Holy moly!!! (posture update) (1 good pic, 3 other good pics, and then 3 more good pics) ☺

This morning I was going over these photos I took two days ago and was blown away by my own strength and postural health!

These were at 8am. I had just woken up in the van and really needed to get some blood moving and shake off the pain from laying down all night. Usually I do a shower/meds/gym/shower/cry/pt exercises through the finish line, but when I'm out here the way to shake it off is to SHOOT. I was super sleepy and not thinking about my posture very much, which is why this is so cool to see. The whole big plan here is to do the PT and the body awareness and the near-constant postural effort until it slowly becomes second nature to carry my body in ways that will not hurt my joints. And hope to slowly step into an increasingly pain-free and easy existence. 

The first pic is just a pretty picture to enjoy-- "posture update tax," if you will. 

Photos 2-4 show some strong-ass, synched in ribs with a 4 pack core to hold it all in. I was not consciously engaging my core; I was not actively tensing my upper/inner abdominals to hold in those low ribs, they were doing that on their own! This is all very very new for me! Very empowering and exciting to see in the photos. 

Photos 5-7 show me reverting back to bad posture, in this case, a "rib flare" & "hyper lumbar lordosis" which causes me to bend/twist too much in my low back where my discs are deteriorated instead of consistently through my whole spine. I'm seeing more and more 2-4 type pics and less of the 5-7. Fuckin neat :) 

Why self portraits, you might ask? Why all the damn time? I am obsessed with documenting the postural changes in my body and seeing my own strength like this is what motivates me to get up and keep going every single day! I'm not yet good enough at the healthy ways of moving to do it subconsciously, and working with other people is just distracting enough to make it extra hard. And a big one: the photographer might not keep photos that I would want to see if they are not "technically good," ie. pretty, well-framed/lit/executed/composed/. I might only see something like this first pic and not the 6 others. Prana wants them alllllll. 

Who filled a 2 TB hard drive in 12 months? Prana filled a 2 TB hard drive in 12 months! 

Wanna read more about the postural changes I made? Wanna know why my tiers are named after the segmented anatomy of the spine? Go here:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/big-and-thing-49502618

Wanna quick recap of my chronic pain condition and what it means for me as a person and an artist? Go here:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/45119694

As always, thanks for being here and reading and consuming the whole process with me! If you're just here for the pretty pics then that's super rad too and I appreciate the heck outta you and will post a lot more of that soon ♡ 

xx Prana 

PS. Hashtag tips: 

#posture to see all of my posture updates.

#update to see all of my regular updates although 2020 was a slow year ;) 

#painresponse to see content that I shoot to cope with pain. It's not always pretty but often really emotional and is the art that saves. 

What I'm working on: 

A big ole Q&A that will hopefully include some questions that have been asked and would like to be asked. 

Getting ready to live in my van and document my travels.

A website because it's about damn time oh my god. 

Saving up for some genetic testing ($$$) to finally get a diagnosis for my hyper mobility (most likely some kind of connective tissue disease like EDS III) so I can actually get some medications to mitigate these symptoms that are really starting to stack up :) 

Working with a structural integrative therapist to hone my posture and help my body recover from "leaning into hyper-mobility" for so long. This can happen as I work on a diagnosis as it's definitely my path to wellness regardless of a validated predisposition to this mess I've found myself in. 

Wew! Happy Monday! Have a nice day! Off to have a well-earned hot shower beer cuz you bet it's actually better for the brain heart stomach bag o bones than taking a daily opioid or even cyclobenzaprine (gasp! Yeah I said it).