Place your feet with the insides parallel and about 3
inches apart, and gently lift your pelvic floor and pull you navel
towards your spine. Ensure you can breathe by breathing through
your nose into the base of your lungs. If you find it difficult to
inhale fully then you have tightened your abdominal muscles too much!
Bend your knees while looking down to observe their
line of forward travel. They will probably travel forward inside
of the line of the second toe. Clench the buttocks to cause the
knees to travel forward over the line of the second and third toes.
Push your finger tips into the front of your thighs
to monitor quadriceps muscle tension. Lock the knees, then slowly
bend them until the quadriceps muscles start to tense up. Now slightly
straighten them.
Lengthen your spine as you lean forward by softening
at the at the hip joints (don't bend the spine) - feels like a
rooster pushing his tail feathers backward. When you can look down
and see your ankles, you know you've got it right (overweight or big
breasted people, stand side on to a mirror to monitor the correct angle
of hip flexion).
Breathe fully into the sides of your rib cage and
upper back, and lengthen your head up to the sky. This will straighten
out your kyphosis (or "hunch back"). Maintain your elongating
spine and continue to gently breathe into the side of your rib cage and
upper back.
Bring the points of you shoulders back and roll your
shoulder blades away from your ears. Allow your head to float
above your neck like a helium balloon.
Sway on your feet like wheat on the prairie, and feel
the patterns of weight move around the soles of your feet.
Finally, place equal weight over the centre of each
heel, the ball of the big toe and the ball of the "pinkie" toe (means
that you will have put two thirds of your weight on to the front of your
foot).
You now have the perfect standing posture of a super
athlete poised at the start of a medal winning race.
Relax! Stand tall like a rooster!