A Little Bit of Poison?

(Image above: Dana Davis)

In my early years of studying Balance/Original Alignment, we mostly had photos of people from less industrialized countries that were in natural alignment (“in Balance”). We showed these images to students to inspire them with these healthy models of aligned posture. But I remember people didn’t really get the difference. They thought they already stood like that, or sat like that. (They didn’t).

So then Jean Couch got the idea to take photos of people locally, in downtown Palo Alto, where the Balance Center was located. Whereas she had to travel long distances to get photos of people in Balance, it was easy to find people “out of Balance” – just walk a few blocks and there were multiple examples all around!

When we showed these misaligned images NEXT TO the Balanced people, then students got it! They could see the difference. I still remember seeing the slide show demonstrating in and out of Balance people and I was shocked! I couldn’t believe I had never noticed that before. Certainly an awakening!

Demonstrating the Difference

So over the years, showing images of misaligned posture and also demonstrating it to students has been a very effective teaching tool. It also is usually entertaining. We could “ham it up” a bit to really exaggerate how curvy our modern posture was, and we would get a lot of laughs of recognition.

I did that for years, probably from the first year that I started teaching Balance/Original Alignment in 1997. I don’t think that I worried about doing that, since it was brief and I shifted back to Balanced posture right away. And I was practicing Balanced posture as much as possible.

Maybe Not Such a Good Idea After All

Then in the Fall of 2024, I taught an online class with some new people, so I did my usual demonstrating all the things you SHOULDN’T do -“Don’t sit like this, don’t bend like this, don’t stand like this…” About one day later I developed some symptoms – some pain in my right thigh, some numbness in that thigh, some weakness in the right shin. Uh oh!

I knew that the numbness and weakness would indicate some kind of nerve issue. Maybe I herniated a disc? Maybe a nerve was getting pinched? I wasn’t sure what happened, but it made me nervous. I even thought about seeing a doctor or PT. But I thought, “What are they going to tell me to do other than take a pill, rest, or don’t do what caused it?” I realized that the best plan was to do exactly what I knew how to do – practice Balanced alignment.

How I Healed My Back Injury

So that’s what I did. I avoided yoga poses that were hard to do while keeping the spine straight. I worked with my muscles to give traction to my back in sitting and standing. I practiced with more focus than usual. And it definitely helped. There was very little pain, but any time I felt a bit of numbness, I looked at what I was doing that might have irritated a nerve.

It did resolve without needing any treatment, though I did get another flare up at a later point, which I treated the same way. I’m so grateful to have learned these Balance/Original Alignment guidelines so that I know what to do if this type of injury occurs!

So as a result of this, I have pretty much eliminated demonstrating “out of Balance” posture. I might show lifting the chest, but that’s about it, and I do it very gently. I use the photos of others to show what not to do!

Just a Little Bit of Poison

Almost 30 years of demonstrating unhealthy posture, even in short bits, is still damaging to the spine. So imagine what it does to your spine to sit, stand, bend and move all day in these misaligned positions! And misaligned posture not only affects your spine, but also can cause pain in your knees, your hips, your shoulders and more. It creates wear and tear on the body that ages the joints prematurely.

I remember someone asking a nutritionist once if it was okay to have “just a little bit” of something, maybe alcohol. He replied, “A little bit of poison, a lot of poison – it’s still poison.” Out of Balance posture is like a poison. It weakens us. It requires extra effort to fight gravity. It puts the joints in different positions than how we as humans evolved. It restricts our breathing capacity. It causes us to lose height. And it frequently leads to pain and injury. SO many reasons to avoid it!

So the next time you find yourself slumping in your chair or standing in a collapsed “S” shape, you might want to make a different choice. It all adds up!

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If you’re feeling inspired to change your habitual posture to a more Balanced posture, you can join me for Yoga for a Healthy Back classes online or in person. I’m also having a sale on private sessions until the end of July. Private Zoom sessions: $70. Private sessions in Cotati on Fridays: $75. Private sessions in Cotati other days: $80 (for 1-hour sessions). Contact me here if you’re interested.

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