As I write this I’m currently slouching with my laptop in my lap. Is my slouching going to leave me in pain or sick or take years off my life? Nope. That’s not really how things work.
But for years I was taught, and pretty much accepted, falsehoods about bad posture. I was taught good posture was important to health and that bad posture caused, or was a sign of, all kinds of maladies.
Without good posture —proper alignment — weakness, injuries, pain, illness, and even decreased mental acuity would occur.
And if you engaged in sports you had to line up all your anatomical dots — ears, shoulders, hips, ankles — in order to achieve your full athletic potential and prevent injury.
Stand up straight or die!
However none of this is true.
These misconceptions explain why, for years, I was often complimented on my good posture but I was also experiencing pain in my body. The compliments were nice but the pain sucked.
But I continued on the proper posture path because I’d heard from so many people; chiropractors, coaches, trainers, massage therapists, and health care professionals that proper posture held the promise of feeling better and living more optimally.
This kept me studying the subject of posture. So I read books and attended posture based workshops and workshops that focused on proper alignment in movement.
I did the exercises I was taught.
And I could stand upright against the wall and make my body fit the mold of “good posture”.
It was a lot of work.
And it didn’t really work.
The information and training I received didn’t create the sustainable changes I’d hoped to see in myself and in my clients. It was frustrating.
But then I heard the most honest and insightful take I’d ever heard or read about posture.
The take? Posture is a reflex.
No talk of good posture or bad posture. Just — posture is a reflex.
It was a mic drop kinda moment.
Proper (good) posture wasn’t something to achieve. Posture was something to be lived and expressed.
Where did I hear this simple and powerful truth about posture? I heard it at the first Original Strength workshop I attended.
Along with the posture is a reflex revelation the folks teaching the workshop also shared the keys to strengthening the reflex.
The keys? You work with how the body is designed to move. The way to do this is to Press Reset.
Pressing Reset allows your body the chance to naturally provide data to your nervous system. Data that might be missing or temporarily misplaced due to lack of use or misuse or injury.
This data informs your nervous system so that your postural reflex can operate more efficiently and help your body make better choices.
And it all happens at the speed of the nervous system. And that’s wicked fast.
Resets are the foundation to a more robust, dynamic, and resilient postural reflex. This is important because your posture is how you meet and interact with the world. Essentially, your posture is you.
At that first OS workshop, as we Pressed Reset, I saw people reach squat depths and strength PRs they didn’t think possible. I witnessed people move more fluidly as their bodies found a more natural and optimal alignment as they moved. They didn’t have to stop and think it.
I experienced the same shifts within myself. And I’ve witnessed that same phenomenon happen at every OS workshop I’ve attended.
And one young guy at that first workshop had scoliosis. It was easy to see the effects of his curve when the workshop started. But as we moved through the resets his body shifted. His body found more balance within the uniqueness of the scoliotic design of his spine. And like all of us he was geeked — full of joy— because he could suddenly do things he thought were out of reach for him. He skipped that day for the first time in his life.
And here’s the thing, all of us have uniqueness in our design because we are all different and also the same in so many ways. But Pressing Reset works for every body — for everybody. It has helped me move out of pain when I’ve done stupid. The resets have greatly benefitted my clients.
Unfortunately because the Original Strength Resets aren’t fancy people can miss and/or forget the powerful shifts that come with Pressing Reset.
But I can attest that just when I think I’ve gotten all I can out of a reset, it’s usually a sign that there’s more richness to be discovered.
Now back to my slouching…
Slouching is just a form my body takes for a period of time. It’s neither good nor bad.
Now if I’ve fallen off my reset wagon then my slouching can become me because my postural reflex isn’t strong enough to shift me easily out of my slouch mode. That doesn’t feel good.
However, if I show up each day and do as little as 5 minutes here and 5 minutes there of resets then my body can move into a slouching posture and then move easily out of it. My body can inherently find its balance and shift from slouch mode to upright mode.
The resets nourish my posture reflex — my nervous system — and also sustain it.
So yea, slouching doesn’t kill.
And posture isn’t good or bad or right or wrong.
Posture isn’t a thought through and over cued alignment of your body.
Posture is a reflex.
And Pressing Reset renews that reflex.
Which ultimately will renew you.
Contact me if you’re interested in learning how Pressing Reset can help you feel better + move better: sarah@asimplewellness.com