Practically everything that we do, everything we are, is showcased in our pelvis.

It is true that our head or specifically our brain are primary to what we do.  Yes the brain makes the decisions that tells us what to do to take advantage of our surroundings, but upon what influence?

We act based upon what we perceive and we perceive what is in our immediate surroundings.  Our surroundings specifically are the people that surround us, i.e. our peers, our parents, bosses. What makes them act the way they do when they perceive us?  Well,they act based upon their surroundings too.  They act upon our body language. Your body posture tells them how to act when they see you.  Are you forthcoming, outgoing, sexy, upright?  The unspoken language is often greater than oral communication.

Our posture and pelvis contains a lot of information about a person.  One’s position of the pelvis (and therefore the back) tells those who view us, all they want to know.  The small of the back and pelvis are looked at by opposite sexes for obvious reasons. This area of the body gives onlookers that first impression they use to base how they socialize with you.

Your body is literally based upon your pelvis.  The pelvis supports the spine and upper body.  Usually when one’s spine is optimum, then so is the pelvis.  So too is the reverse.

For years you have made internal adjustments to your muscles so that you have currently the pelvis you desired (whether you wanted the way it looks now or not, you got what you wanted).  Realize this however, during your informative years, your youth, you made these muscle adjustments based upon what your parents imaged. In so many ways, they encouraged you to adjust your muscles to culminate into your frame and posture.  They were showing or telling you the proper or improper way to stand, sit, think, move around. The pelvis houses many muscles that provide balance and your core. It is also the base of your upper body. Much of who you are, how you engage with others, how you feel about yourself is within your upper body. Your upper body is fitted to your pelvis. Is it a good fit?

The big questions is; Do you still want your pelvis in the present state it is in? If not you can change it.  It will be difficult no doubt.  There are 16 pairs of muscles in the pelvic region.  All of them work to some degree, even if your pelvis is twisted or out of alignment.  If you want to change the appearance of your pelvis to work better, to carry your body more smoothly and effectively, you can. With focus and your desire to change for the better, you can have a more flexible body and more proper alignment of the spine and pelvis.  Stretching and lengthening the spine, which includes the pelvis is the key.

Anatomically, our thoughts prompt an action we wish our bodies to perform. Our thoughts are sent via our nervous system to the lower back then on to the hand, foot, arm, neck, where ever it is that we want to perform an action.  The small of the back is our “nerve center.”  Just below that is our pelvis.  So you can understand the importance of the pelvis and its immediate surroundings. The pelvis is the base upon which the nerve center operates. When your pelvis is stable, correctly positioned, and functions well, your nervous system is likely to work well.

We all understand that we suffer stress in this world. Some of us more than others. Let’s consider the wealthy and how they deal with stress.  Perhaps we can learn from them.  If you had a good amount of money, you’d show no negative stress when it is time to pay the rent. However, if you are without the necessary funds to pay the rent, these stresses can accumulate. In both the mind and the body, you become nervous and unhappy.  Your body suffers the pain of anxiety.  You find little relief. 

Anxiety exacerbates a person’s low self esteem.
The region of our lower back and pelvis showcases our sense of worth.  Most of us with weight problems or proportion problems store fat in this area. Our pelvis, under stress adjusts improperly.  We made our muscles in our pelvis adjust to benefit or protect us as we tried to surmount the our daily problems. Most of us with a bad pelvis and bad back were handed way to many problems to deal with. Currently, how does this weight gain or maladjusted pelvis affect us socially?

People can make a primal judgement, or as stated above, a first impression of others, by looking at a person from behind. Why do they focus on their lower back? We all do this because it is at the root of one’s appearance, and one’s “street smarts.” The region of the lower back provides others with an immediate review of you. It is key to how one carries themselves. Are we upright, slim, graceful?  Are we self confident, well balanced, even well bred? The buttocks or pelvis is the major joining structure between the legs and the upper body. It is an important area.  When this region of the body is streamlined, when the joining of the legs and upper body to the pelvis is at the height of their apex, a person is considered attractive.  A person that carries themselves with a smooth joining of their joints in the pelvic region is graceful and has poise.  Absolutely they are attractive, even without regarding the face.  One is fairly certain that the face is pleasing in appearance when the pelvis provides a proper base for streamlined backbone. The head is balanced atop this aligned spine and the face is noble, attractive, and displays contentment. One moves with a certain appreciated grace and poise. One is not impinged by social difficulties and therefore an awkward way about them. People in the higher echelons of society shrug off encounters that could affect lesser individuals.  The pelvis is the part of our body that showcases our street smarts and tells others that we are at the top of our game.

