How to stand in postural alignment

People talk a lot these days about work/life balance and how to find it. But what about natural balance on your own two feet? How well do you stand and walk? Is walking a form of suspended falling?

In our culture of either sitting or standing for too long, our muscles that should work well start to 'switch off'. Have you noticed how older people tend to shuffle when they walk? This can be from too much sitting and the butt muscles not being engaged when walking. Picking up your feet to walk starts with the leg and butt muscles, not the feet.

Standing incorrectly for too long can put strain on the lower back muscles, pull knees out of alignment and the knock on affect is the neck muscles get strained. The upper trapezius muscles in TCM are connected to Kidney energy and the start of the kidney meridian is... in the balls of the feet. All our body is connected, not bits and pieces ...

To stand correctly in alignment:

- place your feet inside hip width apart and parallel

- feel your weight evenly distributed between the balls and the heels of your feet

- press your toes and the outside edges of your feet into the the ground and feel your arches lifting

- take your knees off lock to engage the thigh muscles and take the weight off your lower back

- feel your tailbone lengthening down (not tucking under!)

- allow your shoulder blades to glide down the back ribs and the sternum to gently lift

- feel as if the crown of your head is being pulled by a rope up to the heavens

When you stand correctly, it will feel as if your body is weightless.

From here, with practice, balance in other areas of your life will become easier to achieve as the energy flow in your body has been set up for correct forward movement.