Posture Release Imagery

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 think we are supported on earth when standing… 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.