by Deborah Lewis, BAAT Member Teacher, M.AmSAT
There you are working at your desk and your back starts to hurt. So you sit up “straight” and after just a few minutes you are in pain and so you hunch over again and that doesn’t work either. This is “computer posture”! This hunched over pattern can become so entrenched that even when you are standing up you might feel and be hunched over. No amount of pulling yourself upwards or collapsing downwards into relaxation offers a SUSTAINABLE solution. So what to do?
Here is one great way to reduce pain:
1. Lie down on the floor (it has to be the floor not the bed) with a book under your head. Bend your knees and place your feet a comfortable distance apart on the floor. Arms should be bent at the elbows with hands resting on the abdomen.
2. Allow the weight of your entire body to surrender and give in to gravity. ALLOW your body to spread. Be content, stay awhile. Lie down often.
3. Do not push the body downward in any place, thinking that by doing so you are helping your body release. Lying down itself lessens the tightness and pain in the body. In fact the very reason the pain diminishes is because the head, neck, and back are allowed to revert to their natural alignment.
Best of all study the Alexander Technique and learn how to work pain free at your laptop!!!