By now you are perfectly aware of the fact that your body is your best spokesperson, or as the French so elegantly put it, your “porte-parole”. Your body speaks for you with its own silent language. Turn down the volumen, and the message still goes way across: anger, fear, pride, anxiety, hesitation, confidence. A soundless communication you can´t afford not to have under control.
But what happens when your body talk gives you up from time to time? Your body reveals what you’ ve been trying so hard to hide: it shows you are a bit shy, introverted and somewhat insecure.
This is how your body speaks for you: your head tilts slightly to the left, as if trying to understand something you’re not getting; your left shoulder rises up to protect you heart (your feelings); your chin is tucked in; your shoulders round forward in a downhearted way. When you sit, your feet never seem to quite find the right position. You may wiggle a bit in your chair ...if you’re not completely collapsed against the back of your seat! You may even rub your hands together every now and then, or even chew your nails. Your body posture is saying something: do you feel insecure about your weight? your hair? your height? your skin complexion? your belly buldge?
Now imagine the opposite situation: you enter the room standing lean and tall; your shoulders pulled back, your chest opened proud, your chin held up and your spine stretching high. Imagine yourself standing tall, sitting up straight and moving confidently around; calm, composed and collected; looking right into the eyes of the person in front of you; smiling a small self-assured smile.
And you know what? You already look thinner, bolder and sexier. Your movements are even and your posture is sensuous from head to toes.
Nice to picture, huh? And that’s not all: your back pain has completely disappeared, you’re body isn’t cramped anymore, your neck muscles are soft and relaxed, your knees are well oiled and your shoulders feel just fine, among many other goodies.
Poor posture? Who? You? No way…
The Genie in the Latern
So body talk is an important tool to have playing on your side of the field. So how do you get it to work for –and not against- you? Well basically, you have to get the Big Boss on your side, the rest comes easy. Who’s the Big Boss? The spine, naturally. Once you get your spine into shape, you`ll be able to control other parts of your body, adding up to that lean, confident figure you’ve been dreaming of.
So the spine is the Boss who controls body talk and is also the genie in the lantern who will make your Santa`s wish list come true.
But what exactly is the spine, anyway?
Vertebrae by Vertebrae
Thank God for Latin. It allows us to understand each other on certain very important things. In plain good English, our columnae vertebrae -or vertebral column- is our spine: a towering pile of thirty three vertebrae.
Thirty three what? Vertebrae. Ok, let’s just call them interlocking bony blocks. You get the point.
Each one of these bony blocks –I insist, or vertebrae- stack up one on top of the other, articulating through joints. Some of these joints are bone-against-bone. Others, have a sticky jello-like substance between the vertebrae, called intervertebrae discs.
So we have the vertebrae, the joints and the intervertebrae discs. What does it all add up to?
