POSTURE WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

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WAYS OF SEEING WAYS OF BEING:
POSTURE BEYOND THE PLUMBLINE.

Ask the average member of the public what posture is and the reply will probably involve all sorts of tales about how to hold the body, about ‘good’ and ‘bad’ posture. Often their emphasis will be on the "hold" part. Ask a bodyworker about posture and the reply may likely involve a description of an imaginary plumbline passing through an ideal, textbook alignment of the body. This view owes much to the pioneers of postural analysis, Henry and Florence Kendall. They identified an “ideal” posture and noted several “faulty” variant postures.

Put most simply, posture is how we hold the body, the positioning of body parts and attitude that allow us to respond to and interact with the environment we live in. There are efficient and inefficient ways to do this. Optimal posture is that which allows us to operate most efficiently in our environment. There are many definitions of posture and many different ways to view the body. My favourite definition is:

“Posture is distribution of body mass in relation to gravity over a base of support. The base of support includes all structures from the feet to the base of the skull.”

As bodyworkers we encounter postural dysfunction in our clients on a daily basis. Most of us are lucky if we have a good understanding of one model of viewing posture. However, there are many possibilities in viewing the body. Having more than one way of viewing bodies enhances our skill as clinicians, enabling us greater understanding of our clients and the ability to offer them a better service.

This workshop is a synthesis of knowledge gained through many years of training, study, experience, observation and enquiry. In it we will examine and discuss many different postural models, observe examples (both in photographs and fellow class members) and learn practical techniques for working with some of the patterns and ways of being we discuss.

It commences with examining the Kendall's classic view of the body as ideal alignment around a plumbline, and the “faulty’ postural variants they identified. We then discuss the role of gravity and Ida Rolf’s contributions to understanding posture; her initial view of segmental blocks stacked in gravity and its later ‘cubes in a sack’ & other variants. Following this we will investigate Sheldon’s typologies, discuss their evolution from their origin in psychology, then digress to look at the relationship of Sheldon’s typology to the Ayurvedic somatic typology.

Next is an in-depth study of Jan Sultan’s ‘internal / external’ model. Influenced by Rolfing and cranio-sacral therapy, it postulates there being several possible responses of the body to gravity. We will do some practical work around treating presentations of the internal/ external model. Hans Flury’s tilt and shift model, which views the body in terms of pelvis/ torso relationship, will also be introduced, as will Robert Schleip’s Flexor/ Extensor model, a refinement of the internal / external model, which also considers the primacy of primitive neural reflexes in motor co-ordination and posture.

Then we consider the evolutionary aspect of posture, how the pelvis has evolved and kyphosis and lordosis as components of mobility and protection in posture; where there are kyphoses, enclosing structures protect vital organs and the body is less mobile, where there are lordoses there is more movement but no bony, protective enclosure. This then leads to Hubert Godard's Tonic Function model of posture and concepts such as G & G1 and Michael Nebadon's Expansional Balance model, popularized by Ed Maupin. We may digress to discuss traditional oriental views of the body, such as charkas and meridians and relate this to the biomechanical model of G & G1. Throughout we will spend time in class observing each other’s posture to reinforce the concepts discussed.

Following from this we look at 'tensegrity' and explore at length Tom Myers "Anatomy Trains" view of the body. He conceives a series of myofascial meridians or slings as representing functional patterns determined by the continuous connections of the fascia. There will be an opportunity to swap work on each other, working two of the myofascial meridians.

Time permitting, there could be further discussion about Sheldon’s Typology and its Ayurvedic correlations, and pertinent treatment indications. As a final digression, we will briefly examine Alexander Lowen' and Stanley Keleman’s Bioenergetic view of the body, drawn from somatic psychotherapy.

© Colin Rossie 2007