What is Bad Posture? (And why does it matter?)

[@Novolinemusic]

I put off watching this one until now because of the daunting title, I wasn't ready to confront it all! But on a whim, I now watched it with my son. He's 11, and 2 years of pandemic isolation has put him in a contorted shape. He understood the video, possibly more than what I have been talking about with him (I started reading FM's books in 2001 and have been continually dissappointed in in-person modern AT lessons since, but I have had lessons with Jeando in 2017 and more recently with P. Easten..) Congrats again. Your story telling has improved since this video (and I say this as a trained filmmaker/editor), but in any case, I dare say that you are the only person in the iAT or AT world that has the ability to express these concepts with the moving image. Keep it up!

[@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147]

Thanks! I really do appreciate the feedback positive and negative. As my first video, this one's certainly not my best presentation, but I think it's got some good stuff in it, and I'm glad to hear it had some value for you and your son.

[@Oblisk]

Why am I just finding this now 😫 could’ve used this 3y ago when you released it lmao

[@future9944]

Exactly how i feel for many years . I had these thoughts on some intuition level. Thanks for explaining this in structured way.

[@ahenriquez1474]

Changed the way I look at fascia!! Seen it as being an anchor was mindblowing! Thanks so much! 🙏

[@ahLeftside28]

Congrats on the channel. Expecting great videos from you 🥳

[@victorortel]

man, im so glad i discovered u

[@ErlandKarlek]

Impressive knowledge, brother.

[@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147]

Your posture matters. Posture is one of the most misunderstood things in the world, which partially explains why nearly everyone living in modern civilization has bad posture. This video is the beginning of an explanation of what exactly bad posture is, what causes it, and why it matters. Initial Alexander Technique lessons are done over Zoom. They are designed to cultivate your ability to apply your rational mind to how you move. For more information about lessons you can visit my website or go straight to the creator of iAT, Jeando Masoero. My website: mechanicsofpoise.com/ Masoero's website: www.initial-alexandertechnique.org/ You can contact Masoero to set up lessons at: [e-mail] You can contact me at: [e-mail] "I propose a great, a worthy subject for your study. ... I offer you a work superior even to those sciences which have been described to you; superior to all which the genius of a Michaelangelo or a Raphael could conceive; a work in comparison with which all the magnificences of science and art must pale. I propose that you should contemplate yourselves! Nothing is so unfamiliar to man as himself." François Delsarte Special thanks to LJ for help with image editing.

[@OscarBest1]

great video!

[@ssaammii]

a few days ago I had a day out where I walked for a good 4/5 hours, and throughout that day, i made sure to consciously tilt my pelvis "back" and maintain a curve in my upper back, keeping my front ribs facing forward, even if it made my buffalo hump stand out even more. I returned home with almost zero pain in my back, the kind of strain in my lumbar that id usually get after 30 minutes of walking. I want to try and make that my normal posture. overall, im glad i found this video, to indicate that it isnt hopeless, and there is a way out

[@Joe-sg9ll]

SAME! how goes it 3w later??

[@abdusqamar9667]

Found this now, I've always been told my posture is perfect and I've attributed that to doing calisthenics and sports my whole life. Watching this I looked in the mirror and my pelvis is definitely tilted with that arch in the back you were talking about. When I tense my glutes it straightens out and feels more comfortable. Definitely will check some of the resources out after this as it's interesting. The improved posture looks a bit strange though in the video with the arms internally rotated.

[@WMDB4637]

Realized this when going to handstand classes. Was super hard to get the body to stack upside down due to the bend.

[@x.p.3574]

Can you point me in the direction of any published papers supporting the benefits of Jeando Masoero’s teachings?

[@zimmelzitrone3811]

Isn't a S-Bend spine natural? From what I understand it has this shape to dampen shock from walking or landing when falling. Is the goal of the method that you explain in your vidoes really to straiten the spine, or just to rotate your hips and lower back horizontal?

[@jakeromano9912]

Great video! Question: do you know why this standard of bad posture became so normalized? Was it sheer ignorance or were people misled by institutional study?

[@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147]

