While some people swear by their standing desks—good for them!— many people find that standing causes pain problems, as well.

There's a lot of confusion, even among health professionals, about the risks of sitting for long periods of time vs. standing. The real issue is not sitting vs. standing, but HOW you sit and HOW  you stand that determines whether either one is problematic or not. Misunderstanding the details of sitting or standing is the cause of much of this confusion.

This is why SITTING PRETTY™ is so valuable. You'll learn the details for how to sit in a way that is wholly natural, pain-free, and promotes healthy, solidly strong sitting where your bones (and not your muscles) do the job they are meant to do—holding you upright.

Happily, many people experience relief from discomfort and pain almost immediately when learning the basics of how to sit well. This is because Sitting Pretty includes many basic foundational details related to your innate posture.

Improving your overall posture, however, is a larger work in progress. It involves adding details related to not just sitting, but standing, walking, bending, lifting, carrying, reaching, etc. While this may sound like a lot, it gets continuously easier and more satisfying, because it builds quickly upon itself, and the more you learn, the faster you’ll be able to fill in the blanks to refine what you already know. It’s a bit like learning to speak a language—the language of your natural body.

This said, you’ll need to apply mindfulness to what you learn in Sitting Pretty. Herein lies a lovely silver lining! We all know the value of mindfulness in our lives, that capacity for awareness of the present moment that cultivates emotional regulation, stress management, improved relationships, and an overall calm state of mind.

Learning how to “sit pretty” can’t do all this, of course, but focusing your attention on your bones is a powerful anchor to mindfulness—and vice versa—as each practice enhances development of the other.

This is yet another reason there’s so much to love about all this!

Not all ergonomic chairs and devices are equal, but the basic answer to this question is No, you do not need anything other than a chair or stool on which to sit, with a more or less level surface. You'll want to avoid chairs with a seat that dips down lower in the back (in which case you'll want to alter the seat with a wedge-shaped cushion or folded towel). 

There's also no reason for arm rests and back rests, which often contribute to other sitting problems. And leaning back in a chair is an option, but you'll first need to learn how to do it without corrupting the integrity of your spine.

Sitting Pretty™ most definitely eliminates any pressure on the tailbone (coccyx). In fact, the "donut hole" in many sitting cushions accommodates pelvic misalignment, while also perpetuating it, by not addressing the cause of pressure on the tailbone in the first place.  

The Wedge™ cushion works well because it serves as a reminder for how to set your pelvis at the correct angle for supporting a solidly upright AND relaxed, aligned spine. A pelvis in this natural position prevents any pressure from being placed on the coccyx or tailbone.

The real question appears to be: why are so many doctors, researchers, and people who struggle with chronic pain of unknown cause, still in the dark about these alignment details?

Here, I believe, are some of the reasons why:

— There's an unfortunate assumption that everything there is to know about biomechanical details of how these bodies work, has already been studied and understood. While much is understood, the integrated whole of the musculoskeletal system in relationship to the vertical axis of gravity, has been overlooked.

— "Natural alignment” is often considered to be too simplistic to address the scope and complexity of the runaway epidemic of pain in our society.

— We live in an exercise/muscle-centric society that upholds certain misguided ideas about “fitness.”

— It’s common to believe that those of us living in in technologically advanced places have little to learn from people who live in less advanced, rural areas.

— Together, these reasons create a firewall that prevents this message from getting through to those in positions to carry out meaningful, evidence-based research about all of this.

However, any questions you might have about the scientific rationale for this are likely to evaporate once you put these concepts into practice for yourself!

While there is a refund policy for my larger, more comprehensive course, there are no refunds for SITTING PRETTY.™ because this is such a low cost for high-value program. Please be sure you're on board with wanting to learn these concepts before purchasing. The lessons are not difficult to understand, but do require a willingness to put this into practice in order to be successful.