Perfect Posture

MINIs in use by Ballet Dancers

Perfect Posture Starts with your Feet

We simply cannot discuss perfect posture without addressing standing. Let's start at the bottom, with the feet.

We have a product called "The MINIs." They are dual rollers, measuring 5 and 2 1/2 inches respectively. These rollers are incredibly light, versatile, and attached for ease of use. The MINIs allow for various stretches, strengthening exercises, and balance activities. They are so convenient that you could be seated watching television or working at your computer, and still benefit from using them. Standing with The MINIs offers numerous additional benefits such as improved posture, better balance, and relief from tightness in the Achilles and calf muscles. Using The MINIs can also help lift and strengthen your arches, which is vital for those with fallen arches, a common problem often due to excess weight.

These foot products are unusually comfortable compared to others on the market, some of which are hard, difficult, and frustrating to use. I recall giving a set of a different brand to my son who had foot pain. He found them so uncomfortable that he told me he'd prefer to endure the pain. This is not the case with The MINIs, which are enjoyable to use.

Release Tension in Your Head and Neck

Now, let's move from the feet to the head. We have a product called the "HeadFloater," which is best used while lying down on your back, a position officially known as supine. This tool draws inspiration directly from the Alexander Technique, a principle that has been adopted by Pilates enthusiasts.

The HeadFloater consists of a wonderful neoprene band that fits around your skull, from your forehead to the occiput. Attached to the band are cords that connect to straps. While lying down with a book under your head (a classic Alexander Technique), you pull these straps while inhaling and exhaling. As you continue this, you'll feel a release in the tension in your head and neck. This is a common tightness that most people experience, which sometimes eases naturally, but often requires a massage for relief.

However, not everyone has the time or resources to get a professional massage whenever needed. This is where the HeadFloater comes in handy. It's portable, lightweight, and highly effective for the entire cervical spine. You can carry it in your backpack and use it whenever you need it.

Taken together, the MINIs and HeadFloater can help you get one step closer to having Perfect Posture.

Posture Products

Google this term and instantly there are 61 million hits! Why is this category so popular today? It certainly dwarfs other fitness goals. Remember the six pack? Remember thin thighs? Well, everyone's given up on that, of course. But Posture was always in our vocabulary. People born in the 40s know that a woman would  practice walking  with a book on her head so that she would be able to appear taller or leaner. And more graceful. For men, there wasn't any issue because military service was compulsory and there was military posture. And then there was seated posture.  Since women wore skirts or dresses and heels,  they had to be seated in a way so  one couldn't see up inside the hem because this would be immodest. So they would sit with legs crossed but only at the ankles while keeping  their knees together. Military posture meant that  seated the feet were firmly planted on the floor and the torso was straight and  upright. Of course, all this started to disappear because of television  and “talking heads.”  People wanted to look good and they soon saw that  the camera added 15 to 20 pounds. So no matter how lean you were, you looked heavier. That brought us to the cross-legged posture because people quickly figured out that if they crossed one leg over the other—usually the right leg over the left one—and angled a bit, they would look better. Once women could wear pants, which was in the late 60s, the other posture was no longer needed for modesty.  Men didn’t  adopt this horrendous posture until much later because it was considered effeminate, but, of course, all of that's gone. 

So now we have posture as a big category. And it's extremely complex how we got to this strong point.  Some of it is obvious because people are feeling pain maybe resulting from being hunched  over mobile devices. They believe they can get relief from better posture. if you do sit properly, your spine will support you and you will feel more comfortable and have less pain. But if you talk to anyone about the word posture they'll push their shoulders back and bob their head upwards into some rigid holding position. 

Nothing is more visible than it was on ABC TV with Lindsey Newitter who is an Alexander Teacher  who goes by the name Posture Police. Minutes before her segment, the hosts were assembled on a circular couch—three women and  two men all  with legs crossed (one man didn’t cross his). Everybody straightened up while their legs were still crossed!! Of course, this is so silly. It makes you wonder how Pilates has prospered for all these years since 1991 when I started the Institute for the Pilates Method. Obviously,  high-level people with access to the best  training have so little body awareness. Think about it. You're seated. You have your right thigh over your left. That's the case mostly. And that thigh is probably not too light either.  You are completely torquing your body which is one of the reasons why there's so much sciatic pain. You are unbalancing your pelvis which is the worst thing you can do. That's where posture originates. Not by forcing your shoulders back and trying to do something with your head. It starts in the pelvis. Of course, it starts even before in the feet, but we'll get into that one later. On this TV show are highly educated, sophisticated people with their personal trainers doing Pilates probably and they're doing the worst thing for their precious  bodies.

I remember this because at that point we were launching SmartSEAT™— our posture prop. It’s odd looking—19” long. It's  foam. It's black and one end is only 7 inches wide. You look at it and you think, how is my ass  going to fit on it? There's just too much real estate back there. And, of course, that's the point. It doesn't. The only parts that are on it are your sitting bones which are a maximum of  seven inches apart. And sitting bones are the only things that are  important. The rest of that real estate—muscle and bone and fat—is draped on the chair. There is a long part that ends in a pommel—it  almost looks like  a saddle you would have on a horse. You squeeze it with your thighs  thus activating your pelvic floor. This you do too when you post.

So this is SmartSeat—and it is very smart. You sit on it and then you move on it: move off of it to the right. Then to the left, forward and  back. You rock on it. Actually feels pretty good, right? But what you are  trying to do is  retrain an area that has unbalanced your hips. It's really bad. Your hips, your knee is torqued and this goes all the way down to your foot, which is why people have so much foot pain. A lot of it is a result of this dumb crossed-leg posture. Obviously SmartSeat  doesn't look like all the other seats that are sold on Amazon.  Many of them have been very popular for decades. Some are good, but you have to fit in them and that's sort of a  problem because  we have all sized up. Yes, 65%—not 41%—are obese.  Most of  the common  seat cushions have a configuration that's supposedly suggests to  you not to cross your legs. BUT, they don't prevent  it either like SmartSeat which also retrains the inner thighs. And that's why people are now buying SmartSEAT.

Other issues: spider veins. Now those are not life threatening, but they definitely are ugly and happen as a result of this cross-legged posture. Now even for people who don't cross their legs—people whose legs are too big  for one to cross over the other—their tendency is to  sit back in what we call a posterior tilt. This posture puts  too much pressure on the sacrum. and is a direct line to back pain. 

So it's no surprise that people are not feeling that great in their bodies. SmartSEAT is a terrific product which is why it's patented. It also comes with something which we call Wedges by SmartSEAT™. These are two extras and each one weighs only  1/2 an ounce.  People buy them in multiples because they fit easily in a  pocketbook, backpack  or briefcase. Take them anywhere so that wherever you're seated—maybe it's a movie theatre or somebody's office—you will have these  helpers to make your body feel better. Position them wherever you want, even using them at home on a couch. When you're watching television, you will be able to put one where you've been crossing since that hip is lifted. You fill in that space because your hip is not going to be balanced. Your pelvis and your torso are not balanced because of what you've done to it.

Now no one is born with a perfectly symmetrical body, but you can make yours so much better!

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