Posture is important when gardening

<b>This story originally was published June 17, 1999.</b>

 Bend!

Squat!

Dig!

Lift!

I'm a part-time gardener, and I know those motions. I put enough hours of them together on a square of good ground, I add the right seeds, water and fertilizers, and I'm on my way to a nice garden. Right?

Yes, but while I dig that very pleasant result, I often am left with a sore lower back resulting from the stoop work.

Worse, I am also a part-time couch-potato, and the work of gardening requires me to use muscles that get no use in my full-time, bread-winning routine at a computer, seated in a swivel chair. Recently, however, I have discovered a couple of ways to reposition my lazy bones and slouchy muscles when I bend, squat, dig, etc., etc.

These helpful ways are part of the Alexander Technique. This movement method was developed by F. Matthias Alexander, an actor who lost his voice. He found that getting rid of unnecessary tension helped him regain his voice.

One Twin Cities teacher of the technique is Elizabeth Garren, of Minneapolis, a movement specialist who uses the technique to show students strain-free gardening postures.

Garren's background includes nearly five years as a professional dancer with the nationally known Trisha Brown modern dance group of New York City, most of whose members used the technique.

Garren, 51, describes the postures of small children to illustrate the Alexander Technique. In her words, any 2-year-old can show you ways to move with more ease and pleasure.

But, you may say, most of us are heavier than 35 pounds and no longer 3 feet tall. No matter. She will direct your attention to the way a 2-year-old squats easily to a task, folding all the leg joints in a monkeylike position. It's natural for young children to use these monkeylike positions, and it's what she recommends.

"Two-year-olds haven't lost the ability to use their legs and knees and hips," says Garren.

She staged a demonstration at her house for me and a photographer. With her grandson, Calvin Green, age 2, at her side in her back-yard garden, she asked Calvin to plant something. He did it -- the right way, folding at the hip joint, not the waist. She handed him a shovel. He stood up straight when he used it, not slouching, using his legs and abdomen to push the shovel.

Garren used the demonstration with her grandson to illustrate the work she does with gardeners, musicians, dancers, actors and computer workers.

"I help them to use their awareness to be more comfortable in their movement choices. It's not just one body part, it's the whole body working together."

Garren says most of us only use only a small range of our possible movements. "So, if you're working in the garden and your legs are locked, or you're using your waist as a hinge joint, you're guaranteed to hurt."

And relaxation has little to do with the Alexander Technique, Garren says, "because relaxation means collapsing and sleeping. It is about wakefulness while you're going through your day, noticing yourself as much as what else you are paying attention to."

The photos illustrating this story demonstrate what Garren teaches about the best body positions for gardening.

Attitude adjustment

What you won't see, however, are your own attitudes about gardening. They are crucial, Garren says.

"A small, concentrated mind can make for a tight, constricted body." As you work, "relax your mind into the spaciousness of your surroundings. Decide to notice the smells, the sounds, the breezes. Decide to appreciate your support -- the planet.

"Ask yourself 'Why am I in a hurry?' Am I gardening to get the job over with, or am I gardening for the pleasure of it? Take the time to divide your tasks up into manageable chunks.'" This sort of behavior brings thoughtfulness and mindfulness to gardening, Garren says.

Once your attitude is right, you can warm to the gardening task. Garren recommends lying flat on your back, with a book under your head. The book under your head helps lengthen your spine. From this position, slowly bend each leg toward your chest and back again. Then, bring your knees up together and slowly rotate them side to side. After a minute or two of this, do the other stretching exercises illustrated on these pages, for about 10 minutes. Then, get out to the garden.

Once there, here are the good moves and the bad moves.

• Bending.

• Squatting.

• Digging.

• Lifting.

• Resting.

• Leg power.

She recommends that movement for pushing the lawn mower, or similar tasks that require extra strength.

Garren's recommended garden moves also can be applied to a variety of work around the house, especially such things as scrubbing, vacuuming and dusting.

To help get in shape for gardening, many outside activities also are helpful, among them yoga, aerobics, weight-lifting and dance classes, Garren says.

She teaches her course, "Healthy Gardening," at Squire House Gardens, 3390 St. Croix Trail S., Afton. For details on future classes, call 651-436-8080.

(Following her advice, I've quit hunching when I mow the lawn, and I take frequent breaks during gardening work. Those two simple changes have left me feeling much better after yard and garden work, and my back seems to be under no strain. The major test comes soon, however, when I line both sides of our 30-foot-long driveway with hostas, a job that will require digging up and separating existing hostas, digging up sod, troweling dirt and planting the separated hostas.)

Resources

Web site on the Alexander Technique:

• http://www.alexandertechnique.com.

   

  Books on the Alexander Technique:

   

• "The Alexander Technique: The Essential Writing of F. Matthias Alexander," $9.95, Lyle Stuart.

   

   

• "Body Learning: An Introduction to the Alexander Technique," by Michael Gelb, $11.95, Henry Holt & Co.

   

   

• "Back Trouble: A New Approach to Prevention and Recovery," by Deborah Caplan, $14.95, Triad Communications.