All memos tagged #postural-realignment-lexicon

Leg length discrepancy is one leg measuring or functioning shorter than the other. In Postural / Structural Realignment an apparent short side is treated as a pattern first: a rotated pelvis, a hip...

Neutral is a segment resting in the middle of its range without effort. A pelvis, a ribcage, a head, a shoulder blade: each has a place it can sit without extra arch, tuck, lift, or brace. Neutral...

Alignment is how the body's segments stack over one another in relation to gravity, described as a pattern rather than a verdict. In Postural / Structural Realignment the practitioner looks at head...

Holding pattern is a habitual tension the body keeps even at rest, often outside awareness. A shoulder that never drops, a jaw that never unclenches, a low back that is always "on": the person is...

Bracing is holding muscles tight to feel stable, a habit the work aims to make unnecessary. A locked belly, a clenched jaw, a shoulder that will not drop: the person is using effort as a substitute...

Base of support is the area under and between the feet that the body balances over. Narrow it — feet together, or standing on one foot — and the rest of the body has to work harder to stay up. Widen...

Center of gravity is the point around which body weight balances, usually just in front of the sacrum in standing. When the hips push forward, the chest leans back, or the head lives ahead of the...

Differentiation is learning to move one segment, such as the pelvis, without the neighbors joining in. A pelvis that cannot tip without the ribs thrusting, a head that cannot turn without the...

Functional vs. structural is whether a difference, such as leg length, comes from soft tissue and habit, which can change, or from bone, which cannot. In Postural / Structural Realignment the...

Lower crossed pattern is tight hip flexors and low back paired with underactive glutes and abdominals, a common desk-sitting shape. The front of the hip and the lumbar erectors stay on; the glutes...

Pelvic neutral is the pelvis balanced between anterior and posterior tilt. Not tucked, not dumped: a middle the person can rest in without extra lumbar arch or a flattened low back. In Postural /...

Line of pull is the direction a shortened tissue drags a segment, which the practitioner traces before releasing it. A forward head may be the end of a line that starts in the chest or the hip; a...

Realignment, in this practice, is improved awareness, more movement options, regulation, and ease — not a bone moved into a correct place. Postural / Structural Realignment keeps the word because it...

Posterior chain is the muscles and fascia along the back of the body, often lengthened and underworked in desk patterns. Glutes, hamstrings, the back of the calf, and the long line up the spine form...

Upper crossed pattern is a tight chest and back of the neck paired with underactive deep neck flexors and mid-back, the classic screen-facing shape. The pecs and the upper neck stay on; the front of...

Sway back is the hips pushed forward of the ankles with the upper body leaning back to balance. The person hangs in the front of the hips; the chest and head go backward so the mass stays over the...

Anterior chain is the muscles and fascia along the front of the body, which tend to shorten with long sitting. Hip flexors, the front of the ribs, the chest, and the tissue that links them form one...

Lengthening is restoring resting length to shortened tissue so a segment can settle back toward neutral. A tight hip flexor, a short chest, a neck that will not let the head stack: the tissue is...

Rotation is a segment turned about its vertical axis, as when one hip sits forward of the other. A pelvis, a ribcage, a head: each can live turned. In Postural / Structural Realignment that turn is a...

Stacking is arranging head over ribs over pelvis over feet so bones rather than muscles carry the load. It is the practical picture of alignment in Postural / Structural Realignment: not a military...