This topic came up in the recent Walking with Poles class. Without realizing it, we may carry our head a bit forward radically changing the weight experienced by the neck. Here's a way to gently encourage more upright posture, drawn from Bones for Life®, the application of the Feldenkrais Method to posture, alignment and bone health.
Start by sitting comfortably, your feet on the floor. Give yourself time with this lesson -- it is subtle; imagine the suggested result at first if it isn't clear to you.
• Touch the back of your neck with the fingers of one hand; feeling the shape of that part of your spine.
• In your imagination,"glue" each finger to an individual vertebrae so they move together. Then look up and down with your head, feeling how your fingers, and therefore your vertebrae, get closer together when you look up, further apart when you look down.
• Keep one hand on your neck and let your other hand rest on your chest with the thumb under one collarbone and index and middle finger under the other. Gently use that hand to guide your chest and collarbones upward toward the ceiling and, with your fingers, feel your neck lengthening, with a bit more space between vertebrae. Keep your lower back relaxed -- no extra arching! Rest
• With a hand on your neck, let the other hand cradle your jaw, your chin between your thumb and index finger. Now gently guide your jaw back, almost like closing a drawer, feeling as if the back of your head lengthens upward and again feeling space between vertebrae in the neck. Rest and sense your sitting alignment
Once you're learned to align your neck while sitting, try it standing. One of the suggested "adjustments" may work better for you. Do what is easy but keep practicing -- changes happen slowly over time. Once you've found the upright posture, slowly walk in place, then around the room, appreciating your new way of being.
