many people find standing uncomfortable they either feel slumped tense or just find standing tiring some people feel like they have to lean on something all the time or keep shifting weight from foot to foot never really getting comfortable for some standing can even cause pain in the legs or into the back luckily the alexander technique is here to help i'm pete robinson from movement and posture.com i'm a qualified alexander technique teacher and my goal is to help people take control of their own health and well-being by learning the alexander technique i release new videos each week so subscribe and ding the notification bell so you don't miss out in this video i'm going to share five simple alexander technique tips to improve your standing posture and make your standing more comfortable i know they work because when i was younger i found stunning incredibly uncomfortable but since learning the alexander technique the problems have gone so i'm really happy to be able to share these tips with you if you've already seen my video on how alexander technique can help with sitting posture you'll see that some of these ideas are similar if you've not seen that video yet i'll link to it above and in the description below tip number one is to look at what your legs and feet are doing there's no such thing as a correct posture because each of our bodies is unique and what works for one person won't necessarily work for the next but there are some general principles which make it easier to find a comfortable way to stand let's look at how far apart your feet are and what direction your toes are pointing in first of all just look down at your feet and don't rush to judge yourself or change anything it's easiest to stand comfortably when your feet are aligned underneath your hip joints feet very close together make balance more difficult and may result in excess tension in the legs and back feet very far apart tend to put a lot of pressure on the lower back and can cause pain if your feet are very far apart or very close together as an experiment move them under your hips and notice how it feels now look at the direction of your toes generally toes pointing straight ahead parallel to the other foot makes it easier for your lower back and pelvis to have good alignment and avoid excess tension if you find your feet pointing inwards or outwards i'm not suggesting that you should rush to keep them parallel because again everyone's body is different and your feet may be affected by other problems in the legs and back but you can experiment with moving them closer to parallel and seeing how it feels we're looking for unconscious habits in the way that you stand so that you can question whether those habits are working for you or not tip number two is to become familiar with your tripod in alexander technique we talk about the foot being a tripod with the weight being equally distributed between the heel the ball of the big toe and the ball of the little toe many people who find standing difficult are not distributing weight equally across all three points of the tripod i used to have a habit of rolling my feet outwards which meant that i was only using two of the three points of my foot tripod as i learned to recognize this habit i was able to stop doing it and this had a dramatic effect on how comfortable i found standing so bring your attention to the soles of your feet can you notice those three points and can you tell whether the weight is equally distributed between them also is the weight even between the two feet if you notice that is uneven then experiment with moving your weight around between the points and seeing how it feels tip number three is to release the weight of your head through your feet if your feet and legs are in good alignment it can be really useful to think of the weight of your head releasing through the neck through the spine the pelvis the legs and finally through that tripod of your feet into the ground by consciously making the decision for the weight to release it will help you catch any habits of holding excess tension in the body remember that in alexander technique when we talk about releasing tension we're not talking about going floppy or relaxing the tension that you had was pulling you down and when you release it you should release upwards like a cork that was being held under water tip number four is to expect mobility standing should never be a fixed position we need to trust our body to hold us upright because that's what it's designed to do but most people are stuck into a fairly rigid posture when standing try thinking about some of the ways that you could move and question whether you are holding that bit of yourself tightly or whether movement could happen freely it could be swaying at the ankles rotating the upper body letting an arm swing or even bending your legs what people discover is that they were actively stiffening parts of their body but i had no awareness that they were doing it again once the habit's been exposed you have a chance of changing it tip number five is to pay attention to what triggers any of your habits with standing can you catch yourself wanting to move your legs or feet to a less good alignment or changing your balance so that the tripod is not evenly distributing your weight or maybe you notice that you're fixing yourself into a posture what situations cause this to happen it could be anything at six foot four i found that when i was talking to people shorter than me i unconsciously tried to make myself shorter by standing with my feet further apart and pulling myself downwards this meant that i was out of balance and tense which resulted in discomfort and eventually pain you may notice completely different triggers in yourself when you discover an unconscious reaction or habit such as this it gives you a chance to make a different decision which means you're addressing the root cause of your discomfort and that's really what the alexander technique is all about so there are a few things to work on as you can see the alexander technique approaches the problem from a consideration of habits self-awareness and balance rather than exercises or stretches if this approach appeals to you have a look at some of the other videos on the channel subscribe if you haven't already and leave a comment below if you have any questions or want to suggest a topic for a future video hopefully see you again soon bye for now