Get thee to NM & WW Centre--a story of arms ;-)

Submitted by kiki on August 22, 2010 - 10:47pm
Body: 

Hello everyone!
Finally, my update on visiting WW Centre in NM.
Main thing, it was fabulous! Christine is just as amazing in person if not more, the house we love from the clips is gorgeous, and centre is fabulous, and it was so good to do this in person.

I found WW about 3.5 years ago, and have worked on this but known i wasn't really there. it is hard to do this from reading, and as things were improving so much as it was i have to admit i've been a bit lazy.

so christine quickly said yes the posture needs some work. to me, that was great, as that means there is more improvement to come!

Christine immediately said i needed to work on lifting my chest more. it felt very odd, and i have to say i felt like ape woman. my stomach hung out horribly, my arms hung funnily, i looked odd. all i could think was "can i really do this? maybe just in private....well at least it'll be winter and i can wear a big coat..."
Christine did the WW workout with me (well half, at which point heat, altitude, and lack of muscles = exhausted!). it was lovely, but i was having trouble with my ape like self.

the next day Christine worked on the posture some more. chest lifting lifting lifting, and she really worked on my shoulders falling back. wow! suddenly my ape woman arms opened up. that was the key. with shoulders forward my elbows pointed forward and hung oddly. stomach bulged. with shoulders back my arms hung as they should--elbows pointing to the back, inside of the elbows facing forward. and with this wow! ape woman disapeared! i got a longer belly, it didn't hang out so much, instead it was long like Christine always has in pictures. that has been such a great indicator to me--keep looking at where my arms are at.
also i tend to lock my knees, so that is a challenge, but working on that. i just keep thinking chest, shoulders, arms, knees.
the workout was easier this way, and everything felt so lifted!
i had two more mornings of the workout, which by the fourth day felt so much more fluid! it was fabulous.

i can't say i perfected the posture. being super tired (too much fun staying up late with friends, and very broken night with a child who wasn't liking the heat...) didn't help. so i can't say i left NM staying all the time in posture. but whilst i arrived never in it, and on day 2 with Christine maybe remembered for an hour in total, by the Friday I was able to keep reminding myself when i slipped out of it and felt like i left SAturday in posture maybe half the time. so that is huge progress!!!

my back was tired & sore, but not as bad as when i first tried this 3.5 years ago...and now it's getting much less tired. my knees also are finding new alignment and ache a bit, but that's ok.

so i'm keeping working on this lift. Christine said not to worry about tilting the pelvic--that takes care of itself and it definately does. i just keep working on lifting my chest (keep lifting till you find the urge to laugh you feel so lifting! or till your other half says wow, what a chest ;-) ), keeping shoulders back, noticing elbows as an indicator, and in my case, knees. then the pelvis tilts itself.

It was great, and my pop haven't been bugging me at all the last few days. Christine is hopeful that some of the niggles that go with this will start to improve, as will the lingering symphesis pubis pain I've had on and off for the last 3 1/2 years. Her explanation of the splitting that happens in a tucked posture made so much sense...

so all i can say is, if you can get to NM, do! wow what a difference it has made. i fell in love with the WW workout and it will ensure i do what i really wanted and do it regularly, knowing more what i'm doing...

so thank you Christine!!!

Kiki

PS to the lovely woman I met who at Christines' who had just found WW, I hope you found your way to the forum! It was so great to meet another WWomaner in person, and share the workout with you. so hope to see you here!

louiseds

August 22, 2010 - 11:47pm

Oh Kiki, I have goosebumps and tears reading your post, It is so good to read your words, and to read your relief. Christine is indeed a gifted worker in this area. I am so glad you went.

Did you come away with any video footage or pics of your before and afters? It sounds very much like a very intense experience you had with Christine. I would be scared that I would forget all she said and did with me.

Louise

Christine

August 23, 2010 - 10:25am

I am impressed with myself - ROFL!!!!!

