The Bowspring alignment is a revolutionary postural practice for optimal health.
The Bowspring is a curvy, dynamic, and open posture.
The Bowspring aligns the body in aposition of readiness. It is an alignment for us to move with lightness and fluid power like a graceful animal. It is a natural curvy shape of the body that puts a spring in your step, and uplifts your mood. With this dynamically balanced posture, the breath can move freely without inhibition bringing a new level of vitality and energetic freedom.
More curves - narrowing waistline and mounding glutes
Authentic confidence
Increased self-awareness of psycho-emotional patterning within our default posture.
The Bowspring is a postural template that can be applied universally to any yoga pose, athletic movement or any functional posture for optimal performance.
The Bowspring alignment is accessible for people of all ages worldwide. This powerful postural template converts the most common daily positions of sitting and standing from heavy, static poses into light, dynamic positions full of the spring and fluidity of life.
The Bowspring is a simple and natural shape, but is not so easy to practice in the beginning. It is challenging to learn at first, but the healing benefits make its regular practice worthwhile. There are 3 main challenges to the practice of the Bowspring. Read more about the full explanation for each challenge.
The Bowspring system is revolutionary to the standard model of static postural alignment. The standard model of anatomical neutral of the body is based on a static, resting position in an upright, stacked posture. In contrast, the Bowspring promotes a dynamic neutral position of the body - for the pelvis, lower back (waist), ribcage, neck and head. Instead of a static position in which the connective tissue is passively resting, the Bowspring alignment positions the connective tissue (myofascia) to evenly engage on all sides of the body - front, back, right and left - so there can be fluid movement with the minimum amount of force.
This dynamic alignment is also a revolution away from our comfortable, sedentary lifestyle, which is mostly spent sitting in relaxed posture working at our desks, watching a screen, and talking on our phones. We have gotten out of attunement with our natural dynamic posture. Our modern misaligned form isn’t just taking a toll on our physical health; it desensitizes us and diminishes our capacity for feeling and thinking clearly. The Bowspring meme is a wave within the cultural revolution returning us back to embodying a naturally curvy posture.
The Bowspring is a system in which there are 10 key areas of the body which are each specifically aligned in relationship to each other. The alignment of one part affects the alignment of others and so affects the whole system. Read more about the Bowspring alignment for the 10 key areas.
The Bowspring is Curvy, Dynamic, and Open
Curvy Bowspring is a curvy posture. A double-S curve down the back of the body, from the back of the head to the back of the hips. The sides of the body curve inward so that the proportion between bust, waist, and hips are more like an hourglass shape. The curviness of the Bowspring is a dynamic postural template that is also distinctive from the standard model of alignment that stacks the static body in a vertical, upright posture.
This revolutionary method is part of an emergent paradigm in the new way that we are now considering the functional alignment of the human body. We no longer stack our bones to hold us up against the force of gravity. We make a double-S curve on the back of the body so that the connective tissue is positioned for optimal function to move the body with lightness and easeful fluidity. Bowspring practice promotes the natural curves of in the body, particularly in the geometric relationship between heart, hips and head:
A radiant fullness in the ribcage expands on all sides broadening the shoulders.
The hips move back and up, while the lower back and belly extend long and strong, up and forward.
The anterior-tipped pelvis is aligned behind the ribcage.
The glutes move back and upward. The tail lifts as the glutes mound upward from the bottom of the pelvis toward the sacrum and the top of the pelvis.
The belly is bowed long, yet strong, especially when there is extension in the torso with pulsation in the Bowspring.
The neck is curved long up and back.
The Bowspring is opposite than the C-curve, which is the common sedentary position of all people. Many people all over the world sit over 10 hours a day with their hips down, short belly, and head forward and down. C-curve is the default sitting posture of high tech society today looking down at their screens. Then they go home to relax in the C-curve before a few hours of sleeping in position that relaxes the back as much as possible. Even during daily exercise, the common alignment is hips down, belly short, and flat upper back. Flat spine or reduced spinal curve is the result of years doing C-curve day after day. For further information on the double-S curve of the Bowspring vs. the C-curve, see Open Posture vs. Closed Posture.
Standard Model of Alignment
The body is a solid, compressive structure. Therefore, the main purpose of the skeleton: to hold the body up against the force of gravity.
Therefore the main segments of the body - head, ribcage, pelvis, arms, and legs - should all be stacked like solid blocks for the optimal alignment. Bowspring Alignment
The body is more liquid than solid. The bones of the body are floating struts in a network of visco-elastic connective tissue that surrounds the whole body. The tonus of muscle and fascia pull on the bones, while the bones provide consistent push back to create a tensegrity or a balanced alignment. The back of the body is curved and not rigidly upright for efficient movement.
Swayback vs. Bowspring Bowspring is often confused for swayback or an excessively arched lower back. In both instances, the pelvis is tipped forward and the lower back is deeply arched. However, the Bowspring template is very different in its alignment than the swayback shape. With the swayback, the hips and belly are forward of the ribcage, while in the Bowspring, the hips are behind the ribcage. Another important distinguishing feature between the two postural forms is that swayback is usually associated with low tone, hyper-mobility in the connective tissue, while Bowspring has the dynamic tone of a loaded spring.
The curviness of the Bowspring gives us the capacity to be light and strong. Through application of the postural technology of the Bowspring we can be dynamically balanced in all of our daily movements and postures.
Dynamic Balance The Bowspring is a light, dynamic posture, not a heavy, static posture. The Bowspring movement exercises are not static or passive stretches. They pulse, bounce, and hop and flow. The poses are light, and not heavy. Practicing the Bowspring helps us have more lightness and cat-like fluidity in our daily activities. It brings the spring back into our step, especially for students 60+ years of age. Even the most common static positions like standing and sitting become more enlivened with a new lightness and springiness.