Postural/ relaxation

POSTURE
 exercise Correct Use of Body: a checklist  It is difficult to assess your own wrong habits accurately or in detail due to the integration of breathing with other body co-ordination. To do this well you really need the help of an expert, however here are some generally useful hints.
 * The weight of the head is held up by a thread, the neck muscles are released and the head balances on the spine with the minimum of help from neck muscles.
 * Feel breathing as an activity of the middle back and sides of the abdomen as well as to the front of the chest were it is more obvious.
 * As you exhale release tension in the upper chest, shoulders and neck. There is a feeling of air being pumped into the spine.
 * As you inhale feel the trunk expansion as a full and even increase of girth and length. Notice how the back widens and spine elongates. Relax and allow it to happen as fully as it will.
 * As you breath out check that the genitals and buttocks are relaxed:
 * To check the flexibility of the lower ribs which is most important for the full use of the lungs. Rest the wrists against the sides of the ribs just below the breasts. As you breath out it is common to find the chest rising instead of the sides of the ribs expanding. To remedy this place your fists against the lower ribs and press hard as you exhale. Then feel the ribs swing out as the breath comes in. Repeat this rythmicaly several times.

 exercise Postural Imagery Lie on your back with knees up and arms to the side. Have a small cushion supporting your head. Breathe normally, relax and choose one of the following images to hold in the minds eye.
 * See your own diaphragm as a piston that moves up a few inches during exhalation and down during inhalation.
 * Imagine a long thermometer in the central axis of your trunk. The red mercury moves up towards the head in exhalation and down towards the pelvis with inhalation.
 * Inhaled air is imagined flowing down channels in the back to fill balloons in the pelvis which extend as filled down the legs towards the heels. Hiss out the used air without effort.

 Release of Shoulders To increase the flexibility of the shoulder girdle and rib cage.

A. Rest Position Method.

Lie down down with knees up and arms extended beyond the head. Exhale forcefully with a prolonged sibilant sssssssssssssssss. Hiss for as long as possible without bending the spine. Repeat 4 - 8 times resting between each attempt.

B. Standing Method.

Lift shoulders alld then drop. How easily do they fall back into place?

Raise arms above head and hold them up there. Exhale, hissing, as long as you can on a single breath. Then whilst inhaling allow the arms to swing down and hang loosely. Shrug your shoulders again and compare the ease with which they drop with your previous attempt. repeat 3 - 5 times.

Be sure the neck stays relaxed.

 Postural lmagery 2 As with the following activities the most fundamental image for breathing is that of the long 'spine'. Imaging a long centre line within ourselves will help us to relax eyes, nostrils, jaw, neck, shoulders and breath. Touch these parts of the body as you 'let go' or 'release' and relax thinking of the long centre line.

The head must be seen as an extension of this centre line (as the spinal cord is in fact an extension of the brain) and perfectly balanced. This image and the resulting improved balance of the head on top of the spine makes the head feel lighter.

On exhalation feel our weight dropping down the back of the spinal column.

Having achieved the above mixture of perception and imagery. On inhalation see the spine as lengthening and the space between each vertebra increasing... relieving the intervertebral disc pads of pressure.

Allow yawns or sighs if they arise.



 Core Strength Enabling the Transversus Abdominis to do their stabilising work by bringing them into conscious control. The basic element of strengthening you lower back and avoiding sciatic and disc problems.

First: Find the neutral position of the lower back. Not too arched and not too straight. Second: Lie in the critical rest position (on back with knees up) and breathe normally. On an outbreath grip your pelvic floor muscles (as if stopping yourself crapping) and then at the end of the out breath make hummm. You can feel the TVA muscles contracting by placing your finger inside the front of the pelvic girdle. Contract them about 20% and hold for a count of ten.

Repeat ten times daily.

During this exercise it is important that the spine remains still, that the upper abs or neck are not tensed and that breathing continues in a relaxed way.

This exercise may be taken into sitting and standing. See Critchley et al.