I fancy myself as someone who is direct with a straight forward approach. Some people love me, while others avoid me like the plague. I understand and take no offense to this. I am not everyones cup of tea. So let’s see what kind of tea you drink.
I believe we are devolving not evolving.
This is due to technology.
Here is my reason for this.
I believe that many centuries ago we walked this earth with ideal posture. We were a physically gifted species that were blessed to have a very unique brain. Not only could we build things with our hands, we also were able to conquer many environments and living conditions because our body was set up to do so. As we have gone from a lifestyle of living off the land which required us to be active and mobile, we have devolved our physical form to sit hunched over for many hours behind a computer or staring down at a cell phone. I know this from first hand experience.
One of the key tenets of BASI pilates is awareness.
How many of us are aware that the way we hold our body day in and day out contributes to our posture?
I wasn’t….
I am an 80’s kid who hit his teens in the 90’s when cable tv was really hitting its stride. We began to sit more and more behind the tv and just stare into the entertainment abyss. Computers were replacing typewrites and it’s functions were evolving year after year. Once the 2000’s hit, cell phones were everywhere. We were slowly becoming more and more addicted to technology and we didn’t even know it. Then smart phones hit the market. Need I say more?
If you read Joe Pilates book “return to health” you would more than likely spit out your tea. I on the other hand had a second and third cup.
More and more articles are coming out talking about rates of obesity, increase of disease and ailments and addiction to drugs. Our health and bodies are changing as well as the conversations around them. The term “text neck” has become common and anytime I meet someone new in my daily life who asks what I do for a living, they all respond the same way when I tell them I restore peoples posture.
“I have terrible posture”
Terrible is a subjective perspective and I rather keep things straightforward rather than dwell on some sort of defeatist stumbling block so I offer an objective perspective.
Most of us have postural deviations, that differ from one another you just have to know where your tight (shortened) muscles are and lengthen them, while strengthening the loose (lengthened) muscles to rebalance and restore your posture.
Evolving from where we are is to evolve our approach and have the right conversations around what health is. It starts with a baseline and for myself, that would translate to the ideal posture.
My head used to be very forward and I used to stare down when I would walk, my neck felt broken, as I was d-volving at breakneck speed…