Put Your Back at Ease: Pain free posture for fitness and health

by Thea Sawyer, Kajun Design, Darlene Frank (Editor)

Natural posture for a pain-free back. Pain-relief, vitality, physical ease, and strength have less to do with exercise than with how you carry yourself in everything you do. This insight is based on over 40 years of research by French yoga teacher Nöelle Perez-Christiaens, whose quest for pain relief took her to cultures where back and joint pain were practically unknown. Thea Sawyer describes the technique Perez-Christiaens created and how it is taught in the US under the name of Balance. This book shows you how Testimonials “As a Physical Therapist and chiropractor I can highly recommend these teachings. This approach frees the body to function according to its original design." Petra Eggert, PT, DC “I came to Balance with the perspective of a yoga teacher, and what I learned turned my yoga practice and teaching upside down." Janet Wong, Yoga Teacher “By the time I was introduced to Aplomb, I had spent over 20 years trying nearlyevery traditional and alternative treatment for widespread chronic pain." Pamela Rief, Director of Biomechanics Education

Genres: Nonfiction

136 pages, Paperback

First published August 12, 2013

Reviews

[Private Account · Rating 5 out of 5]

First I read 8 Steps to a Pain Free Back. I got the idea, but couldn't execute it. The exercises didn't work for me at all. I figured I would never get it until I took her class or seminar. But then I read Kentro Body Balance. I loved that book. It gave me an outlook and attitude about my body that I really enjoyed. But nothing really changed in terms of my posture (and frequent back/hip/knee/shoulder pain).

Then I read this book, Put Your Back at Ease. Finally it all made sense. I *think* it was this book and the way she describes what one must do to reform the way her body works (and not the fact that this was my third book on the subject). Thea got through to me that my body should be relaxed, that if anything is tense I am not walking or sitting properly, that sitting and walking and bending properly is the only exercise I needed to do in order to be more flexible and stronger.

Last year for my birthday I gave myself the gift of 30-60 minutes a day doing Thea's program. It was rather like torture at first. Many days I actually had to bribe myself with a television show or a book on tape just to get through it. I committed to 90 days. Nothing happened. But for some reason I kept going.

After six moths I started to think something might be happening, but I really didn't know what. After eight months I could sit on my butt with my back straight for the first time in my entire life (at 34 years of age). At ten months I could bend over from my hips and put my hands flat on the floor, and it felt good! But it's more than that, I can lift heavier things than I used to be able to. And, I would now rather do my own stretching session than go get a massage. (No joke, it just feels better now.)

My husband actually laughed at me for the first few months. "That's not exercise," he would say. And I agree. It never felt like exercise. Just stretching and light circuits. But now he wants to learn what I have learned and be able to stand like I do. I don't even mean to have good posture anymore, I just do.

For the record: The program I invented for myself wasn't just this book, it also included numerous light exercises I got from various physical therapists on YouTube. I also bought and used a wedge to sit on for the year when I was at my desk or in my car. This may have been a huge contributing factor or not, I am not sure.