For example, let’s say you have a hunched-over posture. “Shoulders rolled in, hyper-kyphotic spine, a forward head posture, maybe knock-kneed…that is a structure that is depressed in the literal sense,” Alexander says. You’re literally pulling your body downward. “If that’s the way you’re navigating the day, it sends a lot of information to yourself.” It’s a concept called postural feedback: The way you approach the world with your physical form can shape the way you feel. So why not take advantage of an aligned posture?
“Actually visualize how you want your shoulders to feel, your spine, your hips, your knees, your ankles,” Alexander explains. “Do they feel stiff? Do they feel rigid? Do they feel strong? Do they feel stable?” After you define what you want, he says, you can then reverse engineer the process and determine which postural patterns will get you closer to your goal.