The types have their strengths
The four basic postural types that I describe all have their STRENGTHS as well as their weaknesses. This is worth remembering because we all too often presume the worst when we observe variations from a hypothetical postural norm. Postural types of the sort that I describe can be understood to house personality types as well… and having varieties of personality types in this world is an absolute necessity. Humanity is dependent on the varied skills the personality variation AND postural variation bring to our world. Variation in tonus or posture is present in childhood and, I strongly suspect, in utero as well. Different postural types are better at carrying out different functions. An extreme example would be that the general postural type of a sumo wrestler, even without the weight differential, would not be ideal for a ballerina… and vice versa. On the other hand, for both ballerinas and sumo wrestlers to experience a bit of the flavor of the body structure and tonus patterns of the other could be deeply useful to each of them.
In the exercise presented below, I hope that you experience a bit of the four postural variations and their STRENGTHS. In addition, you hopefully will experience how it is valuable to have some postural versatility in order to gracefully move as indicated.
This is an image exercise and the only action that will be required of you will be to stand while imagining it. The figures are only partially human in appearance. I want to show here the general tonus that your body should tend to move towards as you follow the following directions. The arms are missing in order to make the general dorsal/ventral wave pattern of each type more obvious. Though we do no longer have tails there is still a clear effect from imagining variation in an imaginary tail. Now for the exercise:
Start this exercise by choosing one of the four types. Do not endeavor to be that type with overt muscular effort and do not even try to imagine that you are that type. The following imagings, though, should “send” you slowly in that direction. The basic direction is to imagine that you are slowly walking up or down the stairs, either forwards or backward, depending on the directions the particular figure indicates. (If imagining stairs to climb cause you to be nervous of tripping or falling –which can be a fear, even in imagery – then imagine that you have only a gentle slope to either climb or descend.) Take one step and then another. It may take a while to get a sense of doing so. Then try to imagine it in a more continuous pattern, as though the staircase or hill was very long. Allow you body to shift a bit about at the ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, neck, or wherever. Experiment with that first variety for at least 30 seconds, let’s say, if not longer. The first changes that come to you posture are not necessarily the last ones that would take place from this imagery. Positive changes in ourselves come slowly… grace arrives in it own sweet time. Now proceed to the next variation in a clockwise pattern. Go all around the chart, experimenting with each direction.
You should have notice that your body wants to configure itself differently for each of the four tasks. This is good, the imagery brings about the appropriate configuration preparatory to healthy action. Later, you can try the experiment with switching from one form to its opposite, which is illustrated in the diagonally opposite direction. In time, you should find that one or more of these four variations of imaginary movement is more pleasurable and good for you… jiggling you out of your habits… and the opposite one is decidely not. That will help you when playing with any of the type-specific imagery in blog entries or on the type-specific page or on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Posture-Release-Imagery/151964398167194 . And you will learn to appreciate, in many ways, postural variation and the postural types, for what they do especially well as well as where they fail.
That’s it. Good luck. I’d love for you to report back.