Once you’ve set up your posture, let your arm hang relaxed by your side. Check to see where the upper part of your arm (shoulder to elbow) is located. If the upper part of the arm is directly in line with the torso, your posture is probably right on. But if your upper arm is behind or in front of the torso – even slightly – you are out of alignment. To correct, use the steps of the posture rather than moving your arm. If you still have trouble, you might be holding too much tension in your shoulders, so just relax them and try again.
Lower Body Alignment for ChiRunning
Once you have checked in with your posture after beginning to run, feel the big toe and little toe leave the ground at the same time. This will help you feel the foot peel off the ground and keep you from "pushing" off. After practicing this for a little while, Body Sense how your pelvic rotation can facilitate letting your legs open up behind you. This big toe/little toe focus will help keep your knees tracking forward and align your foot so that it doesn’t splay outward.
Sometimes it is hard to tell if you are leaning from the waist or from the ankles. Try this exercise:
- Stand tall and lean (bend) at the waist. Notice where the weight in your feet is. Usually it will still be in the middle of the foot or even in the heels. Note that you can stand in this position without feeling much forward pull; and that your back is working to hold up your torso.
- Now stand in your ChiRunning posture, drop your focus to your feet and lean from the ankles moving your nose forward just 1 inch. Notice how the weight has come forward to the balls of your feet or to your toes. Also notice how you feel the pull of gravity forward. You are leaning so your foot is on the gas pedal. But you are not moving so you must also have your foot on the brake. The brake is being caused by the tension in your ankles. If you consciously shut off this tension in your ankles, you take your foot off the brake and you must fall forward.
This exercise helps to feel how inefficient leaning from the waist is. It also highlights how tension in your ankles is a form of braking.
You can also use this exercise to feel the impact on the lower back/hips/glutes and quads when moving while bent at the waist. Stand tall and lean (bend) at the waist. Now take step and notice what you feel. You will likely feel many of the back/hip/glute muscles and quads tensing in an isometric contraction to stabilize the torso with each step. Take a few steps in succession and get a sense of the impact to the body.
ChiWalking Tip - Use a Backpack to Practice Pelvic Rotation:
Wear a backpack that has some structure to it from top to bottom. You can also put something in your backpack like a binder or full size book and fill the backpack with a towel or clothes to give it some structure. The goal is to feel the backpack flat up and down your back from T12/L1 to about your sacrum (tailbone). Walk with pelvic rotation by trying to slide (or swipe) your hips/lower back from side to side across the backpack. Feel the contact across the lower back as the pelvis is allowed to rotate back. Notice if the pelvis is rotating level without wagging your tail. If the pelvis is level there should also be no gap between the lower back and the backpack.
This backpack provides external physical feedback for pelvic rotation to the rear with a neutral (level) pelvis.
Since the release of the ChiRunning and ChiWalking books, I've made a few changes in how I've taught some aspects of the posture section. So, rather than waiting for the changes to come out in the 2nd Edition of the ChiRunning book (to be released Spring '09), I'm going to jump ahead and let you in on the most up-to-date way of aligning your posture. I've been aligning myself this new way for about 6 months now and seen it to be a much easier and quicker way to get aligned while walking or running.
In the ChiRunning and ChiWalking books we have you begin the posture stance by standing with your feet parallel and hip-width apart with your knees not locked. After that, we go to straightening your upper spine and this is where one of the changes comes in.
We used to have you place one hand over your belly and the thumb and middle finger of the other hand spread apart and placed just under your collarbone. Then we had you pull down with your lower hand while lifting with your upper hand to straighten your upper body. Then we had you resting your chin on your upwardly stretched index finger in order to bring your head and neck into alignment with the rest of your posture. This is where I began to see problems in the method, because some people have long necks and short fingers or visa versa and it just wasn't working the same for every body I came across. One person's chin would be too low and another's would be too high. Another reason for making this change is that it's awkward to use this method of aligning yourself once you're moving. So, I needed to come up with a way that everyone would be able to get their head in the right alignment without the use of their hands. Here it is…it's easy.
Place your hand on the backside of your neck and brush your fingers in an upward direction. While you're doing this, lift up on the back of your head, like you're trying to reach for the sky with the crown of your head. This motion will stretch all the muscles on the back of your neck and allow your chin to naturally stay low. It will also help you straighten your upper spine without the use of your hands.
Now, in all my walking and running classes I have everyone do this easy little exercise. First stand in a slumped position (poor posture), then in one smooth motion reach for the sky with the crown of your head…straightening your spine and lengthening the back of your neck. This upward focus of your attention will quickly straighten your posture and actually (believe it or not) lighten your footstep by counteracting the downward motion of your foot coming onto the ground.
Having your neck in the correct position has an effect on the rest of your spine all the way down to your tailbone. You'll find it easier to level your pelvis and to relax your shoulders, keeping them low. It's a crucial part of the "C" shape which is a new concept I've been working with… and which was not mentioned in the ChiRunning book.
Look at the illustration and you'll see the "C" shape super-imposed on the subject. If you look at the direction the arrows are pointing, you'll see that the arrows begin at T12/L1 and move in opposite directions. The arrows on the upper section of the "C" shape go up (lengthening the back of the neck) and then down the front side of the head, ending at the chin (which is held down). The lower section of the "C" shape runs down towards the tailbone and then comes back up on the front side of the pelvis, ending at the pubic bone (when leveling the pelvis, you lift up on the pubic bone). Practice getting yourself into the "C" shape whenever you feel your posture slipping…whether you're sitting at your desk, standing, walking or running. It'll have the amazing effect of bringing your mind and your body together, because you'll be engaging your core in the midst of your activity and bringing yourself to the "center" of your experience.
Your posture is the absolute keystone of all your movement and structural support. When you have strong physical center, it has a direct influence on your mental and emotional well being. Practice your posture as if your quality of life depends on it, because it does.
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