This website is about human movement. At the core of human movement is the act of lifting ourselves into uprightness, something we are doing all day long, in all sitting and standing activities.
The story of how we upright is a tale of two systems. First is the one we inherit and employ as infants/toddlers. This innate system enables us to move with power, grace, and ease. The other we unwittingly teach ourselves in early childhood. It is a far inferior system that brings strain into our every movement. And worse...it becomes a lifelong habit. For me personally, this resulted in a series of foot, knee, hip, and back injuries that began before I was 10 years old. Eventually, at age 30, I found the Alexander Technique, an educational discipline that teaches us to notice, and change, mal-adaptive motor habits that have long been out of our awareness.
Through more than 25 years of study, I have learned that the key to human movement is how we direct our constant, gravity-compelled falling body weight. We ourselves determine its trajectory moment-by-moment.
100-200 pounds of body mass generates tremendous force. Just as the force of falling water provides the energy that can light up a city, the force of our own falling, when well-directed, provides the energy that uprights us optimally. When mis-directed, however, the force of our falling drives us off our delicate balance. We then must muscularly brace to stop our self-induced topple: and we must right ourselves to keep a level head, bending ourselves out of shape in the process. These subconscious, survival-driven compensations lead to poor posture, make us susceptible to injury and diminish the quality of our functioning across a wide range of activities. Yet we have grown numb to the force of our falling and how it affects us.
By using our intelligence, we can regain sensitivity and the ability to capture the force of our falling to our advantage.
I hope you find this website useful.
Michael Protzel - protz@gannlaw.com