Posture and structure

Taking the Experiential Anatomy course with Judith Hanson Lasater and Mary Richards has opened my eyes to so much.  Another thing that has opened my eyes is being an assistant to Judith at two of her Restorative trainings for Level I, the most recent being in June 2018.  One of the other assistants at this training, Barbara, mentioned the book "Bodystories: a guide to experiential anatomy" by Andrea Olsen.  The following is from this book. 

"Our bodies are dynamic entities.  Our cells are reproducing, processing, and dying constantly as we live.  Within a year, a month, the time it takes to read these words, we literally are not the same person we were before.  Change is constant throughout the life cycle of the body.

Structure is our physical body: the bones, muscles, and other tissues which comprise our bodies.  Structure is affected by our heredity and by our life experience in terms of nutrition, illness, body use and abuse.  Posture is the way we live in our structure--the energy and attitudes which moment by moment shape our bodies.  Our posture affects our structure, and our structure affects our posture, and both can change.  We share a common structure, but the way we inhabit that structure is very different. 

Both posture and structure are about choice.  We choose how we live in our bodies and our life choices affect our underlying structure.  A healthy body remains able to respond-responsible-to changes in situations, people, and personal growth which occur moment by moment throughout our lives.

Throughout our lives, but especially during adolescence, conformity to outer images of what the body is supposed to be, defined by social, cultural and religious norms, makes a division between our inner impulses and our outward manifestations.  Less and less attention is given to what is coming from the inside.  We often need instruction on developing a healthy dialogue with our physical being.  As young adults, much of the time is spent trying to "do" something to ourselves, to look better, get stronger, be thinner, work harder.  And as mature adults and senior citizens, we are encouraged to deny or mask the aging process, to glorify youth rather than appreciate the beauty inherent at every age. 

Consider the amount of time spent feeling good about our bodies.  How often do we communicate with ourselves?  Do we enjoy our physical capacities and efficiency?   There is often a sense that one is either the master or the victim of one's own body.  It becomes important to understand that the body has its own way of functioning, its own way of telling us what's going on inside, its own logic.  Much of our task is to learn to listen.