I stand corrected

The first day we were at Scoliosis SOS we had a "before" photo taken.  Photos would be taken every Friday until the end of the 4 week term to track our progress (or not as the case might but hopefully won't be).  We were given a copy to post at our exercise station after analysing it.

My "Before" Photo

Note my rounded shoulders and head placed too forward, causing neck strain.  My weak point is at my waist on the right, and my right hip is shifted too far over to the right. 

Sigh. 

If I wasn't humble before I am now! It was really the first time I had ever seen my back as someone else would.  And it made me realize that there is this whole side of ourselves that moves as we do and where we go and of which we have no idea where it sits in our bodies.  Where it lives and grows and changes.  We are so familiar with our faces and bellies and feet, with our hairline and lipline and hemline, but have no idea about what that column that supports us and carries us into our futures looks like, and moves like.

By the end of our first week, we had been placed into our active corrected positions, which means we were shifted and prodded and poked into a position that felt wrong and weird to those of us inhabiting said position. It takes a minute or so to achieve this, and we must start by rocking back and forth on our feet to ensure our weight is evenly distributed on both feet, with 60% on the heels and 40% on the toes, with a little more weight on the big toe than the others. Stand tall as possible - elongate. Then we adjust our lordosis, tilting our pelvis back and forth to obtain just the right amount of curve without tucking our bottoms too much either.  Stand tall - elongate!  Next, the hips.  Do you need to shift one of them?  Where?  What about the rib cage?  Shoulders must be settled back and down.  Tuck the chin in and stand with the back of your head in line with the back of your back. Elongate, elongate, elongate!

As we stretched and exercised, the instructors would occassionally say THL L shift your right shoulder.  RC3 move your left hip back.  It all feels incredibly strange. However, we had to trust that the physiotherapists saw something we did not.  We stand in our new positions to be approved of before flouncing home at the end of the day, like schoolchildren who have cleaned their desks or finished their sums.

Now in our second week we must show off our corrected positions more frequenly throughout the day, and I have a funny feeling that we will be required to work our exercises in them soon.  It's enough to remember what to do with the poles and beanbags and wedges and mats and balls and all the other accoutrements without having to remember where my hips and shoulders have to be!