How to Bend - 4 Tips on Bending Based on the Alexander Technique

Are you reluctant to reach for something on the floor? Do you feel pain when you bend? Do you want to feel stronger and more stable as you bend? Your problem may be related more to how you bend than to your physical condition. Bending far enough to touch the floor is something you should be able to do your entire life. These four tips can help you bend with greater ease, stability and strength. They can also help you reduce the pain of bending and increase your bending range and flexibility. They are based on the Alexander Technique, a method for improving your understanding of posture and movement. Learning the Alexander Technique generally requires more than reading an article, but these four tips can help you improve the way you bend.

1. Leave your heels on the floor as you bend.

This is the most important rule when bending. No matter how far toward the floor you bend, you still need to support your full weight. Picking your heels up makes it harder to support your weight so it is important to leave your feet fully on the floor as you bend. Before you bend, notice how your feet feel on the floor and try to let them feel the same way during the entire bending movement.

2. Bend at the knees and hip joints, not the waist.

Bending at the knees and hips offers a much greater range of motion than bending at the waist and will also give you more power. Bending at the waist will leave you in a weaker position. To find your hip joints, march in place and notice where your legs attach to your torso. Those are your hip joints. When you bend, you will use your knees and your hip joints.

3. Look at the floor.

When you bend, look at the floor. The reason for this is difficult to explain but you will find that looking at the floor as you bend makes bending easier. You can discover this yourself by bending while you look at a wall. You will find that looking at the floor makes bending easier.

4. Don't reach too far with your arms.

Bend far enough so that you can easily reach what you are trying to retrieve. Reaching too far can cause you to pull your heels off the floor and distorts your back, making you feel weaker.

To recap, when bending:

1. Leave your heels on the floor as you bend.
2. Bend at the knees and hip joints, not the waist.
3. Look at the floor.
4. Don't reach too far with your arms.

Take a few minutes to experiment and practice these tips so that you can understand and use them effectively. Depending on your fitness level, they can have a dramatic effect. Bending is an important quality of life skill. Properly bending far enough to touch the floor every day as part of normal activity will help you be able to bend for the rest of your life.