Learning the Way of a Painless Life Through Spinefulness

Judi Silverman, a longtime local of Santa Barbara, is a woman to meet! Her kindness shines through her personality and her approach to life will make you want to learn about what she’s teaching. “I am a body posture teacher,” she expressed. It’s a technique that will change your way of being and your life. Fine-tuning one’s body posture is a great way to be conscious and in harmony with your body and mind. 

She was an elementary school teacher for many years after completing her B.A. degree at UCLA, and with an academic understanding of psychology and a passion for teaching and yoga, she became a certified yoga instructor utilizing B. K. S. Iyengar’s concepts with her clients for 10 years. By applying her unique background, Silverman has enhanced and mastered how to teach people to feel better and without feeling any pain in their daily life through the learning of proper spine alignment. 

Indeed, after injuring her shoulder during a yoga position, she felt the need to understand what the underlying state of her pain was. By mere coincidence, she discovered an article about the Aplomb Institute – founded by the French woman Noëlle Perez-Christiaens – who wasdiscussing the necessities of the correct body alignment. This was the start of Silverman’s journey to understand the deeper meaning of our body and bone structure. This quest led Silverman to study for two years in San Francisco – a hub for yoga instructors at that time – to become a certified Spinefulness yoga instructor since 2002. 

So why is it important to stand properly in your daily life? Silverman said, “The bones are naturally lined up with gravity.” And that gravity line goes right up into the center of the hips, through the spine and the neck, creating the right alignment for your body to be in its original position from birth to three years old… until children start to mimic the body movements of their parents and adults.

So what went wrong at first? Unfortunately, “Eighty percent of the people in Western countries have back pain sometimes at some point in their life.” The theory brought up by Silverman and her peers is that, “all bending is in the knees, hips, ankles and shoulder joints, but in the Western world, people have created subconsciously a joint in the lower back.” It all started around the 1920s – an era of mass industrialization – a look into the fashion industry trends of the era shows that the body was becoming misaligned and even at times deformed. “The pelvis started to unnaturally move forward by these new fashion statements for both men and women, and it continued even in the 1950s and still nowadays,” as Silverman mentioned. It became a cultural predicament and disposition – and no longer a natural condition. 

We have all seen pictures of people in developing countries balancing out heavy items on their head with much ease and even sometimes barefoot. This is because they still know how to be in their body and how to be aligned with their gravity line, as compared to the industrialized countries. “The life got softer here, but we have to carry the weight of that mistake.” 

But what are some of the causes of this misalignment in our Western countries nowadays? The fault goes to computers, phones, driving, office hours, furniture, as well as stress, and sports like pickle ball, ballet, and even playing piano for instance. Indeed, all these activities plus our daily routines, like carrying groceries or even walking and standing, if not practiced correctly can cause some discomforts, pain, and even injuries. “I love watching people in general for example in Montecito coffee shops or even at the Santa Barbara Airport… but unfortunately the majority of them have bad postures,” said Silverman. Thus the importance of learning the right way of being in your body. “I’m teaching two things: how to have the correct posture so that your bones are lined up with gravity, and that the proper place for the pelvis is the center of the body.” She clarified by saying that if you put the weight of your body on your bones – the way nature intended to hold the body’s weight – the bones can stay stronger naturally. However, if you’re off the gravity line, the weight goes to the muscles that are then forced to hold you up and result in tremendous stress and possibly a poor circulation of the oxygen and blood flow throughout the body. It can take a while to change these old, hard habits, but with Spinefulness’ teachings, people can correct their body postures through little modifications at first. Sitting on the edge of a chair will improve a better back position; putting your car seat lower to approximately a 90-degree angle will help straighten your back, as well as avoid crossing your legs; and while sitting, placing the body weight equally on both hip bones will help as well. 

Not only is this what Silverman can offer, she also treats clients through teaching classes to people of all ages and even one-on-one for those who wish to heal naturally from an injury instead of having surgery. Spinefulness is also for those who simply want to correct their body posture, or for the curious minded who would like to feel the benefits of a better and more overall conscious body transformation. Changes can occur even after the first appointment due to an innate bone memory of the original alignment from when you were just three years old.

Long ago, the people of California started the movement of having a healthier lifestyle, which still takes place today. And thanks to this year’s rain and magnificent blooms, the outdoors here in Montecito and Santa Barbara is a must-see. Through the wise teachings of Judi Silverman and the connection of Spinefulness, it’s much easier to enjoy hiking, biking, surfing, etc. or just feel the comfort of your home without thinking of pain again.  

Visit www.spinefulness.com to begin your own journey towards straight posture.