On the other hand, when we walk in an unbalanced way or have gained weight in the pelvic region, we are essentially telling others that we may not be at the top of our game. Basically we may be judged with some suspect.  We are compromised. We more readily submit to others will. We are not prepared to lead in a social setting. The game of life is played to win by those with all of their faculties engaged. A streamlined pelvis region is key to how well you play this social game.  People without street smarts, possessing a sound mind and body, are not going to achieve a high status within this golden social framework.  People with a twisted, large, or disproportional pelvic region do not present the what it takes to play well with these savvy social leaders.

You need not take my comments as gospel but do look at the leaders in you community, city, state, all governments. These leaders, I’ll say 90% of them walk with a certain balance and poise. They are well mannered (in public, generally at all times), and have a nice appearance. Even if these well to do are not your friends, you can learn much from those outside your peer group, those with more enviable traits.

It’s up to you.  The time to change is either now or soon. 

True, one must consider your present environment, but there will be a time that you can find a period of solace whereupon you can change.  At that time you can find a calm setting to quietly, imperceptive to naysayers, lengthen and stretch your back.  You can balance your head above your shoulders, loosen your jaw, free your neck, slightly raise your shoulders to bring in more air.  Breath easily and gain your self confidence, your grace and poise, and with a streamlined pelvis you will have the same wonderful appearance of those in more prestigious circles.

My pelvis is now more aligned. My stretching program has taken a few years but it has been fruitful. I have lengthened my back, and hold my shoulders at their appropriate and higher level. With the weight of my upper body lifted off of my pelvis, I am noticing real relief and ease in my movement. My walking is lighter, more graceful, and my gait smoother because I’ve adjusted the position of my pelvis.

I feel much better. I use less emotions and am more practical these days. I am not trying to bring something to my life, with perhaps an unnecessary aggressive posture. Life comes to me. My body “language” is appropriate to my surrounding circumstances. I do not appear anxious nor awkward. My pelvis is not tilted forward with the crests of my iliums too far forward. Nor are the ilium crests too far to the rear. My pelvis is in a neutral position. I have lengthened my back so that my body mass above my pelvis now sits properly on top of and based within my pelvis. Appropriately, the word pelvis, from the Greek translation means “bowl or basin.” My upper body sits nicely in this basin or pelvis.

Much less physical energy is needed for me to engage with life. Things come easier and better. My hip sockets are better positioned. My leg ligaments and thigh muscles do their job easier. My pubic bone is more forward, and my iliac crests, or the top of my pelvis, are positioned more to the rear. I am walking more gracefully and with more ease. This pelvis posture tells others that I am enjoying life because I am.

My pelvis feels as though it has elongated. This actually may have happened with the upslip of my iliums relative to my sacrum corrected. My aligned sacrum is now without pain or without difficulty within my pelvis while it performs adequately as a base for my spine. The longer axis of my pelvis is certainly more perpendicular to the floor giving me the sensation that my pelvis is longer. I stretched for many years to encouraged my lumbar disks to lengthen. I feel that my sacrum is in its proper placement. This sensitive region, the small of the back, is not enduring any pinching pain from a forward tilted pelvis.

My legs, particularly my left leg, I have concentrated upon by stretching away from my pelvis. The pleasant result is that the left side of my body, my left leg hip joint, the left side of my pelvis, and my left side of my chest has protruded more forward and up. I am focusing my efforts to allow my left looking pelvis to become less receded and more active. I want my sacrum, upon which the pelvis joins and pivots with my spine, to unlock and allow the left side of my pelvis to adjust more forward while I walk and stand. A more free and balanced stride, and a neutral pelvis is now more normal for me.

My pelvis was twisted and because I’m right handed, my dominate right leg did most of the work, in walking and in my stance. It was just the way I held myself those days. Today I stand and walk smoothly as my legs evenly take on the weight of my upper body. To rectify my pelvis’ alignment I have stretched my legs while laying in bed. By doing this I use gravity to apply a perfect pressure to my neck, back, pelvis, and legs. I often place one of my arms above my head, holding my mini notebook laptop with the other while surfing the internet or reading a book. This helps when stretching the deep muscles of my pelvis.

