Professor Abrams studies the mind-body connection by analyzing body movement. \u201cThe body,\u201d she explains, \u201chas an innate intelligence which is often interfered with by outside influences\u201d that create mis\u00adalignment, patterns of tension, and inefficiency in body movement.<\/p>\n
For example, wearing high heels has very real consequences on the body. The muscles in the front of your feet, legs, and lower back tense to keep you from falling over, creating an imbalance that causes other parts of the body to overcompensate. Unfortunately, this imbal\u00adance remains as residual tension, affecting your body long after you kick off your heels. People who frequently wear heels, such as models, are far more likely to have chronic back and knee problems.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t wear heels? Imbalances can also happen in other areas of life like studying: poor sitting posture and an im\u00adproperly positioned computer screen can result in body ten\u00adsion. Abrams warns students against positioning a computer screen above the line of vision because craning your neck creates imbalance. She suggests lowering the screen or raising the chair to allow your neck to elongate, in ad\u00addition to sitting with the spine supported vertically over the pelvis, with the \u201csit bones\u201d back in the support of the chair.<\/p>\n
Even with these measures in mind, imbalance in the body is sometimes unavoidable. Therefore, Abrams devotes much of her attention to studying and teaching somatic practices that \u201cretrain\u201d the body. Visual imagery is particularly useful in rebalancing muscle work in the body, though several other methods can be used. Ideoki\u00adnesis (or Neuromuscular Reeducation), Laban Movement Analysis, Tai Chi, Alexander Technique, Pilates, Yoga, and various types of massage work help address body imbalances.<\/p>\n
Abrams encourages somatic practices because feeling good physically affects self-confidence. \u201cThe bet\u00adter your body feels, the better you feel about your body,\u201d she says. According to Abrams, leading a healthy lifestyle is integral to feeling good about yourself.<\/p>\n
The message is clear: treating your body well has positive and reciprocal consequences\u2014physically and mentally!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Professor Abrams studies the mind-body connection by analyzing body movement. \u201cThe body,\u201d she explains, \u201chas an innate intelligence which is often interfered with by outside influences\u201d that create mis\u00adalignment, patterns of tension, and inefficiency in body movement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[234,30],"tags":[8,142],"class_list":["post-134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vol-1-issue-1","category-well-being","tag-becca-marion","tag-gail-abrams"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}