Standing

STANDING
 Standing Still or Tadasana Iyengar, the Yoga master, accuses the human race of not paying attention to how to stand well. People he says, often have their weight thrown on one leg or back on the heels, or to the side. He advises us to look at how our shoes wear to see the evidence of imbalanced weight distribution. These things have effects of the elasticity of out spine. Feet should tend to be kept parallel, with hips turned in and chest forward. He claims this gives a feeling of lightness and even gives the mind more agility! Poor standing fatigues the body and soon the mind becomes dull.

It is therefore, he says, essential to master the art of standing correctly. Standing practice in Yoga is 'Tadasana'.


 * 1. Stand with feet touching, the body held erect.


 * 2. Tighten the thighs to pull on the knee caps and 'contract the hips'.


 * 3. Keep the stomach firm, pull the chest forward, gently stretch the spine whilst keeping the neck straight.


 * 4. Distribute body weight evenly on the soles of both feet.


 * 5. The arms can ideally be stretched out over the head, but it is acceptable to hold them down palms facing thighs.

Paraphrased from Light on Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar

This should be really done with a set of yoga asanas finishing with relaxation.


 * Note: Japanese Hara, the culture of the belly centre seems to go a stage on from this exercise. Having stretched the knee muscles and made the legs firm as tree trunks the strength is then with drawn from the legs up to the lower belly. It is then said that one places the feet on the ground by the strength of the 'koshi' (lower belly centre) alone.

 Standing 1 With reference to the section on body co-ordination in the senses section. The simplest direction towards postural improvement is:

The visualisation of spinal lengthening should be made without any application of will or effort. If one 'tries' as well as visualising, wrong muscles are tensed. The aim of the 'lengthening' is to activate only the muscles concerned with spinal support and not the muscles involved with larger movements of the torso. When these muscles are successfully reactivated the spine becomes an autonomously structured unit able to act as the flexible and responsive basis of an efficient erect posture.

An image often used is that of a cord from heaven attached to the base of the neck. The spine in our back hangs loosely from this thread. The neck and skull however are pulled up with it. These visualisations should not be accompanied by any muscular effort.

 Standing Small Dance: with the help of the Small Dance If poor skeletal alignment is chronic, as is most common, standing fatigue will soon occur. This is caused mainly by the pressure of tight muscles restricting veins especially in the lower limbs.

With good posture the weight is supported dynamically through the skeletal framework and frequent small sways distribute muscle tension and aid circulation around joints. This subtle movement has been called 'the small dance'. (by Steve Paxton).

When standing for a long time it is better to stand in slight step position and allow these tiny movements to continue to happen and to become aware of them (as you might if you were enjoying dancing).

Rather than shift from one uncomfortable distorted position to another which is the common pattern of standing movements.

Meditation on these small movements give a more detailed awareness of our standing postures.

 Standing Posture: a guide to further work on the posture of standing 1. Correct pelvis tilt. The pelvis is commonly tipped too far forward. A good image to hold is to imagine the pelvis as a bowl full of water that needs to be held level.

2. Centre weight at the thigh joints. Be aware of 'the small dance' especially as it occurs around the thigh joints.

Relax breathing so the belly participates in the breathing motion. Now move very slightly to one side so that your weight travels predominantly down through one thigh joint. Then with the subtlest hip movement transfer weight to the other leg. Do this until you can accurately place your weight on either leg. Then work on becoming aware of sharing weight equally between the two joints.

3. Improve use of Psoas major muscles (see illus.) These deep muscles control the spine/pelvis relationship. (link to empty suite)

4. Better balance of spine and head position Awareness of breathing will often give us the most profound reassurance of our present time safety and allow the tensions to temporarily slip away.

As this dynamic relaxation occurs a shift of the spine/neck/head relationship will often be felt. The chin will tuck in and the back of the neck be felt to lengthen and the head feel light and physically 'empty'. These effects are noticed through relaxation rather than by trying to do them.

Work on posture may be started by breathing relaxation and solo visualisation of imagery. Radical progress needs to be monitored by a postural teacher, and accompanied by pyschotherapy work on the original emotional causes of postural rigidities.

This guide although limited in scope can at least be a guard against the amount of incorrect knowledge that abounds in this area of therapy.

 Standing 2 Stand with feet parallel. Weight equally on both feet with weight slightly forward so that about 3/4 of your weight is going into the ground thourgh the front of the foot and about 1/4 through the heel.


 * Very very slowly shift your weight from one foot to the other. Returning to the centre (weight equally on both feet). The shift the C of G from front to back - re-establish the centre.


 * Repeat on the diagonal.


 * Finally take your weight in a circle and around the edge of the feet (see circle in diagram) spiral slowly in to find the centre again. Pause. Spiral outwards.

Do this slowly and with as much awareness as possible.

 Standing in Your Centre  Establish the image of a long centre line. Now put all your attention to the two hip joints. Sense the weight equally distributed onto the two thigh bones.
 * The centred weight of the upper body is balancing on these two bones (release buttocks and neck). This weight goes down the legs into relaxed feet felt as pyramids of clay. As you exhale imagine the weight of the upper body falling down the centre line, through the pelvis.


 * Once this image is established... As you exhale imagine support rising through the thigh sockets. Image the centre line as stationary and extending down and being fixed to the floor.


 * Taking tiny steps begin to rotate very slowly around this axis. At first initiate the rotation from the hip. Later it may be intitiated from other parts of the body.


 * After two or three revolutions walk forward a few steps... keeping hold of the centre line image.


 * Reverse direction...

It is essential to do this VERY slowly...