The idea for this topic came from a few sources. Most recently I was working with my mentee and we spoke about how much the same movement done in a different position, a common Feldenkrais® technique, is so influenced by gravity.
Years ago, I had a friend at the University of Washington before the age of emoticons. She really enjoyed making ASCII art where one uses the keyboard keys in a way that creates images. She made me one of a cat falling off a wall with the comment below “obey gravity, it’s the law.”
Gravity – it is always here and we rarely pay attention to it, other than perhaps when we see images of astronauts floating around in space. That being said, daily life as we know it would not be possible without it. It is the gravitational force that gives objects weight and keeps us on the ground. Its’ pull is at an angle perpendicular to the ground. Another concept both related to gravity and relevant to how well we move through life is that when two objects interact, they apply forces to each other of equal magnitude and opposite direction. This tells us that when we are well aligned, gravity actually gives us a little lift. The closer we or a part of us is perpendicular to the ground, the lighter we/it feels.
Here are a few short practices that will let you experience some of what I described above.
• First sit in a chair relatively near the edge. You may choose to rest your hands behind your head. Now round your upper back bringing you chin a little closer to your chest. I suspect you found this takes very little effort.
Now lie on your back with your knees bent and do the same thing. Most of you would call this a curl up or sit up. Be sure not to strain. I suspect this required significantly more effort.
So, what is the difference? In the first variation gravity is taking you in the desired direction. (In fact, the back muscles are working just a little to control the movement.) In the second variation you are rounding against the force of gravity.
• Now you may want to find a small weight (a can of something works well) to increase your sense of what follows. Again, sit at the edge of your chair with a small weight in your hand if you chose to use one. With your elbow straight with or without a small weight, raise your arm until it is parallel to the floor or about sternum height and hold it there for a bit noticing when you begin to feel some sense of effort.
Now lie on your back holding the same object if you used one in the first part. Lift your arm in such a way that it is directly perpendicular to the floor. It will be about the same height relative to your body as it was in sitting. You can move it around a bit and you should be able to find a sweet spot where your arm feels relatively weightless. This is when it is directly in line with the force of gravity.
In the first variation gravity is pulling your arm down. In the second gravity is going directly through and supporting your arm.
Here are a few tips to improve your relationship to gravity in everyday life.
• When sitting or standing and you sense you want to improve your posture, sense lighter, not straighter. You can imagine that someone is pressing gently on your shoulders from above and directly towards the ground. You should have the sense that you would neither buckle backwards nor forward. You will feel solid in a way that is not heavy as your bones are well aligned.
• Lift objects as close to your center as possible. You/the object are then better aligned than if you held the object further away.
• Have work surfaces at an appropriate height so that your arms can hang comfortably from your shoulders rather than having them above resting shoulder height. Of course, if surface is so low that you need to bend a lot, that is not good either.
Remember – to move through life with more comfort and ease “obey gravity- it’s the law”!