A student sent this image, part of a thread she saw on social media. She wondered if one of this gentleman’s regrets might be not taking better care of his posture.
My guess is that he very likely doesn’t regret not improving his posture, because he doesn’t know he could have changed it. He might well believe that slumped, weak posture is an inevitable part of aging.
To be clear, this lack of awareness is not his fault. Collapsed posture is our cultural blind spot, so common that we no longer really see it. Physical collapse is everywhere, and happens at every age.
Check out this photo from a TV show:
Unless this boy takes action to change his sitting alignment, he will eventually look like the older man above.
Both of these people are suffering from premature aging. Yes, even the older man. By shifting his alignment he could look younger, and pretty much instantly too. He just needs to know what to do.
You don’t have to have any regrets about your posture. Just follow the guidelines below.
On your own body locate the place where Adam in the Bible would put a fig leaf. It’s at the front of your pelvis, low between your legs.
Lift your butt off your chair, bend at your hip sockets, and move the fig leaf back, through your legs. Sit back down.
The man below sits well. He’s from Sicily, Italy, and he sits in Balance because a lot of the people in Italy sit this way.
Notice how his pants have creases at the tops of his legs, in the groin area. You want to have those creases, too. If you don’t have them, lift your pelvis again, move the fig leaf through your legs, and sit.
When you sit this way, you will be aware of the bones you’re sitting on. If your bones hurt from sitting on the chair, sit on a cushion. In time you will stop feeling the pressure and won’t need a lot of cushioning.
Notice that our Sicilian friend’s torso is relaxed. He is not lifting his chest to “sit up straight.” He relaxes through his torso and his spine stacks. He’s safe.
Compare his posture with the young man sitting behind him, collapsed into modern posture. What makes their posture so different?
It’s all a result of how they place their pelvis. To sit like the Sicilian man, move your fig leaf back and sit on the bones at the front of your pelvis. Relax your torso. You are already better, more upright, safer.
Sit like this all the time. Make it a habit. Congratulate yourself. You’re already better. And whatever age you are now, know that you’re going to be free of posture regret as the years go by.
Here to help, always,
Jean