The left side of my neck, back, and pelvis is now “popping” back into place. Yes, when you make adjustments to your body several years or decades after using it improperly, there will be some popping and cracking. Ligaments must be realigned not only in the pelvis but throughout the body. When rectifying through lengthening my spine, my left side of my neck is positioned more toward the back, better aligned with my back. It was gangly and held more forward in the previous years of my life. The right side of my neck had less of a too forward position. This had more to do with my depressed chest on my left side, and because of my guitar playing which I discuss later. Today my neck is held more aligned with my spine. Yes my spine was twisted as was my pelvis. To further rectify, I now turn my head at the C1 disk which is at the top of my spine. This is a more proper and graceful movement. This grace and poise is then transferred throughout the body to include the pelvis. Do not make a head turn using the neck at the C7 disk, located lower, at the top of the shoulders as this appears as an unsophisticated movement.

Another problem for my pelvis was that I played guitar improperly. In my youth, my back and pelvis began its left looking posture, and this was exasperated by my guitar playing. This hobby required that I look left at the guitar neck while playing being right handed. I turned my head at the C7 disk, and my left hand holding the guitar neck was pulling my left shoulder forward and down, and my right strumming hand was holding my right shoulder to the rear. This affected my pelvis. It began looking left.

Guitar playing for many is not bad for the back. I’ve noticed that people who’ve always had good posture held their guitars with no ill effect to their posture. These players would be for example, Eric Clapton or George Harrison. For me though, guitar playing came with a price to my posture. In 2009, I had to stop playing, at least for a few years to stop my left looking body and pelvis. I’ll pick the guitar up and play when my back is better aligned, when my posture is more upright, when my left side of my body is more in balance with my right side. I recommend to those of you playing guitar that you consider posture improvements to keep you on top of your musical game, and to benefit your appearance. This is true of those playing most musical instruments. Except for maybe piano or drums, just about all of them can put you in a sustained, somewhat unnatural posture, creating an unbalanced pelvis, thus requiring a daily stretching exercise to unwind.

I made a choice, as many of you will if you desire change, which included changing my appearance and the alignment of my pelvis. Do I want to find out how to enjoy life with a good posture? Do I want to be part of the human populace that is enjoyed by others simply because I have a nice appearance? Do I want to feel as though I’ve inherited a supremacy, becoming someone having more grace and poise? I want to experience what it is to use my muscles, my whole self, with ease. I want to walk with a neutral pelvis. An aligned pelvis is key to how I move. I want have a certain personal grace so that others will like and respect what they see when they watch me move, walk, sit, and engage in activities. Simply put, I want to be at the top of my physical “game.” So I had to let the guitar playing go and engage in another type of practice, stretching the muscles of my pelvis, that of moving about more erectly, with more grace and ease.

My breathing is more pure and regular now. I’ve opened up my shoulders, widened the clavicles and scapulas, so that my ribs are allowed to lift up. Now my lungs are not repressed by an ill gotten lower shoulder placement, improperly formed so that it presses down on my ribs and lungs. I have an uplifted appearance now. My entire pelvis is more forward with my stomach forward as well. My shoulders are held higher. Incorrectly there are some people that say you must relax your shoulders on your upper chest but not in my case. Some people say that holding your shoulders higher makes you look nervous and appear nervous. On the contrary. I say that people wanting to improve bad posture must raise their shoulders along with lengthening their back and whole spine. Positioning one’s pelvis more forward with a lengthened lower back helps to lengthen the whole back. Further, they must position their head, slightly higher, more toward the read, balanced above their lifted shoulders. This will permit their neck muscles to pull up their chest. This is not a simple pose to undertake after having bad posture for so many years, but day by day you become better at becoming a new and more appreciated “you.” Your pelvis more easily realign itself after the your chest and shoulders rise.

Continuing: When doing this lengthening, the pelvis is pushed away from the core of the body by the lengthened lower back, with much of an undesired spinal curve removed. Naturally there is supposed to be some curve to the spine. We are trying to remove the unwanted excessive curve of the spine. The lumbar disks pushes the sacrum, which in turn pushes the iliums downward while removing pelvic tilt. This allows the torso to lengthen and the diaphragm to position itself in a more liberal position. The organs in the region of the stomach are provided more room. This is optimum when the lungs increase in size,taking up room at the top of the stomach. And very importantly, the lungs “happily” (actually you are the one that is happy) can take up more volume in the upper part of the more opened rib cage. Breathing becomes more a natural experience. Taking full breaths is to be the basis for full enjoyment of life.

So what am I saying about my self? Where am I today with my pelvis, back, posture, self confidence? In a sentence, I’ll say I’ve gone back in time. To the time of my later teens, full of life. Without regard for the things that caused this misalignment in the first place. I am my own authoritarian now. I can listen to my own sage advice. I can read articles that directly enhance my posture. I can capture the greatness of life having dropped my baggage, and replaced it with a realignment of my pelvis, my whole body and posture. I feel as though I am young again with the rest of my life before me. I can start over again.