Do you often feel unsettled and anxious? Your Green Light Posture may be the cause.
Green Light Reflex is a postural pattern that includes an over arched low back caused by chronically tight back muscles. This posture is often called the go, go, go green light reflex state because of the common personality traits it is associated with. Individuals who present with predominantly Green Light Reflex symptoms will often describe themselves by certain characteristics.
Type A Personalities You may have Green Light traits if you have ever said: “I’m your classic A-type personality.” Or “I never stop,…it is hard for me to sit still”. A common saying of a green lighter might be “I’ll stop when I’m dead”, which unfortunately means that they are discounting the messages from their body, more often than not. This posture stresses the nervous system which is why feeling unsettled, and anxious is common with Green Light Reflex. Tom Myers, the author of Anatomy Trains and the foremost teacher on Fascial Training refers to this posture as “stuck on the inhale”. From the Ayurvedic tradition we know that we are born with certain inherent traits that lend us to be a certain way. For example, some of us are fast movers and walkers, and burn hot with excess energy. While others maintain a lower, more conservative level of energy and move and think at a constant pace. As we move through life, our parents and role models unknowingly reinforce and nurture our predominant tendencies. So we get better at what we are good at and often spend less time nurturing our subtler qualities.
It makes sense to nurture what comes easy to us. Society pushes us a little in that direction, and then we tend to push ourselves a little more. Often this results in identifying with the idea of being one thing over another. The danger in doing this however, is the risk of becoming imbalanced.
Our bodies reflect everything that we have experienced from birth to present. Every trauma, accident, surgery, and stress. Our bodies also reflect back to us how we are coping with life. It is a road map of your life up to this moment.
The green light reflex reflects the tendency towards “muscling through” or “pushing through life”, never giving up. This innate physiological reflex kicks in and then it is further exacerbated by the expectations of our society, career and life choices until it causes discomfort and pain.
In the world of psychology, the green light posture can be interpreted as the need to look or feel powerful and an overcompensation for feelings of fear. The good news is that when we change a body’s position in space to a easeful natural, upright posture, the result is an even distribution of stress to the muscles and systems of the body.
On a mental/emotional level, releasing long held back line tension and restoring an easeful natural upright posture supports stress resiliency improving our ability to deal with the inevitable stresses in a way that is balanced and functional.
When we re-educate our postural muscles out of patterns that cause pain, tension and stress in the body we naturally and organically bring balance back into our bodies. Our posture shifts and that in turn positively shifts our mental and emotional state. Start listening to the messages your body is sending you instead of ignoring them and make choices that maintain and restore balance in your body and life.
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