What separates us from animals...Posture

May 12, 2018 6:07 PM

Stand Up Straight!!! I’ve always had issues with standing straight. My solution was wearing heels. That forced me to have fantastic posture.
posted by Yellow (11 comments total)

A friend of mine is recommending Peterson's 12 Rules For Life.
I haven't got it yet (it's on hold at the library), but I notice rule one is 'Stand up straight...'
I await enlightenment. I've not been particularly good about my posture, and I didn't receive any insight from the FPP. I'm wiser if I stand up straight?
posted by MtDewd at 7:35 PM on May 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

Peterson is, if not a fascist himself, best defined as a fascist booster. So you don't have to wait for the hold to come through, here's a good summary. You should stand straight like a lobster, basically.
posted by sagc at 8:17 PM on May 12, 2018 [12 favorites]

Pep Streebeck: Are you crazy? Silvia Wiss wanted you!

Friday: Now let me tell you something, Streebeck. There are two things that clearly differentiate the human species from animals. One, we use cutlery. Two, we're capable of controlling our sexual urges. Now, you might be an exception, but don't drag me down into your private Hell.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 8:31 PM on May 12, 2018 [4 favorites]

It took me 40 years to figure out good posture, but it can be done in two steps:

1) Relax your shoulders.
2) Push chest out and up. Imagine a line from heaven--in front and above you--pulling your chest 45 degrees.

That's it. Then go live life.
posted by zardoz at 12:41 AM on May 13, 2018 [3 favorites]

Good posture does all the wrong things for me. I've tried it. Bad idea.
posted by poe at 1:13 AM on May 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

I've been wondering for a while what would've inspired and justified the effort to collect the Ivy League naked posture photos (previously). I'm thinking that all this philosophizing from major philosophers is maybe what did it.

(Or maybe professors just liked looking at pictures of naked students. Could've been that, too.)
posted by clawsoon at 4:49 AM on May 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

1) Relax your shoulders.
2) Push chest out and up. Imagine a line from heaven--in front and above you--pulling your chest 45 degrees.

I learned a little bit of Alexander technique - and the string shouldn't come from your chest, but from the top of your head. You want to feel everything lifted a bit up, and in alignment. Relaxed shoulders are important.

I miss spine rolls. I should do those again.
posted by jb at 5:56 AM on May 13, 2018 [6 favorites]

My posture involves looking down all the time to avoid dog poo but doing so has also got me about $20 in lost change and a mastodon tooth.
posted by The otter lady at 7:25 AM on May 13, 2018 [14 favorites]

I'm just saying, evolution took a semi-quadruped and yanked it until it clicked. No such thing as good posture in the long run. Lower back problems are our birthright as a species.
posted by Scattercat at 6:04 PM on May 13, 2018 [2 favorites]

I had bad posture as a kid then it improved when I went to college. Why, because my friends there were taller than me. Seems I had been slumping for most of my life because my friends were all shorter than me, and I'm only 5'6".
posted by PJMoore at 12:40 PM on May 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

I love this whole thread. I have bad posture in shoes other than heels. I have found that it may be emotional more than physical. I think maybe I stand properly in heels because I feel more feminine...or I would fall and break my face in heels if I’m not walking with proper posture!
posted by Yellow at 2:40 PM on May 15, 2018