, #5 is from the very base of the neck (seventh cervical vertebra – C7), is from virtually the top of the head (There may not be a joint up there, but this is imagery, not anatomy). Some very small movements or imagined movements can enliven your sitting posture and cause considerable release upward and outward. Success is in the diligence that you apply to the image. Five or ten seconds of imaging is not sufficient.

Finally, it should be added that ideal support under the arms and hands is not shown in the illustrations, but it should be included in your image.

EXERCISE FIVE – Lamb and egg – horizontal and vertical

Explanation to come.

EXERCISE SIX – “Neck free, head forward and up…” in an image

Overcoming habit is tough. Some sort of mind preparedness is necessary to avoid repetition of old ways. The Alexander Technique classically has used verbal cues and “neck free, head forward and up, back to lengthen and widen” has been the most common set of directions that AT students have contemplated as practice preparatory to choosing and executing actions of any sort.

The images here show, in my mind’s eye, the best way to picture the “neck free, head forward and up” portion of those directions. I think that “neck free” is most effectively thought of as “neck free at both ends.” At the extreme ends of the neck, at the C1 and C7 vertebrae, are the locations where habits can have some of their greatest ill effects. In fact, I think that these locations are the ONLY locations of the neck to think about “freeing.” That is because thinking (or imagining) the entire neck and all its vertebrae “freeing” too much will only promote a concept of “stretching” the neck, which causes strain, not release.

So turn this picture above into an image exercise. Looking at the image on the right, imagine that the head as shown here separates and floats forward and (mostly) up and the full neck segment does so as well. Nothing is imagined as stretched, only separated. Allow your body to sway a bit… and changes will be experienced.

This image exercise constitutes an addition to the short paper, Imagery and “Neck Free, Head Forward…,” on my articles page. A version of this image can be found on the type-specific imagery page.

.

More universal exercises and information can be found on the blog, facebook, and articles.

Here is a new form of depiction of the archetypal relationship of the dorsal and ventral surfaces. Though it appears artistically abstract, it contains information that is best shown in this manner. There is order in this universe… and in human posture, personality, and interaction.

And this is my upright tetrapod (human) version of the ideal and the variations (types) of that “ideal.” The types are not “bad,” per se, but can be when we are frozen within them and have no natural flexibility of tone, posture, and personality. Even being frozen in an effort to look like (rather than imaginarily “be”) like the first (ideal) illustration to the left here… is “bad” or unhealthy.

(Perhaps the “likeness” to human postures and personalities are a little easier to see when the caricatures are horizontally squeezed.)

For more on this line of imagery… including a “chart” with additional characteristics of each type, see http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=151125841605863 and http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30997&id=151964398167194 .

Hope you stick with it and appreciate the outcome.

John

In the exercise presented below, I hope that you experience a bit of the four postural variations and their STRENGTHS. In addition, you hopefully will experience how it is valuable to have some postural versatility in order to gracefully move as indicated.

This is an image exercise and the only action that will be required of you will be to stand while imagining it. The figures are only partially human in appearance. I want to show here the general tonus that your body should tend to move towards as you follow the following directions. The arms are missing in order to make the general dorsal/ventral wave pattern of each type more obvious. Though we do no longer have tails there is still a clear effect from imagining variation in an imaginary tail. Now for the exercise:

Start this exercise by choosing one of the four types. Do not endeavor to be that type with overt muscular effort and do not even try to imagine that you are that type.  The following imagings, though, should “send” you slowly in that direction. The basic direction is to imagine that you are slowly walking up or down the stairs, either forwards or backward, depending on the directions the particular figure indicates. (If imagining stairs to climb cause you to be nervous of tripping or falling –which can be a fear, even in imagery – then imagine that you have only a gentle slope to either climb or descend.) Take one step and then another. It may take a while to get a sense of doing so. Then try to imagine it in a more continuous pattern, as though the staircase or hill was very long. Allow you body to shift a bit about at the ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, neck, or wherever. Experiment with that first variety for at least 30 seconds, let’s say, if not longer. The first changes that come to you posture are not necessarily the last ones that would take place from this imagery. Positive changes in ourselves come slowly… grace arrives in it own sweet time. Now proceed to the next variation in a clockwise pattern. Go all around the chart, experimenting with each direction.

