A wall

Body: 

Hi, friends,
Yesterday, I was talking with a nurse practitioner, and she said to stand against a wall and align your back to it. In my mind, that was against the WW posture.....in WW you would allow your shoulders and chest and your lower back to be at the wall, but your lumbar spine would be away from it....the more the better (within reason). She said that would cause lower back pain. Would some of you share your ideas on this, please?

Forum:

I agree with you. When I stand up against a wall, the only things touching the wall are my upper back (but not shoulders), and my butt. - Surviving

PS: Yes you will get lower back pain, if you try to work into this posture too quickly, or if you exaggerate the curvature instead of just letting it happen with posture. As Christine explains it, it's the difference between a "sway-back" and the wide-radius curve of WW posture.

Thanks so much, Surviving. Maybe if I get lower back pain, it's a signal to rest a bit. You're comments are always so helpful.

That is very interesting S60 and Thriving. I am one of those body shapes that puts any excess weight into my bottom so mine does touch and actually the back of my head slightly. My back is not quite touching and if I touch it I am over extending or pushing my shoulders back.

I would like to hear others comment on this from different body shapes. Sierra and SH no doubt you will be trailing the wall thing :o)

On this theme I have also played around with walking, standing in posture with things on my head to balance (it doesn't have to be weight bearing Thriving). I do have the chest up, relaxed belly of course not like they probably taught in the early 1900s in the England. I find it helps my crown and the back of my neck to stand tall. I tend to tilt my neck forward or have my vision down a lot generally. I imagine myself looking our over the Savanna/wilderness with something on my head. Modern life is looking down over short distances so much isn't it.

What do others find?

My heels and butt touch, but nothing else.

Snapcracklepop

Thanks crackle I have been trying different things but yes my butt too and my head can but a few mm away really.

I just got my hips book out and looked at the golden mean WW image. I have a body that shape and I note that I touch like she would. So nice to be on the right track, now I just need to nail my walking in WW posture.

I appreciate we are all different in our body shapes so I think this is an interesting exercise and maybe helps newbies. It would have helped me. Thanks Thriving for posting.

Dear all,
I used a flat plain door as we have skirting boards at the base of our walls.

My heels, backs of lower legs, derriere, shoulder blades (upper back),and back of head touch the door.

My back does not touch the door until the shoulder blades from the bottom.

(My dear Mum used to comment how straight my back was....)

Straightening the spine, pulling in the stomach & or tucking in the bottom protects the back, are commonly held misconceptions.
- Christine's approach is unique which is difficult to believe because it is our natural posture developed as small children.

When new to WWP I went to a standing gathering and had no stress, or back pain/fatigue that night, and that was my first chance to really put WWP to the test.

A good check for me of the posture - thanks for the experiment.

Aussie Soul Sister

PS. Thriving 70, ( apologies for shortening your name - I try my best to not abbreviate names, though mine is long - something that I didn't consider at the time ;) )

I'm feeling pretty good about my "upper back and butt" answer, since i ran across this photo of the lovely Nikelle:
https://wholewoman.com/blog/?p=420