The Language of Posture
People like to focus on making sure they have ‘'good posture', but I think it is important not to conflate posture with morality. I do however think asking whether or not our posture feels supportive is a helpful question - supportive as in are our muscle fibres are both able to engage and relax; are they able to balance workloads with rest; are able to fire and respond appropriately, even subconsciously, for the benefit of our whole self?
I do not believe in good or bad posture. I think it is wild that we are raised in a culture that has historically attached moral superiority or inferiority to the shape of our trunks. “Sit up straight!” the teacher shouts, as if desk slouching is a morality detector that reveals who are the “bad” children. Perhaps it is true that our modern society is less attached to morality than days of early colonial settlements. However we often inherit narratives without recognizing their origins, or whether they align with our values. We still associate posture as being inherently good or bad, and that often impacts how we feel about ourselves.
Instead of trying to shape ourselves to appear “good,” whether that be aesthetically or morally good, I choose to understand posture as a form of language our muscle fibres communicate through to let us know what our bodies might be needing. Our postures have the capacity to tell us a story of our past, our present and they contribute to determining our movements for the future. Posture is a language to understand our bodies' needs as we continue to engage with our environments. I see it as a story that is always in transition, and a story to always learn from.
Our brains are only so capable of carrying the memories of our life experiences. However our bodies are both shaped by and carry them in our physical structures: in our skin, in our muscles, our bones, our organs, our cells, our postures. When we learn to decipher the language of posture, we learn to recognize what we need to better support ourselves. This will be most possible when we learn to stop judging them. Fortunately, the practice of recognizing and listening to the stories held in our postures also supports the practice of letting go of our judgments.
Posture may feel supportive, or painful, or numb, or wobbly, or stable, or resilient to fatigue and stress. It may look slouchy or upright, stiff or relaxed, aligned, twisted, or crooked. Our postures are capable of communicating with great vocabulary.
Have you wondered, what is your posture saying to you?
