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Extreme Veteran
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| What is the Iyengar view on good posture? Or your personal insights? |
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Veteran
Posts: 258
| A good posture is that posture in which you have full awareness and consciousness of every cell of your body from the top of your head to the edge of your toes.
I saw Mr. Iyengar saying this in an interview. Many people claim that the Iyengar method is good mainly because of it’s precise and detailed alignment “rules”/directions. But there is much more than that and for me personally the above phrase is one of the most important things to consider when I am doing my yogasana practice
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Extreme Veteran
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| Thanks Kristi. Much appreciated. You are right, there is much more than that. In what he says, he doesn't explain what a good posture is. A bit like saying a good posture is one where your arms dont fall off. Supposedly one can be in a 'poor' posture with optimum awareness and consciousness. Maybe because he is Indian he doesnt know what the english words 'conscious' and 'aware' mean? |
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Expert Yogi
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| vibes - 2009-09-29 1:35 AM
Supposedly one can be in a 'poor' posture with optimum awareness and consciousness.
No - I don't think so. If body alignment is less than optimal there will be blockages in the body that prevent optimum awareness and consciousness.
Maybe because he is Indian he doesnt know what the english words 'conscious' and 'aware' mean?
I'd say it is more like, because we speak English, we don't know what he means by 'conscious' and 'aware' in the context of yoga.
It seems like the real reason for your multiple posts is becoming clear.   Please prove me wrong.... |
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Extreme Veteran
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| The real reason I for my multiple posts regarding posture is clear. It is because I want generate a good discussion.Because I feel it is a very important area in Yoga.Don't you agree? There seems to be much written and said on good posture but it is never explained clearly.
For example-many teachers claim bad posture is harmful.I feel this opinion to be ill-conceived.There is no harm whatsoever in any awkward or ungainly configuration of the body itself,except the minor local effect. A well co-ordinated person can adopt any position for any lenght of time without any ill effects. |
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Member
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| vibes - 2009-09-29 5:36 PM
There is no harm whatsoever in any awkward or ungainly configuration of the body itself,except the minor local effect. A well co-ordinated person can adopt any position for any lenght of time without any ill effects.
I'm afraid I disagree totally with this. I see and treat many many people whose 'minor' bad posture has become 'locked in' to their way of moving/sitting/standing and has causes them immense discomfort. Our muscles become habituated to such things, this is the basis of pretty much every physical therapy and system of body work. Unless you mean to suggest they're *all* ill-conceived?
On another level, posture is also responsible for facilitating or inhibiting the flow of prana (or chi if you prefer) around the subtle body. One of the main purposes of yogasana is to cleanse and open these channels (nadis) by improving posture. |
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Extreme Veteran
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| Thanks Prana guy. Thats more like it! We need people airing their views here. I am not surprised you totally disagree with this. However most people would due to lack of understanding and education in most cases. I will explain a bit more-
As I mentioned above that there is no harm whatsover in any awkward or ungainly configuration of the body itself, except the minor local effect. A well-co-ordinated person can adopt any position for any length of time without any ill effects. The ill effect that we do find is not due to an anotmical configuration that is harmful per se,but to the fact that it is compulsive and is the only one the ill-coordinated person uses for performing the act. Thus an asthmatic holds her chest, throat, and head in a special cofiguration to which she reverts continuosly. From all the possible alignments of these body segments,she is constrained to use only one, which the well coordinated person can adopt at will with only very minor inconveniences and without becoming asthmatic at that. This exclusion of alternative use is obviously compulsive. The pattern of doing that has brought the person to this state is the harm-producing agent, not the anatomical configuration. And, in fact, as soon as the compulsiveness is lifted there is no asthmatic state any more.
So I hope that this is really NOT the basis of pretty much every physical therapy and system of body work. As what I explained shows they are fundamentally not addressing the root causes of physical complaints. However I think you are right it is the basis for most physical therapies e.g. how often would one go to a physiotherapist for a back complaint and the physio would look at how the patient uses their eyes (the eyes for a neuro-relationship with the muscle of the neck). |
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Veteran
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Location: Louisville, Kentucky, | kristi - 2009-09-27 8:34 AM
A good posture is that posture in which you have full awareness and consciousness of every cell of your body from the top of your head to the edge of your toes.
I saw Mr. Iyengar saying this in an interview. Many people claim that the Iyengar method is good mainly because of it’s precise and detailed alignment “rules”/directions. But there is much more than that and for me personally the above phrase is one of the most important things to consider when I am doing my yogasana practice
You said so Kristi. Thanks for the very great insight. |
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what is good posture