Thank you so very much, dear Kiki. What a joy it was to have you here - and to meet your beyond adorable family (my flowers are still beautiful!) I truly missed you when you left. Nori called me again from California and when I told her about the little boys playing in the studio she said, "When I get home, gramma, could you take me to their house?" :)

Thanks also for the great description of your posture correction. What a coincidence that one of the local women who came to workout with us one day had the same issue - palms that face toward the front of her thighs instead of toward the side of her thighs. It was good that Kiki could see how common it is.

I have another woman coming this week - for the second time - who also had the arms forward issue. I think I told this story here, but when she wouldn't lift her chest enough after asking her several times, I walked over to her and manually lifted it myself. She burst into tears - not because I hurt her but because she felt so exposed. She is a very intuitive and gifted therapist who immediately felt it was her heart she had always been protecting by rounding her shoulders. This time she is coming to work with me on the emotional aspect of the WW Posture for my teacher training program.

So - I need to include this in my postural instructions, which I will have up in the FAQs within the next couple of days. Btw, we just realized that "you can't get there from here", so will put a direct link to the FAQs on the menu bar here on the forums. I will keep adding to them as well, to prevent our members having to answer the same questions over and over for newbies.

While all aspects of the posture are vital, raising the chest is perhaps the most. That is what allows the lumbar curve to expand on its own and the organs to move as forward as possible. With shoulders rolled forward, the lumbar spine is frozen. The only way to "try" to expand the lumbar curve is to contract the front of the pelvis toward the thighs - very hard on the SIJs.

Thank you again, Kiki, for helping me understand that this refinement needs to be included in the postural instructions. When every aspect of the posture is in place, the body falls into its natural shape, which women recognize as stability, power and grace. I am so glad you got it!!!

Love to all,

Christine

clavicula

August 25, 2010 - 12:59am

Kiki, this all sounds awesome. Makes me lift my chest even more. :) hey, good idea about the elbows, after reading your post I tried this elbows facing forward thing. Wow, it really makes a difference! Thanks!

So happy for you and Christine's awesome work!

Liv

kiki

August 25, 2010 - 11:23pm

I didn't do notes, photos, anything. to be honest, it was about doing. and i feel like knowing i just need to keep thinking chest, arms, knees is enough. if i do that, it changes completely. the problem is being tired and forgetting, but there is plenty of remembering as well, so it'll get there...walking is great for remembering, so lots of time as i go through museums and such...

but it was so amazing!!!
i so wish everyone could get to Christine--and i'll keep saying that!!!

davemayamom

August 26, 2010 - 6:43am

Hi Kiki,

Thanks for the tip to lift the chest - obviously something I hadn't been doing enough of. I remember Christine saying that the SI jt is fully supported in whole women posture, and I believe that to be true.

Here's my little story:
Since my last pregnancy I've suffered from right SI Jt. pain, it doesn't really bother me unless it's day 1 of my period, then it seems to subside. I know my right SI jt. if more hypermobile than my left, and this is what is contributing to the pain. Anyway, with my chest lifted extra high (after reading your post), the pain in my right SI was significantly lessened. I found it hard to maitain this position all day, but with practice, I know my endurance will increase.

Thanks for the tips,
Janice

heavenly

August 26, 2010 - 8:46am

SOOOO when in ww posture to be correct where are the palms of your hands supposed to be facing, toward the front? Confusing. Can you explain in more detail please? or little fingers just resting on the thighs?
I really need a one on one with Christine. Glad you had a great time. Hope I can make it. Have so many questions, nauli being one and more info on the rec thing.
Talk to you soon I hope

heavenly

August 26, 2010 - 8:47am

Just more info please

Christine

August 26, 2010 - 10:20am

I'll reiterate my quote from below, women with rounded shoulders often have "palms that face toward the front of her thighs instead of toward the side of her thighs".

Also, their elbows often face out to the side instead of to the back where they should be.

Hope this helps.

:) Christine