Went to a concert last night and was fortunate enough to be in a conversation with the pianist/composer in the bar afterwards. One of his pieces was a composition written for a film called 'Killing Angels' which documented the death by AIDS of a network of friends. It was from back in the days when AIDS was guaranteed to kill. For the concert he'd decided to re-name the music because, he said, 'after all these years it no longer had a temporal connection to the film'. But as he was speaking about the film and the re-naming of the piece it struck me that as a community we're still reeling from the loss of what would have been our elders. A whole swathe of what would now have become seasoned and experienced friends and acquaintances are not there for us. Those that survived the plague are atypical. The generation that went before may have been too grief stricken with the loss of their younger peers that they would have been unprepared or unable to pass on their wisdom to the generation below. And then into this vulnerable and wounded community steps western consumerism with its conditional acceptance of the gay lifestyle. Conditional because of the need to be, and to stay, both young and fabulous. Conditional because of the need to spend on clothes, cosmetics, accessories, surgery to keep age at bay and to cultivate beautifulness. Conditional because it's your duty to be beautiful-if you want to be loved! All this means that my connection with the older generation is missing and there is a growing chasm between the young and the less young.
Anyway this week I was going to talk about posture!
I remember very clearly when I was in my teens being told by my parents and teachers not to slouch. Trouble was that bad posture was-well- 'cool' and good posture was associated with being a goody-goody-teacher's-pet type. In my generation the older girls at school were still having classes in 'deportment' where they would practice walking with books balanced on their heads as a way of learning correct posture. At the time this seemed very old fashioned and was seen by a generation of burgeoning feminists as a male chauvinistic controlling influence. Girls stopped taking domestic science classes and learning how to sew and look pretty. Bad posture was something like long hair for boys. Something that parents would complain to you about but it was your duty to rebel against. Slouching around with long hair was a badge of honor in the battle against the values of our parents' generation.
Sadly I'm now reaping the consequences of a lifetime of bad posture and, with chronic low back pain that just crept up on me over the years, I'm finally having to accept that the advice to stand up straight and to sit sensibly was not just nagging for the sake of just giving me a hard time.
Thankfully, over several years, I'm beginning to unlearn some of my bad postural habits.
My advice to you now-young men- is, if you want to avoid years of crippling back pain, don't get to the stage where you've got to unlearn years of bad practice. And if someone wants to give you a present worth around £60 get them to buy you a couple of Alexander Technique sessions and get into the habit of doing some regular yoga, Pilates or Tai Chi.
By all means buy stuff and have a fabulous time but take time to look after your body and find some space to feed your soul!
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