Simple instructions on how to do the 'posture' please!

it should be simple- and I could show you quite simply- but to describe it is pretty complicated.
Have you accessed the main page? there is a DVD that shows the posture that you can buy-
and there is a book that explains in great detail most of the things you need to know=

but here is my shot at it...

look in a mirror while you stand sideways- slouch as much as you can- hang your head - curl your pelvis under- make your body a big "C"

now. raise your breasts- stick them way out. Make sure your feet point forward- relax your shoulders- lift your head by the crown- but don't let your chin jut out- think of making your neck long as you can.

last check your lumbar curve. Stick your butt out- and then relax your lower abdomen.

you will feel pretty funny for weeks - and it is a work out to just stand like this- expect your shoulders and upper back to be sore-

someone else will comment more for ya....

hi,

I'm new here too, but the basics of the posture are on the FAQ's on the homepage, the 2nd edition book has the lot, exercises and lots about position, i'm still waiting for a copy to arrive. Don't do what i did and buy the yellow book off amazon it's the first addition and doesn't contain very much. You need the blue book. Also read the post there's lots in there, but they don't give away the secrets of firebreathing etc! But the FAQ's will get you going with the posture! you can also use the search function for specifics!

see how you go!

pip

Where can I get the DVD? I would LOVE to get one. (I am a very visual learner and it is easier for me to "see" rather than read about.)I did check on the Whole Woman store and I didn't see one for sale.
~KM

Old dvd is out of print and new dvd is coming soon!

Here's my recommendations:

1. Get the book (2nd ed Saving the Whole Woman) and read read read. Learn from Christine. She's paving a way for us all.

2. Try the ballet workout from the book. Use the cd. It's fun.

3. Of course, begin working with the posture.

4. Try the firebreathing. Search for back posts on it. Read about it.

5. Look up posts on Nauli. Some have had great success with this.

6. Eat ground flax meal every day.

7. Incorporate the whole woman program -- clothing, diet, posture, exercise.

8. I've had results with gentle rebounding. email about that if you'd like, or check out my recent post.

9. Most of all, stay open to healing. Grieve. It's part of it, especially in the beginning.

10. Believe that well-being and active lifestyle is not only possible, but probable. Many of us are doing it.

Blessings, Marie

Yes!! BRAVO, MARIE!!!
Louise

You know, every once in awhile in your life, it's nice to be "bravo'd". Thanks for that.

(smile) Marie

it took me a long time until I felt I was beginning to get the posture. I spent loads of time here, reading every post re posture I could. with each thread, another piece would fall into place.
my prolapse initially got worse before it got better. didn't see real measurable results for almost a year, though my symptoms did lessen sooner than that.

nothing is going 'to happen' overnight. in most cases, prolapse is years in the making, so expect a while before your fascia begins to reshape.

a word about posture though

its not really about sticking boobs and butt out although that's what happens when you're in wholewoman posture. its about the spine. if you can get your pelvis to tip forward (nutation or anterior pelvic tilt), you are positioning your pelvic organs over bone. this also happens to stick the bum out, but that's not the point. you can also accomplish sticking out the bum without properly tilting the pelvis (clear as mud I know).
as far as the boobs, same thing. its not so much about the boobs as it is the shoulders and spine. shoulders should be down (not necessarily 'back') and spine elongated. when you elongate the spine as your pelvis is anteriorly rotated and your shoulders down, the space between your boobs and belly increases by virtue of spinal position. this happens to put your boobs in a sticking-out position.
I can accomplish most everyday tasks in this posture, but it took me a while. first get used to standing. sitting should be no more difficult really, so long as you sit at the edge of your seat and never use the back of the chair.
walking is unnatural at first but becomes so with practice. chances are that after years of walking around, your hamstrings are tight, as well as some other muscle groups. even the small muscles in your feet are going to be working differently now. its going to take some getting used to. many women here have commented about upper back pain initially, which I think is normal when beginning this posture. not sure about low back pain. low back pain makes me wonder if your doing it correctly, but maybe I'm off and that's a common complaint as well.

about exercises...do you have the second edition of the book?
if so I'd recommend starting with the plie's and the firebreathing. again, it took me a while until I felt I understood how to do them. I think not only because its written words and pictures rather than video, but because in order to do them properly you need to feel what is happening in your body as you move. this takes experience. hang in there, don't give up yet. this is not a quick fix, but its working for me.

