Do you ever catch yourself - maybe in a mirror or just through felt sense - with your shoulders rounded forward?

Or notice your head is jutted forward, as though you were looking closely at a computer screen, even when you're out walking?

What about now?

How does your posture feel in this moment? Feel the weight of your head resting on your spine. No need to correct anything - just notice how your body meets this moment.

What do you notice that surprises you?

I used to struggle with my posture

When I was a kid I used to play computer games and I did a stint for a couple of years of computer programming in my early 20's. During this period, despite being very physically active, my posture was less than ideal.

I would slouch, I would hold my head forwards and I would have a lot of tension in my upper back after spending long hours at the computer.

For years I thought posture was something you had to fix — that I’d somehow done it wrong. No matter how hard I tried, the tension always came back.

That experience combined with what I'd heard from society was that computers give you bad posture. I believed it.

The deeper truth about computer posture

But what I came to discover through my Feldenkrais training is that it's not actually the computer use which is a problem. It's the way you use yourSELF while you're on the computer that makes a difference.

I still use my computer daily, but now I have a different approach which allows me to have good posture while I'm using it. I also don't "pay for it later" like I used to if I've been on there for a long time.

It's simply a case of learning how to use your body differently.

Your Posture Comes From The Freedom Or Restriction Of Movement In Your Spine

Bad posture generally comes from muscles being stuck "on". That is, they have contracted, and they are not de-contracting.

This is most common in the extensor muscles - the muscles that run down your back and help it arch and stay upright.

When people have back muscles that are free, their posture looks beautiful. Consider a 2 year old. Their posture is perfect and their back muscles are responsive.

When people have habitual contraction in their back, their posture gets messed up. It prevents the little micro movements that healthy vertebrae should have.

A Healthy Spine Can Flow

Each vertebra is meant to whisper to the next — passing movement along the way a wave moves through water. When some get quiet, others start shouting.

I invite you to check in with the free movement of your spine right now.

What happens if you exaggerate your slouch for a moment — and then very slowly let it go? Notice which parts of your spine move first, and which hold back.

When you move your spine, can you feel which parts join in easily and which parts seem shy? Try a slow arch, a slow round, maybe even a gentle twist.

Most people notice that some parts are eager while others hesitate — that’s totally normal. Those hesitations are simply the places where your nervous system has learned to “hold on.”

Those hesitations you feel are your nervous system doing what it’s practiced most often. Your spine has developed habits based on those movements it has practiced most.

Your Spinal Movement is Controlled by Your Habits

Every adult I know carries some pattern of contraction — it’s just how the nervous system learns to keep us safe. These are the ways that we have learned to use our bodies and they have become so deeply embedded that we don't even think about them anymore. These are our HABITS of contraction.

These habits are unique to each person. They're like a fingerprint.

The way they differ from fingerprints though, is that it's possible to change your muscular habits.

How Habits are Changed

It's just like the way you have a habit of brushing your teeth. You do know you always brush the same way right?

If you're like most people, you probably do. You probably start with the same tooth, follow the same sequence and finish in the same way.

If you wanted to change this habit (which can be kinda fun because it feels strange). You first have to notice the way you currently do it. Maybe you do the top right molars first and then move around anti-clockwise to the other teeth.

Then you would have to try out a new sequence. Maybe you choose to brush the bottom teeth first. Then moving up to the top.

You could explore some different sequences and see what feels nicest to you.

Here's the interesting part - if your nervous system likes the new way of brushing your teeth because it's more comfortable or uses less effort, it will adopt the new habit.

You may have to practice it a little in case the old pattern re-asserts it's dominance.

But in essence, this is habit change.

You Can Change the Movement Habits of Your Back

The process is no different for changing the habitual movements of your back muscles.

In the same way you brush your teeth in sequence, you’ve got a habitual ‘sequence’ in how your back muscles fire as you stand, sit, or look at a screen.

Once you see that sequence clearly, you can start to explore it and then play with some new patterns.

This is really what posture change is about. It's not about pulling your head back and trying to "fix it".

When you start to feel how your posture responds to attention instead of effort, you begin to move from fixing to sensing — and that’s where real change begins.

Play With Your Habit

In invite you to take a moment now to sense what this process of habit change is like. You can just lower your head a small amount - maybe only 10 or 20% as far as you could go.

Before you move, just notice where your attention rests. Feel the contact your body makes with the chair or the ground. Let yourself arrive.

Slowly move back and forth between being upright and with your head curled forward. As you do this, see if you can identify the way your spine habitually moves... You might ask yourself, "Where is the very first vertebrae that moves?" and then "Whats the sequence of vertebrae that follow?"

Then, when you’re ready, you might experiment with other ways. Perhaps you could initiate the bend from a little further down your spine. Play with it and let some other vertebrae be involved. Let ease be your guide. Could you do this so gently that it becomes a search for joy through your movement?

That's right. Feel the way you can find easy breathing and simplicity as you move back and forth - each time deepening into more softness.

Once your curiosity has run its course, you can bring the movements to a stop. Now there's an opportunity to spend a moment sensing your posture. Is there something softer about it? More gentle? Do you like this way of using yourSELF?

Take a moment to simply feel yourself sitting here now — breathing, alive, supported.
Notice what’s different, even if it’s subtle.
That’s your nervous system learning — through you.

Imagine if you were able to amplify this quality of ease and softness in your posture. How would this change the way you show up while using a computer? Or in other areas of life? How would you see yourself as your move through your life with a softer, more effortless version of posture?