Why exactly everyone has bad posture is tough to answer conclusively. It will surely be the topic of a future video! I have two points that might answer your question, though. 1. People have largely only learned to apply their conscious mind to individual movements. They can consciously decide to reach their arm forward, for instance. But when they do that, they usually don’t realize that they’ve subconsciously made a number of habitual and unnecessary movements with their torso (and other parts of their body like their shoulders) at the same time. That’s why the mind’s ability to consciously direct the movement of multiple parts of the body simultaneously must be developed to actually get at the root cause of bad posture. In sense, it’s a failure of education. Our systems of education (in the broadest sense, not just schooling) cultivate immediate, almost unthinking responses. In the traditional model, if you are asked to reach your arm forward, you have succeeded if your arm went forward. Your torso is not even considered, nor are any habitual unneeded movements that occur. Since most people will never be asked to consciously direct multiple movements, their ability to do so is never developed. Luckily, we can gain the skill if we work at it in a rational way. 2. Most serious scientific inquiry into anatomy and related fields is done using cadavers. Though some of the information gotten through that study can be useful, there exists very little real investigation into the best way for a living person to their use body. F.M. Alexander had an interesting anecdote about meeting some of the most renowned experts of his time in anatomy. He found it curious that despite their wide knowledge of anatomy, they all had bad posture, many even had worse posture than your average person. Their knowledge was useless to them because they had no means by which to apply it to their life (although in some cases they were flat out wrong because they were studying dead bodies lying on tables and not living people). Basically every human subject a modern scientist could study will have bad posture. Over time, it becomes natural to assume that, since bad posture is so common, that it is normal. Further inquiry is then stifled by the faulty assumption that certain kinds of bad posture are normal.

[@davidtyree1129]

@@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147 So the book "The story of the human body", I think would make the argument bad posture falls into the category of a mismatch disease, we're no longer using our bodies in a way they were originally adapted for, we sit too much, don't walk enough. Essential making our current usage a mismatch for what we were adapted for.

[@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147]

@@davidtyree1129 F.M. Alexander said something similar. He believed that early man guided themselves completely subconsciously (using their instincts), but that as man developed their conscious mind, they began to use that for some tasks. As modern civilization began changing faster and faster, we relied less on our instincts. Since our instincts were no longer being honed by natural needs (e.g. we no longer needed to chase down animals to get food, we instead sat at a desk to earn money for food), our instincts began to fail us. However, since we had never rationally applied our conscious mind to how we move, we were still relying on our now highly faulty instincts to subconsciously guide how we moved. That is why he believed the solution was to use our rational mind to consciously guide and control ourselves.

[@travisthompson1679]

This is very interesting. I've been on this journey for a while now trying to figure out what to do. It took me a very long time just to get to the point where I'm pretty sure my problems are due to posture, but trying to correct it has been extremely frustrating. I would be interested to know if you are familiar with the Postural Restoration Institute (PRI) in Nebraska and if so, what you think about them? I've been watching Neal Hallinan, a PRI practitioner, and what he says is similar to what you've said here, but I've had mixed success with trying to use some of the exercises/movements he demonstrates. I'm going to check out what you have on your channel and possibly Masoero's stuff as well. Also, this is a great presentation. The visuals and information are top notch.

[@hustler3577]

I don't have money to spend. But I want to fix my Tilted pelvis and protruding belly posture. How can I start ? Which exercises are important for me ?

[@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147]

In my opinion, exercises are not the solution. People will engage in exercises in the same way that led them to problems in the first place. We all tend to go deeper into our bad habits when faced with a difficult task (whether the task is predominantly physical or mental), so when we engage in conventional “exercises” we exaggerate our postural faults to accomplish the exercise. As a result our posture gets worse in the long run. The problem is not a lack of strength, it’s a lack of coordination of the different parts of the body. What you need to develop is coordination - that is, coordinating multiple movements of different parts of the body simultaneously. The difficulty is largely mental, though in my opinion there is really no separation between mental and physical. I’m attempting to lay out the basis for using a rational system to improve your coordination in my video series: Beginning to Self-Regulate Your Postural System. As I said in the video, if you have no money to hire a teacher, then you will have to work that much harder yourself. I recommend looking at the work of Jeando Masoero, as most of my advice is based on his work, and he is one of the few people out there that actually knows what he's talking about when it comes to posture. I wish I could just explain how to fix your pelvis and belly in a few sentences, but I cannot. This channel will continue to release more specific information and procedures that you can experiment with to improve your posture.

[@hustler3577]

@@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147 Thankful,that means a lot. I wish I get rid of this weak and protruding abs , arching lower back and Anterior pelvic tilt.

[@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147]

@@hustler3577 It’s important to understand that you do not “have” an arched lower back or tilted pelvis. You are arching your back. You are tilting your pelvis. You are making movements that lead to the arched back and tilted pelvis that you see. Most people make these movements subconsciously and don’t realize that they’re making them. But that really is the problem. We need to take conscious control over our movements and stop ourselves from making movements that we don’t want. Your pelvis is not tilted for a physiological reasons, you tilt your pelvis because it’s what feels normal and correct to you. That is why our feeling sense is so unreliable in leading us to better posture. For instance, when you go to stand, you make a series of movements and then stop the movements when you feel like you’re standing up straight. But which movements you make and when you stop are probably not rational decisions you’re making, instead you rely on what feels like standing up straight to you. But when you check to see if you are standing up straight, you see that in reality your pelvis is tilted, and that is causing the abdomen to protrude and the back to hollow. What your feeling sense believes is “standing up straight” is actually standing with a tilted pelvis. Consciously controlling the movements that make up the gesture of standing is how one is able stand up straight. This is tough to do because we are so reliant on our feeling sense, and it feels strange to go against our feeling sense (especially at first). But your feeling sense will get used to standing up straight just as it got used to standing with a tilted pelvis. The real trick is understanding what movements you need to make, and then gaining the skill to make those movements when you intend to. It requires experimentation and objective feedback (as that is the only way to know if you are in fact standing up straight or tilting your pelvis).

