Last week
I heard a story that in Singapore, by the time many students get to secondary school, they have lost one to two inches in height. All this because their neck is rounded and they cannot hold their reads up straight anymore. And I think this is not only in Singapore but more an more a kind of worldwide 'evolution.
During my training to become a yoga teacher and before that during the Mentastic lessons (from Satsavya Mertens with the Träger approach) that I once followed in The Netherlands, I learned that the average weight of our head is between six and six and a half kilos (13 – 14,5 Pounds). If that head is in balance (if we look almost straight forward and let the head rest on the Atlas vertebra) we hardly or never stretches the neck muscles. The balanced weight then is directly transported by the spine to the feet and the earth. Something that costs no energy. “How light can it be?” Was the sentence that was often asked during the practical lessons. We almost all know the images of, for example, African women carrying heavy loads on their head. Apparently without any difficulty.
Once, during a lesson, as a comparison, we were asked how it would feel if you were walking around for sixteen hours a day with a bag of potatoes or rice of six kilos in your hand. After ten minutes you would put that bag away. As if there is nothing wrong and totally used to the feeling you do that on a daily base with your head. If you were to get about eight hours of sleep a day, there would still be about sixteen hours a day on which you keep your head balanced with your muscles and tendons.
During my training to become a yoga teacher and before that during the Mentastic lessons (from Satsavya Mertens with the Träger approach) that I once followed in The Netherlands, I learned that the average weight of our head is between six and six and a half kilos (13 – 14,5 Pounds). If that head is in balance (if we look almost straight forward and let the head rest on the Atlas vertebra) we hardly or never stretches the neck muscles. The balanced weight then is directly transported by the spine to the feet and the earth. Something that costs no energy. “How light can it be?” Was the sentence that was often asked during the practical lessons. We almost all know the images of, for example, African women carrying heavy loads on their head. Apparently without any difficulty.
Once, during a lesson, as a comparison, we were asked how it would feel if you were walking around for sixteen hours a day with a bag of potatoes or rice of six kilos in your hand. After ten minutes you would put that bag away. As if there is nothing wrong and totally used to the feeling you do that on a daily base with your head. If you were to get about eight hours of sleep a day, there would still be about sixteen hours a day on which you keep your head balanced with your muscles and tendons.My father, who was a physiotherapist and yoga teacher up to the age of ninety-three, had a lot of experiences with neck problems and how to solve them. “Sit (or stand) straight son!” I was told quite a bit when I was sitting (better to say hanging) on the couch reading a book or watching TV. Compared to now, those were only short periods of time. People nowadays continuously train their neck muscles in stretching and tensing up with that ‘dumb-bell’ (called head) hanging without even realizing it. It seems you can get used to neck pain and headaches.
Are you
looking for a golden profession with future?
Jobs as Chiropractor,
Posture Alignment Therapist, or for instance Orthopedic surgeon are jobs that can
only be seen as (and remain) a gold mine.
Remain?
Yes, at least for the time being. Who knows, maybe the technology comes with
new toys, it is almost impossible that they have not already been invented, so
that you can walk upright again still dealing with your smart phone.
If these
toys will be launched, what a new world of possibilities and experiences will
open up for many people. I am sure it will take time to get used to that world
and experiences.
People are
getting longer again. They look at each other again. An invitation to
communicate and to see the existing world around them. And also a relief. After
all, breathing is much easier with a head that just stands upright.
Gangey Gruma (Frans Captijn)
Captijn Insight. Catalyst in developing tranquility & in-sight to get in a sustainable way real connection, purpose, pleasure and flow in life, love, family, business, career and work again.
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