#feldenkrais
Moshé Feldenkrais: What is Good Posture
from book Awareness Through Movement
Standing properly is not straight
正确的站姿不是笔直的
"Sit straight!" "Stand straight!" This is often said by mothers, teachers, and others who give this directive in good faith and the fullest confidence in what they are saying. If you were to ask them just how one does sit or stand straight, they would answer, "What do you mean? Don't you know what straight means? Straight is straight!"
“坐直！” “站直！” 这是我们常常从我们的母亲、老师和周边的人中听到的提醒，这个指令发自他们的善心，他们对此充满信心。如果你问他们如何坐直或站直，他们会回答：“什么意思？你不知道什么是直吗？直就是直！”
Some people do indeed stand and walk straight, with their backs erect and their heads held high. And of course there is an element of "standing straight" in their posture.
确实有的人在站立和走路过程中挺直了腰板，昂着头。当然，他们的姿势中有“站直”的成分。
If you watch a child or an adult who has been told to sit or stand straight, it is evident that he agrees that there is something wrong with the way he is managing his body, and he will quickly try to straighten his back or raise his head. He will do this thinking that he has thereby achieved the proper posture; but he cannot maintain this "correct" position without a continuous effort. As soon as his attention shifts to some activity that is either necessary, urgent, or interesting, he will slump back to his original posture.
如果你看到一个孩子或一个成年人被告知要坐直或站直，很明显他意识到了自己如何运用身体的方式有问题，他会很快尝试挺直背部或抬高他的头部。他这样做的同时，会认为自己已经达到了正确的姿势；但如果没有不断的努力，他是无法始终保持在这个“正确”的姿势中。一旦他的注意力转移到一些必要的、紧急的或有趣的活动上，他就会重新回到原来的姿势。
It is almost certain that he will not try to "hold himself straight" again unless he is reminded to do so, or unless he himself feels that he has neglected this instruction.
几乎可以肯定的是，他不会主动尝试“挺直身体”，除非有人提醒他这样做，或者除非他自己觉得自己忽略了这条指示。
By straight we mean vertical
直意味着垂直
When we speak of standing straight in this sense we almost always mean vertical. But if we look at the ideal skeleton constructed by the famous anatomist Albinus, we shall find only two small sections that are ranged more or less vertically: the top vertebrae of the neck and the vertebrae between the chest and the hips. No other bone in the entire skeleton is placed in a precisely vertical direction (although the bones of the arms are sometimes held more or less vertically). Thus when we say straight we obviously mean something different, for we have no precise idea of the meaning of the word in this connection.
当我们在这个意义上说站直时，我们几乎总是指垂直。但是，如果我们看看著名解剖学家阿尔比努斯（Albinus）构建的理想骨架，我们会发现只有两个或多或少垂直排列的小部分：颈部的顶部椎骨和，以及胸部与臀部之间的椎骨。整个骨骼中没有其他骨骼被放置在精确垂直的方向（尽管手臂的骨骼有时或多或少地保持垂直）。因此，当我们说“直”这个词时，我们的意思显然有所不同，因为在这方面我们对这个词的含义没有确切的概念。
Straight is an aesthetic concept
直是一种审美概念
The word "straight" is misleading. It does not express what is needed, nor even what we expect to achieve or see after improvement has taken place. "Straight" is used in a purely aesthetic sense in connection with posture, and as such is neither useful nor precise, thus it will not serve as a criterion for the correction of faults. Nor will the geometrical sense of straight serve any better, because it is static. Whatever part of the body is to be straight could comply with the geometrical sense of the word by being held motionless in the same position, without any change.
“直”这个词具有误导性。它没有表达需要什么，甚至没有表达我们期望在改进发生后实现或看到的东西。 “直”是纯粹审美意义上的姿势使用，既无用也不准确，不能作为矫正错误的标准。直的几何意义也不会更好，因为它是静态的。身体的任何部位要是直的，只要保持在同一位置不动，没有任何变化，就可以符合这个词的几何意义。
To appreciate fully how little the accepted meaning of straight coincides with what is right in posture we have only to consider the case of a man who has broken his back and is unable to straighten it. How shall he stand or sit? Can a disabled person really not use his body properly, efficiently, and gracefully? There are many cripples whose ability in this respect surpasses that of healthy people. There are persons who have suffered severe damage to their bone structure and yet the power, accuracy, and grace of their movements are outstanding. But the concept of straight simply cannot be applied to them at all.
要充分理解普遍认可的关于直的含义与正确的姿势有多么不一致，我们只需考虑一个人的背部骨折并且无法伸直的情况。 他将如何站立或坐下？ 一个残疾人真的不能正确、高效、优雅地使用自己的身体吗？ 有许多残疾人在这方面的能力超过了健康人。 有些人的骨骼结构受到严重破坏，但他们动作的力量、准确性和优美度却非常出色。 我们关于直的概念根本就不能套用在他们身上。
Skeleton, muscles, and gravity
骨骼、肌肉和重力
It follows that any posture is acceptable in itself as long as it does not conflict with the law of nature, which is that the skeletal structure should counteract the pull of gravity, leaving the muscles free for movement. The nervous system and the frame develop together under the influence of gravity in such a way that the skeleton will hold up the body without expending energy despite the pull of gravity. If, on the other hand, the muscles have to carry out the job of the skeleton, not only do they use energy needlessly, but they are then prevented from carrying out their main function of changing the position of the body, that is, of movement.
