Completely off-topic...

...can I talk to you about enticing you onto www.Thetotallynormalworld.ning.com ?

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I've been meaning to look at it more closely. How did you want to entice?

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With the thought of a social networking community (...but there are a million of them!) - which neatly blends fantasy and reality in a way which allws a fascinating targeted way of reaching certain kinds of fen, and of building stories through a fairly new mode of storytelling.

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I've never worn high heels (more than an inch), but another good way to get yourself into a more natural state of movement is to look into Alexander Technique. You need to work with a teacher for it to really work (although there are also several very good books on the subject, including the book Alexander wrote himself), but it's worth the time and effort. If the AT teacher at my college hadn't been batshit crazy, I would've taken the class the entire time I was there. As it was she ended up failing me the last semester because I never came to class, which was because I couldn't stand being around her even once a week anymore.

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Our mothers and gym teachers were right. Posture makes a huge difference, not only in the way we look, but how our body functions. I had several rear-end collisions within a year and a half, and ended at the chiropractor. While dealing with the injury, he also taught me how my posture was keeping the pain prolonged! I discovered that I drive with my chin thrust forward (I think as a result of needing glasses when I first learned to drive). His comment was that my head is a bowling ball, meant to sit over and be supported by my neck and shoulders. Every inch or even half-inch forward from that position puts strain on the neck and back. Though I still forget sometimes, the crick in my neck reminds me to adjust my posture. VOILA! The pain disappears!!

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You are so right! When I wear shoes with a heel, my posture improves, if only for safety reasons. If I don't, I end up not being able to see the physical obstacles that might impede my progress (this is a major concern for someone like me who walks with a limp AND has poor balance). I am so used to wearing two inch heeled clogs that when I wear flats, I feel like I forgot something. But, as a result of trial and error, I refuse to wear pointy toes shoes.

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I sometimes wear some higher-heeled boots when I'm going to be standing a lot, partly because they prevent me from locking my knees, which is bad for you. But yes, they also make slouching impossible. :)


Now I want to see you in heels. :)

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We got Wii Fit the other day, I think it's really cool to stand on the board and have it show me exactly where I'm holding my center of balance (too far back and a bit to the right, generally, I need to learn to lean forward more and balance on BOTH feet).

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Alas, I have no sense of balance. Nor a Wii. But I still kind of want Wii fit.

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The book "Stretch and Strengthen" has the best application of transforming posture I think. The idea the the wrong muscles are too flexible instead of strong, and the others are too strong and not nearly flexible enough to keep correct posture. By restoring the muscles back to proper strength or flexibility, the posture realigns accordingly. Anyway, it works better for me than trying to always remember to pull my body into alignment.

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I picked up good posture when I started junior high and some of the desks had screws in the bad, just right for catching my hair. I learned pretty quickly to sit up straight.

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I've been slacking a bit of late, but the way I at least started my improvement was to pick a random every day object (in this case garbage cans) and try to remember to check my posture and stand up straight every time I saw one.

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Not a bad way to do it, actually.

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I have built in back problems already (adult presentation scoliosis) and I'm pretty frightened of what my back is going to end up like at 75 based on my structural issues alone. I see so many people wandering about with their heads permanently hung forward and I desperately don't want to end up cemented like that by an already flawed bone structure.

I can't say as I'm always as mindful of it as I should be, but I try, and the more I try the better I get (and the fewer problems I have from the scoliosis to boot). I read about that tip when I first realized the scoliosis was a problem and it's done pretty well by me. Yoga and taking up a couple of performance disciplines has helped as well.

Works a damn sight better then my Dad pestering me about it for the entirety of my childhood anyway. :)

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I found that both pilates and Tai Chi did wonders for my posture. Pilates helped with my bad back too.

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I was going to recommend pilates. Great exercise all round. A similar principle to yoga, but much more accessable with quicker results.

Strengthens the muscles in your abdomen without you even realising you're doing hard exercises - a million times better than sit-ups - and then those muscless support your spine being aligned correctly.

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I'll bet you walk better in heels than most of the girls on my campus. Even before they get too drunk to remember where their feet are.

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I'm told I strut. Which, you know, is a given considering how I learned to walk.

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My husband was always telling me I slouched, which made me look tired/defeated. Mostly it was my attempt not to shove my 42DD in people's faces, or use them to hide my middle-aged-weight-gain pseudopregnancy belly. But like you, I knew it only made everything look worse, so I tried to stand straight. I reached back into prehistoric memory for the instructions from ballet class: stand as though you have a string running up your spine out the top of your head, and you are hanging gracefully from it.

I couldn't do it. Couldn't stand up straight. My bones wouldn't, and it felt physicaly weird, not psychologically. Then I started going to a chiropractor. She cracks my neck and shoulders and whatever else needs it twice a month, and now I can stand up straigth.

Can. That doesn't mean I actually do. :-)

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It scrunches up my chin, pushes my belly and manboobs together to pooch them out unattractively, like frosting in a tube that's being squished out to one side.

Now there's a picture for the gallery. Only a writer could draw that one.

You could also try walking around balancing a book on your head. That's supposed to improve posture as well.

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I have no sense of balance. I'd have a book on the floor and no posture. *g*

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You must find photos... and post them!

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Can't post. If you wanna gimme your email addy, I can send.

