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Located in Albuquerque, NM, U.S.A. (MOVEMENT THERAPY)
I’m writing this article from the perspective that the effects of fibromyalgia can be reduced or completely released, if a person is willing to gently and critically look at how his or her postural habits contribute to and/or exacerbate the debilitating effects of fibromyalgia.
For this to happen, I believe in using everything at your disposal to lovingly help you return to normal activity. What I mean by this, is if a client with fibromyalgia comes to me, and they are not getting into a deep sleep, then they ought to consider using the medication that a doctor can prescribe to help get into deep rem sleep.
What does fibromyalgia look like? To me it looks like a physicalized depression, which means the person is pretty collapsed and drawn in and down and tight posturally. This poor posture alone would cause a person to hurt physically, but this posture at the fibromyalgia level is much harder on the mind and body.
So, as an Alexander Technique teacher, it is my job to teach a person with fibromyalgia that it is actually physically less work to be gently and fully upright as they sit, stand, or walk. It truly takes less muscle to be balanced upright, rather than slumped over and leaning forward and down.
Why do so many people have poor posture, which as I said is more work than simply being balanced upright? I believe much of humanity’s poor posture is a defensive posture, which is about pulling the head forward and down as a posture of protecting oneself. So, I believe our posture follows our thoughts and decisions about our existence, and that our bodies don’t do poor posture to themselves independently of what we think and believe.
Can a person change the very painful and exhausting pain and discomfort of fibromyalgia by changing his or her postural habits? Yes. Will most people continue to do so, who find their way to an Alexander Technique teacher? It has been my experience that the only clients who are willing to do so, are the ones that allow themselves to emotionally accept that a light and balanced body recreated with thoughts (orders of allowance), will be much easier to live in, than a collapsed body hurting all of the time.
I’m a trained Alexander Technique teacher, and I know and have experienced that a light balanced body is so so easy to be in, but some part of my mind says it is easier to just collapse into myself. It logically sounds easier to just collapse, because collapse sounds like I’d be doing nothing.
But that’s not true! Postural collapse is the result of exhausting yourself with beliefs and thoughts that are worrysome and conflicted. In other words, our bodies collapse because we wear ourselves out with fearful thoughts. So, postural collapse is actively pulling ourselves downward to try to stop these thoughts and/or protect/withdraw from a harsh world.
If you have fibromyalgia and can see the logic in the above, then you may be ready to be loyal to yourself and gently return to a fully open and upright and light posture, you will eventually get over the hump. You can let an Alexander Technique teacher teach your body and mind that light and balanced is less work than being withdrawn and exhausted.