Sometimes it helps to look at something from a different perspective when we're having difficulty bringing it into focus. Just as Granolamom shared, read through the host of different posts on the same subject and you're very apt to come across just the right term, phrasing, explanation, imagery or other light-switch that will bring it all home for you. Keep reading!

With the WW-posture, I find it easier to pull off by focusing on pulling things UP rather than sticking things OUT. Before Christine had me straighten up my act, I sported a posture that I can only now call 'collapsed'. On the front side, my shoulders were drawn in, my chest compressed, and my abdominals 'nestled'... and then, of course, my backside followed suit, with my upper back a bit rounded, my lower relatively bowed...and my tail tucked under - My spine, as a whole, was pretty unsupportive. In hindsight, along with other life-pressures, it's no wonder why my insides ended up being pushed downward, and subsequently outward bound...

So, if it helps, there's a cord attached to the crown of your head with an upward directional pull. As the cord pulls you up, the back of your neck lengthens; your chin levels; your shoulders relax down (not forward)...Your chest lifts, and your mid-line (between ribs and pubic bone) lengthens, bringing you to your full height. Everything opens up; everything aligns. Your lumbar curve naturally falls into place as a matter of course.

The biggest challenge, I think, especially at first, is remaining mindful. Whenever you find that you're sinking back into yourself, pull up and lengthen your body from the top of your crown all the way down. You may find your upper back complaining with ache, but given time, once your body loses memory of its former holdings, and your mind adapts to the new stand you've chosen to take, it will become second nature, just as it was intended.

Best wishes,
♥~Blue

I'm not too sure what was "happy clappy" about my post -- I was attempting to answer your question about what you can do in the way of exercise and program to possibly help your condition. These are things (ballet workout from new book, nauli, firebreathing, posture, clothing, flax meal, diet, etc.) that many others have done to improve their own conditions, and that may hopefully, help you, as well. What can I say -- the combination of North American former high school cheerleader and now adult lawyer may produce happy clappy posts.

Marie

Hi LittleMe

I'm glad you have started on WW posture and hope you will perservere with it. Granolamom's words were very true. It can take a long time, and you really do need to understand Christine's anatomical model to get best use of it. I too would suggest strongly that you buy Saving the Whole Woman, edition 2, because, as you say, freely information about it, unless you go to Christine's resources, is sketchy. I have never seen your previous posture so it is unwise of me to make assumptions, but perception that your posture was already good may, in a sense, be hampering your efforts.

There is one thing I would like to add to the previous posts about posture. You will pick this up more clearly by reading the book.

Good posture would normally dictate that you hold your tummy in. WW posture requires that you learn to relax your tummy, let it go. When I move in WW posture my boobs will naturally protrude more. When my belly relaxes more in WW posture, the lower actually expands on the underside, downwards, not so much outwards so it doesn't look any bigger, as long as my clothing is loose around the belly. After a lifetime of tummy tucking this is still difficult for me, but it does work, and it does feel nice. This loose lower abdomen makes a space out front of the pubic bone for the bladder and uterus so they can be supported from below by the pubic bone, and do not get pushed backwards over the vagina by your lower abdominal wall being held taut and vertical.

The bowel makes its own arrangements, because it moves forwards too, but after a while (maybe months) that is not so much of a problem because the pelvic contents are not being compressed by the belly, so it is not squashed downwards so much. Others have said in the past that rectocele is the most persistent of the 'cles, the most difficult to tuck away up high. I have little problem with my rectocele these days, though I used to. I rarely have to even splint these days. I think rectocele management is about keeping the bowel contents moving. Attend to a full bowel immediately you feel the urge, if necessary using the toilet several times during the day. Follow all Marie's diet guidelines to keep the stool soft. Use whatever other means you have to, to keep the rectum empty, so it doesn't become distended. This is what the recto-vaginal septum (fascia) is supposed to do, but in your body and mine too, it has been compromised, by episiotomy and cannot maintain the sausage shape of the rectum, instead letting it blow outinto a fat potato shape. This is what fills your vagina.

Inversion-type exercises will help to reposition your abdominal and pelvic contents by allowing them to 'fall upwards' into their proper positions. One way of doing this is to do low tasks by standing with the legs flexed and bending forwards from the hips with knees wide apart. This puts your torso upside down so your organs can flop 'upwards'. Move around as much as you can during the day to allow your body into many different positions. Done in posture, walking will gently jiggle the organs around and help them into their proper positions.