You should have notice that your body wants to configure itself differently for each of the four tasks. This is good, the imagery brings about the appropriate configuration preparatory to healthy action. Later, you can try the experiment with switching from one form to its opposite, which is illustrated in the diagonally opposite direction. In time, you should find that one or more of these four variations of imaginary movement is more pleasurable and good for you… jiggling you out of your habits… and the opposite one is decidely not. That will help you when playing with any of the type-specific imagery in blog entries or on the type-specific page or on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Posture-Release-Imagery/151964398167194 . And you will learn to appreciate, in many ways, postural variation and the postural types, for what they do especially well as well as where they fail.

That’s it. Good luck. I’d love for you to report back.

Excitement or liveliness can be an enjoyable part of our lives… and so can relaxed calm. Depending on their personalities and postural sets, people tend to express and experience one more than the other. That is fine… vive la différence. But being habitually stuck in one of the extremes is problematic. Just like we need sunlight and dark, we need to experience some of each of these qualities to have a fulfilling life and emotional health. Agreed?

I tend toward excitability. I don’t always contain my excitement well. As for calm, I can be calm… but not easily when I am also excited. So I have needed to work on containing my excitement, not by clamping down on it so much as expanding in some way in order to more easily contain it. The thought that you are expanding all over when you feel excited can allow it to be contained, painlessly. My wife, on the other hand, has a sentence that she uses not infrequently to describe what she wants. She says, “I want to bust out.” For her, excitement does not need to be contained so much as let out.

So, here is how I think imagery about our body surface can help us with whatever combination of containment or release that our “vessel” could use in order to be capable of a well-rounded to life’s events. The four types of body surfaces shown here ”experience” sensations felt that match my other type-specific imagery (which  use the blue, read, green, and yellow color coding). You will have to spend time “being” all of the types to understand. Look at the illustrations here and then read the exercise instructions below.

(To begin with, in the illustration above, the two figures separated off to the left are templates for the remaining four figures. To the far left is a figure that, with a white line running through it, shows the distinction between the “director” segment and the rest of the body. The second figure to the left shows them separated, since distinguishing between the two parts is necessary for this image exercise. Forgive me for not creating these characters in female form, as tall short, or racially different is many ways. It is the differences between their body surfaces that is of significance and this is just the easiest way to show that.)

Now, notice that the four types shown have either body surfaces that are solid (impermeable) or full of holes running through them (permeable). You will be imagining that parts of your body are either sealed shut (impermeable) and that NOTHING can get out or that your body surface is full of holes so that EVERYTHING can getting out (permeable). (In this exercise, we imagine that things can get IN, whether the surface is solid or full of holes. It is the ability for things to get OUT that is at issue here.) By “things,” I mean anything you might imagine - air, energy, water, whatever -anything that gives you the sensation of being filled up.

Experiment with the four variations above, blue – totally impermeable, red – impermeable on top, permeable below, green - impermeable everywhere, and yellow - permeable on top and impermeable below. Spend time with each variation until you have a sense of the distinct “posture personalities” that are produced by each imagining. The last one, the yellow one, for instance, produces a very ”laid-back,” perhaps even lazy individual. The second one, the red one, in contrast, produces an “alert,” possibly over-alert upright individual. With diligence, you will come to experience them all and find one you enjoy the most, probably your tonal “opposite.” Complete this and then go to the next part below. 

