This is just a short, refined “statement of purpose” of Posture Release Imagery. The need to clarify the meanings of words and the intents of their use is ongoing. I have already talked about my view of “posture” as a good word that implies something far greater than simple outward appearance. This time it is to confess that the name Posture Release Imagery can be a bit misleading or at least incomplete. I am NOT changing my work’s name. However, for it to be properly understood, the work should be thought of as “posture release AND FORMATION imagery.”

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 and elasticity 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,” for a description and exercise concerning the most important “formation” the healthy body requires.