What do eating soup and riding a bicycle have in common, besides the desire to avoid a spill?
Riding bikes, eating soup, and similar actions may contribute to poor posture, back pain, and neck tension.
Alexander Technique and Bike Riding.
When we ride a bike, we pitch forward. This forward angle occurs most dramatically on a racing bike, or a racing/mountain bike, because the handlebars are lower.
Instead of using our spine as one integrated unit, we tend to break it apart in sections. To bend forward we hinge from the lower back; the lumbar spine, and lower back pain may ensue.
A more beneficial way to pitch forward is to use our hip joints as hinges. The hip joints are lower than our lumber spine, lower down than we may imagine. (A skeletal chart, an anatomy book, or an Alexander Technique teacher will show you where they are.) So, hinge forward from the hip joints, and leave your spine alone.
Things are looking up with the Alexander Technique.
While riding a bike you will have to look up to see pedestrians, trees, or cars that may be in front of you. We unknowingly hinge from the neck to look up. We are once more breaking the spine into sections, and neck tension may ensue.
The two joints where the spine meets the head are called atlanto-occipital joints. This is a natural hinging place, though it may not be your normal hinging place. The atlanto-occipital joints are higher than our cervical spine, higher up than we may imagine. We can hinge from way up there, leaving the spine alone. Now, I know what you’re thinking: How about soup?
Alexander Technique and Soup.
We have choices when we eat soup, besides the choice of soup. We can slump and shlump as we slurp, or sit up rigidly straight with good posture, ending up with a soup-stained shirt.
The Alexander Technique offers another choice. Spinally speaking, we could eat soup the way we ride a bicycle.
Again, hinge forward using your hip joints, so you are neither compressing the spine, nor spilling soup on you. You’ll be getting your mouth closer to the bowl, without slumping. Eating soup is like riding a bike. Minus the bike. And the helmet. And adding the soup.
When we hinge forward using our hip joints, we are naturally looking down towards the soup, so the atlanto-occipital joints don’t even need to be used. If we want to look up, we are poised to do so.
Hands up. This is Alexander Technique.
Lastly, to put our hands on the handlebars or to hold and lift a spoon, we want to use the minimum amount of tension, in the right places, for the right amount of time. Put your hands on the handlebars, or raise the spoon without unnecessarily raising your shoulders, or tensing your neck. Enjoy your riding and eating!
Mark Josefsberg-Alexander Technique NYC
(917) 709-4648
Image Courtesy of sakhorn38/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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