———————

In the drawing below, permeability and impermeablity are indicated again (using a “bear rug” schema). I use this method of describing the characteristic on the body, permeable or impermeable, because it is more subtle than the version above. Imagine that you are looking down at your “back side,” your dorsal side, here. The core of the body of the four variations are largely similar to the ones above (by color) but have variations on one side or the other. In other words, for example, the blue version is not totally impermeable like that pictured above but has some ”leaks” (permeability) on the left of the upper part of the body and the right of the lower part of the body. Bodies, and the body types I describe here, are not identical on the left and right sides. We all have some habitual bilateral tonal assymetry that this imagery can expose. 

(The small creature in the middle with fewer “holes” represents a neutral type, somewhat permeable or open, somewhat impermeable or closed).

This has been a long and perhaps complicated explanation of an image exercise. Like other image exercises, however, it has the definite potential of opening up to you new ways of seeing yourself… and being yourself.

Questions? Need clarification of something?

The Alexander Technique and Posture Release Imagery both are good ways to release tension. But, as I have said before, much of the tension “released” is really the appropriate “moving” of inappropriate contractions to elsewhere… where unhealthy flaccidity is reigning. This movement of interfering tension is most frequently (but not entirely) toward the ventral surface of our body from the dorsal surface and toward the “edges” or dorsal-ventral seam of the body.

Release implies “freedom,” which in measured doses can be all well and good. But we all need to be formed in “responsible” ways as well. A body that has generally a released dorsal surface and a gently contracted ventral surface is being “responsible.” The freedom it is experiencing is within responsible limits. This sort of equation, where the promotion of “freedom” must be accompanied by the “formation” of responsible relationships, can be extended to apply to families, communities, cultures, the world. (Of course, a body of any sort can “bend over backwards” for periods of time, but even then there are elements of dorsal extension and ventral flexion that allow it to recover easily from the seemingly strained position – see acrobats.)

The term, formation, has been applied to things like religious education. Perhaps it should also be used in reverence to general improvement of our mind/body use. Visit an earlier blog entry, ”Maturing of the lamb, ” http://posturereleaseimagery.org/archives/288 , for a description and exercise concerning the most important ”formation” the healthy body requires.

Best wishes.

Of those who follow me, there would probably be close to agreement that the most important principle I propose is the “calm up, tense down” one. This means that we should seek (imagine) the sensation that our dorsal surface is expanding and light and fluffy, while or ventral surface feels condensed, lightly contracted, dark and rubbery.

However, when that general principle has been practiced to the point that these conditions can be brought to exist (at least momentarily) all over the body, then I propose the following (here and elsewhere): Send tension and intention out toward the dorsal-ventral seam. (If you don’t understand what that means, see http://posturereleaseimagery.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/life_on_the_edge_-_of_the_dorsal_ventral_seam1.pdf . The article describes in more detail the importance of the dorsal-ventral seam.)

If you have a good idea of where the dorsal and ventral surfaces in general meet (a border or as “seam”), you can proceed to imagine that all of the tension, intention, vigourousness, joie de vivre that you feel is moving outward to those locations. It takes some practice to involve the intention of this image at the entire dorsal-ventral border or seam that exists on the body. But in the process you will feel, more alert, sturdy, and prepared. At the same time, your core will be more relaxed, dorsally full, and at ease with change. Brittleness will disappear.

Sending “intention” and “tension” toward the seams will not mean that these edges will, in fact, be tense, as we normally understand the word. Use the drawings below in order to discover or reaquaint yourself with your seam, the source of the bodie greatest amount of input and output, most of the senses and the limbs.

Start by spending a moment on the illustration above, allowing your dorsal surface (shown on far left) to expand up and out and allowing your ventral surface (shown in middle) to feel as though it is contracting inward. After you have a sense that the image exercise, so far, is working all over the body (at least almost all of the body… perfection is what we are looking for here). Finally, looking at the image to the right, imagine that all of your sensations… tention, intentions, vitality… are moving towards the only thing you see there, the dorsal/ventral seam. (I suggest “towards” the edges, not exactly to the very edges and “out” of the body. That may feel peacful for a moment but would tend to bring a loss of alertness and a return of tension to the core.) You should feel ready for action… alert yet released and relaxed in the core, grounded, supple, and light. I studied tai chi some in the past, and though I’m no expert, I always find myself falling into a tai chi form when I play with this image… happy and ready for life, its troubles and beauty.