[@hustler3577]

@@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147 okay your explanation is really impressive. And now got the idea of consciously controlling movements every time. But how to know what should be the perfect posture that I need to get my feeling sense to teach consciously & subconsciously,or do I just need to focus on the pelvic tilt ? Or do I need to correct everything from cervical to pelvis ? If you just clarify that for me in easy language than it would be really helpful to me. Thanks

[@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147]

@@hustler3577 That is the other element that requires some study to understand: What is the correct relation of the various parts of the body? What are the correct movements to make to stand (or do any gesture)? I will be getting more deeply into that in future videos, and I can again recommend studying the work of Jeando Masoero. To begin with, you can certainly focus on one thing like the pelvis. But to make real progress you will have to address everything: the upper torso, the mid-torso, the feet, the ankles, the knees, the thighs, the pelvis, the upper arms, the elbows, etc. When working with the pelvis, remember what I outlined in this video. Most people have the top, front end of their pelvis falling forward and down, and that causes the bottom of the pelvis (the sit bones) to angle backward and up. You want to rotate the pelvis so that the sit bones actually move forward while the top front end moves backward and up. You also do not want to bend your knees to accomplish this. I wish I could lay it all out in just a few sentences, but I'm making these videos precisely because it takes some time to fully explain these concepts.

[@nappyboi312]

I like the look of the military posture, but I guess it doesnt seem that natural does it.

[@IsaacTheSalsaShark1]

I tried following your posture system, but it made my pectus excavatum worse, so I will have to stop.

[@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147]

Pectus excavatum is a tricky problem because it's a postural problem that is not the result of your habitual movements. We know this because it can be diagnosed in infants, so it appears to something you're born with. While the average person needs a lot of help getting the lower sternum back and up, which is why I mention it quite frequently, that's not the best way to think about the issue if you have pectus excavatum. Instead, substitute the lower ribs for the lower sternum. The lower ribs from the eighth rib up to the lower sternum are all on the frontal plan of the ribcage. People with pectus excavatum will usually still have their lower ribs too far forward. When we talk about manipulating the sternum, that's just one way of talking about the overall rotation of the ribcage. You can manipulate the ribcage by directing the lower ribs or the ribs at the side of the body as well. Like I said, I only focus on the lower sternum so much because the average person needs it and it's easier to comprehend because it's at the front of the body so you can see it. But the overall rotation of the ribcage is the point, and is applicable even to people with pectus excavatum.

[@GaMeZaHoY]

We are slowly evolving into a cave goblin. Hunched, blind, and pale

[@LateNightChess]

What about posterior pelvic tilt

[@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147]

I address this in the 12th video of the torso series. The posture that is called PPT displays nearly all the same issues. The pelvis, far from being back, is still pushed forward. It is slightly different, but not really that much.

[@LateNightChess]

@@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147 thanks for your reply.

[@MichaTheLight]

Interesting material mate. I had severe rounded back many, many years ago Hobby Thai Massage solved the issue but then my lower was still curved I got in slightly bend knee stance and then I rotated the lower part of the pelvis forward and the upper part automatically rotated inward and reduced my curve drastically I still have a slight curve but nothing as before I also belief that we shouldn't stand with totally straight legs a slight bend of knees feels much better sure also when you rotate you pelvis. Although that my arms aren't pulled forward like in your case I don't need to bend my arms. So this was my test to see if I'am standing right. 21:08 deep squads are also great

[@arbadart1012]

I have one issue I can't get past. When showing examples of sternal tilt you draw lines in line with either the breast of the women or any pics aside from the one of yourself you took, have men with large pec muscles and you draw the line in line with the muscle angle. The sternum would not follow the line of those features and would be more up and down. A few times you did draw through the breast a more accurate line but many times they had exaggerated tilts not in line with the sternums. Not trying to be rude, just something I feel is inaccurate

[@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147]

While it’s true that a couple lines are slightly inaccurate (this is an old video), I don’t think they’re meaningfully inaccurate. It’s not chest muscles that are producing that angle, which is obvious if you look at where the lower ribs are.

[@aCockerSpaniel]

Wow, great video! I just subscribed and I intend to watch all your videos to learn about IAT. Perhaps I will get a teacher online during or after it. Thank you very much.