Gao Yi-Sheng |
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Does
Your Furniture "Fit" You
--- Or "Give You Fits"?
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by
Kris Kovach
Much
"to-do" is made in mattress ads about
finding the "right" mattress for health reasons. When was the
last time you gave much thought to your chairs/sofa? Do they really
"fit" you --- or do you attempt to make yourself "fit into" the
furniture, choice being primarily motivated by "style"/color/price?
In other words, does your shoe fit your foot --- or do you try
to make your foot fit the shoe? Even notice that if a child is
comfortable he "squirms" less? That's "body honesty". I think
we as adults have brainwashed ourselves into not listening when
our bodies try to say "This chair is badā for me" and we suffer
along even if it is damaging to our bodies. When it comes to the
point of "real pain" we might do something about it, but until
then ...
Ever
notice that in
photos of the old masters sitting, they are almost like "peas
in a pod"? This "Emperor's Position" is more than "the way one
traditionally sits for photos". It is very "biomechanically friendly"
to the human body. The head and spine are held erect. Hands rest
on knees, thighs are parallel to the floor. Shin bones are perpendicular
to the floor, with knee pretty much over heel. If you look at
this spine/thigh configuration from the side, what do you see?
The geometrically stable configuration of a right-angle triangle
(even though the hypotenuse formed by the arm is not totally straight
there is still the "energy flow" from shoulder to knee). And when
you look at the thigh/knee/shin configuration --- two sides of
another right-angle triangle. Everything is "balanced" & "in line",
with very little need for any muscular holding of the skeleton.
Muscles aren't being "mashed" and having circulation impeded because
they are flopped & leaning against over-cushioned furniture, bones
arenāt being pushed around out of place. Once you become accustomed
to this position, you can actually "crave" it. I prefer to bring
one of my wooden kitchen chairs into the den to watch TV. I think
the reason we dislike sitting on firm furniture is we simply haven't
learned how to sit on it correctly, plus "soft" and "cuddly" has
definite positive emotional connotations to us, like being "hugged".
Huo Yuan-Jia
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When
you buy new furniture,
you might want to keep the above in mind. If you are determined
that you want to be able to rest your back against the furniture,
make sure the back gets support. Don't get a "cloud" that you
collapse into in a "fashionable slump". Then look at length of
seat cushion --- can you achieve the restful thigh/knee/shin right-angle
together with the spine/thigh angle, or are your feet "pushed
out" with your upper calves being squashed against the front of
the seat cushion? Propping the feet up on an ottoman to solve
this results in gravity pulling backwards at the knee joint, not
a good thing. If you are determined to use the arms on your furniture,
make sure they are not so high that they shove your shoulders
toward your ears. Also, make sure the chair isn't so wide that
when you rest your arms you look like a chicken flapping its wings.
The
chair you sit in
today won't be exactly the same chair 2 days, 2 months, 2 years
from now. The more soft padding you have and the cheaper quality,
the more accentuated the change. My Grandpa used to have "his" chair,
Grandma had "hers". They were very different in size, and both relatively
"hard". Even when they changed some of the other furniture, those
chairs stayed. I never understood that as a child --- today I do.
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