See if you agree.

Cheers, John

P.S. To refresh you awareness of where the seam is on a human, see here and here. Don’t forget your “tail.”

Up until now, this exercise has focused on experiencing the release of frozen forms of dorsal-ventral wave “personalities” within  us. The four phases of a repeating wave are shown best on the small four-legged creatures here. They are, however, also shown in the human-like caricatures with the longs noses and tails… except it may be more difficult to see the waves effect on the body itself. Study the illustrated chart below closely and you should be able to see how the various color-coded human forms match the four-legged creatures of their color.

Why are the four groups of three mostly-human figures clustered like they are? The answer is that they are together so that we can imagine/mirror all three of them to some degree, one after another, closely in time . We all have tendencies toward one of these types. However, our habit structures are obviously more complicated than simply that of a dorsal-ventral wave. Our left and right sides do not operate the same and have habits of their own. In fact, to one degree or another, the left and right sides of each of us tend toward opposite frozen dorsal-ventral wave structures. This means that though we have a dominant tonal pattern… here shown as red, blue, green, or yellow… we also have opposite tendencies on each side. And these tendencies vary for each basic type just as shown here. Combining images to provide an experience of the various dorsal-ventral tonal patterns creates a more difficult exercise. However, when successful, it is more rewarding in bringing change and new educational experiences.The way to carry out this imagery experiment is as follows: Choose the mostly-human character (in the front as they face, in each group) that you found the most rewardingly different from your own postural habits when imagined. Next, place yourself imaginarily on the “X” that is behind that figure and between all three figures of each group. From this imaginary position you are in position to be influenced by the three dorsal-ventral wave forms around you in much the same way, I suggest, that a flock of birds that can stay so gracefully attuned to each other when flying… they continually mirror each other around them. (Women and people… most of us… who do not match this general model of a human figure I have used in size, age, stature, etc. may have to make imaginary adjustments. I am not trying to suggest the sex, race, age or general size in the model. I’m sorry, but I cannot provide all the possible archetypal human models for people to use when imagining.)

Start by imagining an affinity for and the characteristics of the figure (imaginarily) in front of you, depending primarily on imagining the big “growths,” nose and tail to get the body changes going. When you have the sense that some changes have occured, imagine that the character either to your left or right (and rear) is having an effect on that particular side of you, making you more like them. Then imagine the remaining character. You can do this exercise sitting up or standing. You will have to go through this image several times to provide the brain enough cues to change habit… but it will come. Lightly wiggling your hips, shoulders, or head occcasionally (but not constantly) can help jostle you into a new, lighter, probably strange “you.” You may feel a bit crooked at times but then, with luck, enough elements will come together for you to feel “divinely” aligned, meaning up and centered in a new non-doing way.

This is all that I expect to do with this nose-to-tail imagery… except to add clarification or make changes that you, perhaps, will assist me in making. I am trying to communicate features and potential in our use and structure. If I am failing, help me to succeed.

Have fun with my friends,

John

Below is the first illustration from that posting. The second illustration, below that, is the same characters except after the nose and tail additions have had their effect on the bodies. (I have also, from suggestion, made all the figures uniformly white and dark gray). Some of the effects are shown in the extreme. Some can be seen in our everyday world. Whether in the extreme or more subtly, we all experience one of these structures as our habit… and would experience the opposite structure as our pleasurable habit-melting opposite. Study it closely and compare and notice the opposite tonal inclinations of the characters in opposite corners. It may help you experience the original image exercise more fully.

Forgive the fact that I don’t yet have female examples, which are essentially the same. This is hard enough as it is for a non-artist like myself. I’ll be back later with one more addition to this image.Cheers