I started out by starting with the first point of balance, the A-O Joint. I went back and read about the atlas and how it works. I tried to see if I could feel it and I think I did. I moved my head back and forth thinking about the A-O joint and how it keeps the head balanced and the neck muscles released. I tried to imagine what the head movement would look like from the inside. I couldn't visualize it on my own so I you-tubed it and watched a video of what this joint looks like. It really helped make that movement fluid and relaxed. I could feel my neck releasing tension as well. I did some lip buzzes while moving my neck around and they felt really good cause I wasn't using my neck to move my head. Next I looked at thoracic balance, I reread it and then physically mapped it on myself. I always have pain in my lower back and I think this could be because I tilt my Thorax backward while performing. I read about some exercises to help find thoracic balance and I tried them out. (I already knew that laying on the floor helped with this so I didn't do that one but I tried the walking backwards) I walked backwards and then took a few steps forward. I could feel my lower back releasing but I felt like I was tilting forward a bit. As I looked in the mirror though, I was more upright than I thought, it looked completely normal so I guess the book was right! To study hip joint balance I stood and examined where my weight was distributed. Knowing that my weight should be distributed through my hip joints and down my legs helped me to stand in a more comfortable way. Normally I would feel like all the weight was going down the front of my legs but this visual made it feel like the weight was going down the outsides of my legs after passing through the hip joints. I didn't feel like my legs were just props, they were actually contributing to my balance. After I did these three joints, I stood and watched myself in the mirror, thinking about what I had learned so far and watching myself to see what it looked like, then I paid close attention to how it felt. It looked and felt good! I also did some lip buzzes to see how much air I had and it felt so much easier to breathe!
Next, I studied the knee joint. I particularly thought about how the knee cap is just floating in front of the thigh bone. I spent a bit of time thinking about how to find balance in my knee, not locking it but not bending it either. This concept baffled me the first time I read it, so I was really trying to find the happy balance medium. I noticed that when I locked my knees my whole body tensed up and when I bent them my whole body moved into action. I tried to just release my knees to find that happy medium and it worked. I felt my body release into a more comfortable standing position. Then I looked at the ankle joint, funny enough I never really thought of the heel as a bone...silly I know! I liked what the book said about how the toes are not apart of the three arches in our feet so therefore we don't need to grip with them. I twisted my ankles thinking about the joint, located between the tibia and the talus. The movement felt fluid and controlled. Next I stood, thinking about the 3 arches in my feet that are made to support my weight. I felt more upright and springy and I thought about those arches. I wiggled my toes as I did this to make sure they were not playing any part in it! I never think about my feet or ankles when I sing, but paying attention to them really helped to relax my body. After that I took a look at my arms. I paid particular attention to my sternoclavicular joint and moved my arms around to really feel and find it. I didn't have much trouble with my arms when I stood up because they naturally went where they needed to when I thought about all the other points of balance!
My biggest take away from this is that if I think about my hip joints, I can easily find a comfortable stance for singing. For me thinking about the hip joints and how the support my weight really helped to naturally move my body into a correct and natural posture.
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