Badly as people stand, they sit possibly worse. Most people sit in the
most unhealthful as well as in the most ungraceful way. Generally there
is a complete "slumping" of the chest, the spine is brought into a wide,
single curve instead of its counterpoise curves.
All the exercises from the very first, have a bearing upon the
establishment of the normal conditions of the spine. If the exercises
are well practiced, especially the elevation and expansion of the chest,
the spine is strengthened and its normally proportioned curves are
established.
Bad positions in sitting are extremely common. Book-keepers, editors,
seamstresses and children in school need careful attention. Special
exercises should be given, such as the "harmonious expansion of the
chest" in sitting and the use of the arms to develop the uprightness of
the torso.
Bad positions in sitting are often due to a false sense of rest. Muscles
not acting harmoniously tend to completely collapse. Many people sit
without true rest, and are continually shifting their position in a vain
search for rest.
What is rest? The chief rest comes through the alternation of activity
and passivity, that is, through rhythm. Passivity alternating with
activity brings rest to the human heart and is the best mode of rest.
Rest also results from normal functioning. A person can sit or stand in
true poise, giving freedom to breathing, and be able to rest much more
truly than in an unnatural, abnormal, collapsed condition.
This can be well illustrated by the fact that when a person starts out
to walk with the chest slumped, the head hung down and with all the
vital organs cramped, he comes back more weary than rested.
In walking we should, as has been shown, keep the chest well expanded,
the body elevated, co-ordinating all the normal relations of parts. If
we walk in this way it tends to rest rather than to weary us.
Therefore stand sympathetically expanded and easily tall. Walk in the
same way and sit in the same way. Let there be a certain exhilaration
and a sense of satisfaction.