The New Rules of Posture

In The New Rules of Posture, Mary Bond approaches postural changes from the inside out. She explains that healthy posture comes from a new sense we can learn to feel, not by training our muscles into an ideal shape. Drawing from 35 years of helping people improve their bodies, she shows how habitual movement patterns and emotional factors lead to unhealthy posture. She contends that posture is the physical action we take to orient ourselves in relation to situations, emotions, and people; in order to improve our posture, we need to examine both our physical postural traits and the self-expression that underlies the way we sit, stand, and move. The way we walk, she says, is our body’s signature. Bond identifies the key anatomical features that impact alignment, particularly in light of our modern sedentary lives, and proposes six zones that help create postural changes: the pelvic floor, the breathing muscles, the abdomen, the hands, the feet, and the head. She offers self-help exercises that enable healthy function in each zone as well as information on basic ergonomics and case histories to inspire us to think about our own habitual movements. This book is a resource for Pilates, yoga, and dance instructors as well as healthcare professionals in educating people about postural self-care so they can relieve chronic pain and enjoy all life activities with greater ease.

Mary Bond has a Master’s degree in dance from UCLA and trained with Dr. Ida P. Rolf as a Structural Integration practitioner. She is a movement instructor at the Rolf Institute and teaches movement workshops nationally. The author of Balancing Your Body, she has also published articles in numerous health and fitness magazines. She lives in California.

Foreword by Leon Chaitow, N.D., D.O. Preface Introduction: What Are the New Rules of Posture? PART ONE: AWARENESS 1. Your Conscious Body 2. Your Body’s Internet PART TWO: STABILITY 3. The Root of Posture 4. Healthy Breathing 5. Core Connections PART THREE: ORIENTATION 6. Your Heart’s Messengers 7. Footprints 8. Facing the World PART FOUR: MOTION 9. Healthy Walking 10. Articulate Living Afterword: Explore the New Rules of Posture, Together Appendix: Therapeutic Resources for Healthy Posture Bibliography Index EXPLORATIONS AND PRACTICES 1. YOUR CONSCIOUS BODY Your Neutral Breath A Stressful Moment Simple Pleasure Walking Inventory Your Best Foot Heel Strike Pelvic Mobility Arm Swing Spinal Mobility Head and Neck Stabilizing Actions 2. YOUR BODY’S INTERNET Postural Sway Fascial Continuity Sacroiliac Rocking Holistic Impact Counterrotation of Pelvis and Chest Curling and Arching 3. THE ROOT OF POSTURE Pelvis Palpation The Pelvic Floor Diamond The Anal Triangle Slouching Supported Sitting Bending Over Perceptual Fine Tuning Smart Reclining 4. HEALTHY BREATHING Quiet Breathing Active Breathing Global Breathing Awareness Breathing in Your Back Inhaling Beauty Exhaling Surrender The Spaciousness and Weight of Breathing Breathing in Gravity Slowing Your Breath with Sound Healthy Breathing, Healthy Posture 5. CORE CONNECTIONS Activating Your TA through the Pelvic Floor Activating Your TA from a Table Position Activating Your TA Lying Down A Shortcut to the Inner Corset Flying Table Bending Forward and Bending Down Posture as Relationship 6. YOUR HEART’S MESSENGERS A Tour of Your Shoulders Closing Your Shoulders Shoulder Expression Leverage Shoulder Blade Pulses Handprints on the Wall Serratus Shortcut Seated Sphinx Reaching Wall Traction First Aid for Your “Mouse Arm” Sacred Touch, Living Touch Two-way Touching Lifting Something Heavy 7. FOOTPRINTS Self-assessment of Your Feet Your Foot’s Dimple Relaxing Your Arches Footprints on the Wall Opening Your Feet Alternating Pressure between Forefoot and Heel Rocking from Stance Foot to Walking Foot Stepping into Your Whole Heel Help for Bunions Aligning Your Legs Shifting Sands Sitting to Standing Pushing the Floor Sacred Ground 8. FACING THE WORLD Jaw and Tongue Tensions Nose and Palate Tension Jaw and Inner Ear Distinguishing Cranium and Face Narrow Focus and Open Focus Releasing Eye Tension Receptive Eyes Welcoming the World 9. HEALTHY WALKING Stop and Go Wall Traction Enhanced Flying Table Enhanced Hip Rotation Counterrotation Pelvic Gyroscope Seated Spine Spirals Initiating a Step One Step One Step with Rotation Forget About It 10. ARTICULATE LIVING Body Parts Art Acceleration Your Best Walk Your Worst Walk Walking Your Way out of a Funk