I have posted elsewhere about the well- 'fitted jacket', which the body needs to wriggle into. Once it is on it will stay on and will sit neatly, even if the buttons are left undone, or there is a rip in a seam. Our endopelvic fascia are like a 'tailored jacket'. Our organs fit it exactly. Leave a bit of rectum hanging into the vagina and the rectum will not sit properly, and may damage the fascia further. The uterus and bladder likewise. Wriggle them into their jacket, several times a day if necessary, to reposition them. They will wriggle out again with everyday activity. You just have to be patient and persistent to be able to manage them. Use the search box to look for my jacket posts.

Like weight loss, re-creation of positive self-image and changing behaviour, managing prolapses is a constant process with setbacks along the way. All you can do is keep doing the new behaviours that support and reinforce the new ways and you will make slow and steady progress. You just have to develop a resilience that is based on sound theory, trust in your body's desire to be as-close-to-how-it-used-to-be-as-it-can-be, and trust that it will be able to do it. This trust grows with time, once you have a bit of positive feedback, like not feeling your rectocele for an hour. Note these, in a diary if necessary, and observe the increase in number or duration of rectocele-free minutes or hours, then days, then weeks. You have to really *want* to heal, and be prepared to look at things in your behaviour that are sabotaging that want, eg getting positive feedback from the attention you get by 'playing the victim game'.

(Not saying you are doing this, but subtle thoughts sometimes creep into my head that give me hints about my real (wierd) opinions and motivations for doing things. I try to grab them these days and have a real good poke at them, and re-assess them, rather than dismissing them when they pop up unexpectedly. They tell me hitherto hidden secrets about me, some of which I am ashamed of, or shocked at.)

Sitting posture, you are right, it is not well-illustrated. I too sit on the edge of office chairs and very rarely use a chair back, unless I am having an indulgent curl up on the sofa in front of the telly. I try to lie down on the sofa, or put plenty of cushioning behind my lumbar region. My office chair at home is an old pedestal from a wrecked chair with a top made of heavy ply with an old sofa cushion on the top. I had to put extra blocks between the base and the seat when I bolted the new top on, so that it is horizontal, and I can spread my legs and sit evenly. It swivels and moves on its castors and still has its adjustable height mechanism. I love it, and have been using it for 4 years. It is just right for me, but drives the rest of the family nuts, so they tend not to use my computer (wicked conspiratorial grin here!).

Back pain. This will be, as Granolamom says, either adjustment pain, or else you are doing it wrong. Once again, get the book, and keep posting here for help from others. This is the way we all do it.

I can see from your posts that you a really annoyed, angry and fed up with both your 'celes and an unrespecting and opportunistic medical system that gave them to you all those years ago. Nothing seems to work. Feel the rage. You are entitled to. Express it, write about it, chop wood, whatever you can to exhaust it, then eventually you can stop blaming and move on to dealing with your current reality, that of a woman with a lot of living to do, who just has to uncode the puzzle of how best to do it. This is the way we all do it.

Hope to hear from you again with more thoughts on the whole package. It is not just about posture. It is a real multi-pronged approach incorporating posture, diet, clothing, exercise and lifestyle. Like learning to drive a car, there is a lot to remember until it becomes woven into your day. It is hard work, but it is worth it. If you 'fail' after a year or so, you do so having developed a new healthier lifestyle for youreself that has done you no harm at all. If you succeed you have a gift for ever.

Cheers

Louise

initially, I was very put off by the concept that I would have to walk around letting my belly hang out and be all loose and flabby-like. then I was willing to do it to help stabilize the prolapse, but still, not at all happy about it. finally, I realized that when the posture is *really* in place, my belly doesn't get loose and flabby-like and hang out. it does protrude, but it's TAUT and firm. "proud holding" is I think what I remember Christine calling it.
when we normally think about contracting our abdominals, we think about shortening the muscles. this makes the tummy hard and flat, and rotates the pelvis posteriorly (bad for prolapse). when we think traditionally of allowing the belly to protrude, we tend to equate that with loose muscles and a flabby looking stomach. but when standing in my wholewoman posture, my spine is such that the distance between the two ends of the abdominal muscles (ribs and pelvis) are at their furthest distance. so the muscles are stretched (not loose) and active (not flabby). it is a strong posture, a very active posture (especially at first), a feminine posture. It takes some getting used to, but now I wouldn't go back to my old posture for all the money in the world. I know how much more confident, healthy and sexy I look this way. and its good for me too!