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Absolutely!! Ash2you@gmail.com

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a girl i dated a while back recommended that i walk around in her high heels a little every day to help with my horrible posture (i have a tendency to slouch a lot).

and it really worked for me. until we broke up. i haven't worked up the nerve to go and buy myself a pair of high heels. yet. but i figured that i might as well. it'll be cheaper than seeing a twist-and-shout chiropractor.

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Yoga did it for me. I don't think my two years of wearing high heels did much of anything for me except for destroying my already bad knees.

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Have you tried low-heeled boots? Not a few western-style boots have up to a 2" heel, and offer a great deal of ankle support. They're not cheap, and you'll probably end up having to listen to some truly awful music while shopping for them, but you might get some really durable shoes and some slightly better posture out of it?

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Thought about it, but I really hate boots. I dislike having my ankles enclosed, and I can't really say why. Go figure.

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Ok, I never wear heels and have never seen anyone who did, but maybe, I'll have someone explain it to me cause I have a major slouching problem too and it's beginning to effect my health or at least, it will if I don't fix it. Btw, I love the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

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A lot of women say that their legs look better in heels, which is to some extent true. Heels change the way your feet are, which changes everything from the feet up-- more weight on the toes, slightly bent knees, standing straighter because it's the only way to balance. It's less that heels encourage good posture than that heels punish bad-- if you slouch in heels, it is entirely possible that you will lose your balance.

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What diatryma said. You're sort of forced to walk straight up or you fall over.

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Being nitpicky for a moment but I don't consider the posture obtained from walking in heels to be standing "straight", it's probably better termed as "not slouching". While it does pull your head and shoulders up it also sways your butt out and sways the mid-back so that the chest pushes out. The accentuation of the bust and butt are a big part of the visual appeal (like the Gibson Girl lite) over and above what it does to leg length and muscle tone.

Standing straight is as much aligning your hips below you as aligning your head above you, and lower back problems caused by this exaggerated posture are a big problem for habitual heel wearers.

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A big part of fixing it is to consciously recognize the feel of sitting or standing up straight.

A commonly used method in vocal and yoga practice is to imagine you have a string attached to the very top of your head pulling you upwards towards the ceiling. Imagine your body is hanging from your head like a marionette rather then standing from your feet like a statue. If you are sitting rotate your hips under so that the bone points in the base of your butt are contacting the chair, if standing try to balance your weight evenly over the surface of your feet. Expand your chest outward and pull your chin and shoulders back and slightly down. If you are standing or sitting up straight you can actually feel the weight of your body re-balance and center so that it holds you in position rather then pulling you forewards or backwards.

This can be pretty uncomfortable at first as your muscle memory is probably not used to it at all, but eventually you'll feel yourself settle into the right place automatically as soon as you think of it. Try to make a conscious point to practice this either pick a time (I.E. "at five minutes past every hour I will straighten up") or tie it to a common experience ("every time I hear a dog bark I will straighten up").

Another trick to getting the feel of it is to bend forward at the waist with your head and arms hanging completely free (they should be able to sway a little with your breath for example) then keeping your arms and head absolutely loose and hanging downwards start straightening your spine vertebra by vertebra ever so slowly until you finally come to standing. You'll probably find that you automatically stand up straighter once you are upright.

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The Time Warp is indeed a good thing!!

Pics please?!?

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Alas, all the pics came with people who'd prefer not to have their photos shown to my audience.

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I've been doing Tai Chi for a couple of years now - turns out proper posture basically boils down to balancing properly, so things like sinking down become a whole lot easier. Ditto singing lessons - it's *way* easier to support the breathing when you pull your posture into shape.

I suspect the heels thing might boil down to a) having to balance (unstable base), so you don't have the luxury of slouching, and b) the legs already being under strain, they're not so forgiving of the additional strain bad posture gives you. To correct my posture, my usual list involves opening the hips (rotate legs out from butt), push out to flat the lower back ( - just sucking in the stomach is a different set of muscles), and rotate up the chest to open the shoulders. [That last one pretty much fixed my neck pain, too.] For bonus points, this all pulls the head back to above shoulders, too.

Weird thing - correct posture (as measured by minimal effort to balance) always feels like I'm leaning forward while at the same time sitting back... Distinctly odd feeling.

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Cop to it! You are only looking for MOAR reasons to dress up!
Hahaha!

Seriously if you want better posture, and you DO spend much time at the computer, get a Yoga Ball to sit on. It works, it takes a little getting used to but your posture will improve DRAMATICALLY.
But you know, if that was just the excuse to dress up, go forth and wear what you like. I won't tell.

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I use a laptop and sit on the couch. Besides, someone would scissors my Yoga Ball. *g*

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Learning you "did" Frank gives me yet another level of respect for you.

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marching band worked fine for me!

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Ok... now I want to see you *all dressed up*.

Maybe video too.

Back in *my* days of going to RHPS every week - I was able to walk, dance, and run in 4 inch heels. :)

Deb

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And to think I had to take kyudo (traditional Japanese archery) lessons for over one year before I managed to hold my back straight, and stop slouching, when being a cross-dresser would have worked just as well. ;)

Anyway, holding my spine straight made me feel a whole lot better about myself than anything I did to improve my looks. Glad you find a way to achieve that too.

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The weird thing is now the heels of my socks are wearing out at a ludicrous rate.

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