Taking a Stand with Awareness
Both these men had adapted postural patterns that were quite harmful over the long haul. And while it was fairly easy to coax them out of those patterns for a short period of time, their perceptions about these charges strongly encouraged them to revert back to their habitual patterns.
They illustrate something that every teacher of the Alexander Technique encounters: A person's habitual patterns of sitting, standing and moving often feel "right" and any change - even one that is clearly beneficial - feels "wrong".
You can probably think of people you know who have quite pronounced irregularities in their posture that everybody around them can easily notice - perhaps standing and sitting in ways that are very asymmetrical, of with very slumped shoulders, with one shoulder carried much higher than the other. Yet the chances are good that those people are completely unaware of their patterns.
With Jack and Bill, one of the ways I was able to help them "recalibrate" their self-perceptions was to stand them in front of a full length mirror, with a second mirror positioned so that they can see themselves from the side. I would then help them to release the extra muscle tension they were using to hold themselves in their habitual ways of standing and take a look at themselves sideways, imagining they had never seen this person before.
It didn't take long for them to clearly see that their sense perceptions didn't match their visual observations. After a few lessons, I asked them to make those same changes on their own in front of someone they trusted - in this case it was their wives - to get additional feedback, which confirmed their observations with the mirrors.
Both Jack and Bill had lessons over a period of about 4 months and by the end of that time, both had let go of most of their postural "holds". Neither complained of back pain anymore. But some of the most rewarding changes occurred in other areas of their lives.
Jack found that his new physical bearing was not seen as arrogant at all, but did seem to encourage greater respect from his colleagues. Bill discovered that he was now perceived as being much more approachable. One of his co-workers actually told him that she used to be terrified of asking him for help but now felt comfortable doing so.
The next time you're in a clothing store with mirrors set up
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