由此可见，只要不违背自然法则，任何姿势本身都是可以接受的，即骨骼结构应抵消重力的拉力，让肌肉能够自由活动。 神经系统和身体结构框架在重力的影响下一起发展，使得骨骼在重力作用下支撑身体而不消耗能量。 另一方面，如果肌肉必须执行骨骼的工作，这不仅会消耗不必要的能量，还会阻碍肌肉执行改变身体位置的主要功能，即移动。
In poor posture the muscles are doing a part of the job of the bones. In order to correct posture it is important to discover what has distorted the reaction of the nervous system to gravity, to which every part of the whole system has had to adjust as long as man has existed.
在不良姿势中，肌肉正在完成骨骼的一部分工作。 为了纠正姿势，重要的是要发现是什么扭曲了神经系统对重力的反应，自从人类存在以来，身体整个系统的每个部分都必须去适应重力。
In order to arrive at any practical understanding of this problem we will have to examine and clarify the concepts used above. Let us first see what is the correct response of the system to gravity.
为了对这个问题有任何实际的理解，我们将不得不检查和澄清上面使用的概念。 让我们先看看系统对重力的正确反应是什么。
Relaxation: a concept that is often misunderstood
放松：一个常被误解的概念
Let us look at the lower half of the jaw. Most people keep their mouths closed when they are not speaking, eating, or doing something else with it. What keeps the lower half of the jaw drawn up against the upper half? If the relaxation that has now become so fashionable were the correct condition, then the lower jaw would hang down freely and the mouth remain wide open. But this ultimate state of relaxation is found only among individuals born idiots, or in cases of paralyzing shocks.
让我们看看下巴的下半部分。大多数人在不说话、不吃饭或用它做其他事情时都会闭上嘴巴。 是什么让下巴的下半部分紧贴上半部分？ 如果现在流行的放松是正确的状态，那么下巴就会自由下垂，嘴巴也会张得大大的。 但这种最终的放松状态只存在于天生智力障碍的个体中，或者在完全瘫痪的状态下。
It is important to understand how an essential part of the body such as the jaw can be in this permanent state of being held up, supported by muscles that work ceaselessly while we are awake; yet we do not sense that we are doing anything to hold up our jaw. In order to let our jaw drop freely we actually have to learn to inhibit the muscles involved. If you try to relax the lower jaw until its own weight opens the mouth fully you will find that it is not easy. When you have succeeded you will observe that there are also changes in the expression of the face and in the eyes. It is likely that you will discover at the end of this experiment that your jaw is normally shut too tightly.
重要的是要了解身体的重要部分（例如下巴）如何处于这种永久的状态，即在我们清醒时不断工作的肌肉支撑下被支撑起来； 然而，我们并没有感觉到我们正在做任何事情来抬高我们的下巴。 为了让我们的下巴自由下垂，我们实际上必须学会抑制所涉及的肌肉。 如果你试着放松下颌，直到它自身的重量完全张开嘴巴，你会发现这并不容易。 成功后，你会发现面部表情和眼神也发生了变化。很可能在本实验结束时您会发现您的下巴通常合得太紧。
Perhaps you will also discover the origin of this excessive tension. Watch for the return of the tension after the jaw has been relaxed, and you will at least discover how infinitely little man knows about his own powers and about himself in general.
也许你也会发现这种过度紧张的根源。观察下巴放松后紧张的恢复，你至少会发现一个人对自己的力量和对自己的了解是多么的微不足道。
The results of this small experiment can be important for a sensible person, more important even than attending to his business, because his ability to make a livelihood may improve when he discovers what is reducing the efficiency of most of his activities.
这个小实验的结果对一个明智的人来说可能很重要，甚至比他的日常工作和生活更重要，因为当他发现是什么降低了他大部分活动的效率时，他在日常生活中的能力可能会提高。
No awareness of action in antigravity muscles
没有反重力肌肉动作的意识
The lower jaw is not the only part of the body that does not drop down as far as it can. The head itself does not drop forward. Its center of gravity is well in front of the point at which it is supported by the spine (it lies approximately between the ears), for the face and front part of the skull are heavier than the back of the head. Despite this structure the head does not fall forward, so obviously there must be some organization in the system that keeps it up.
下颌不会下垂到其可能的最大程度，身体的很多部位都是这样的。 比如头部的重心在脊柱支撑点（大约位于两耳之间）的前方，因为头骨的面部和前部比后部重，但头部不会向前掉落。尽管有这种结构，头部并没有向前倾倒，所以显然系统中必须有一些组织来维持这个状态。
If we relax the muscles at the back of the neck completely, then the head will drop to the lowest possible position, with the chin resting on the breastbone. Yet there is no consciousness of effort while these muscles at the back of the neck are contracted to hold up the head.
如果我们完全放松颈部后部的肌肉，那么头部就会下降到最可能低的位置，下巴落在胸骨上。 然而，当颈部后部的这些肌肉收缩以支撑头部时，我们并没有产生用力的意识。
If you finger the calf muscles (at the back of the leg, at about the middle) while standing, you will find them strongly contracted. If they were entirely relaxed the body would fall forward. In good posture the bones of the lower leg are at a small angle forward from the vertical, and the contraction of the muscles of the calves prevents the body from falling forward on its face.
如果你在站立时用手指触碰小腿肌肉（在腿后部，大约中间），你会发现它们强烈收缩。如果这些肌肉完全放松，身体就会向前倾倒。在良好的姿势中，小腿的骨骼与垂直线成一个小角度向前，小腿肌肉的收缩防止身体向前倾倒。
We stand without knowing how
我们在站立的时候并不知道站立如何发生
We are thus not aware of any effort or activity in the muscles that work against gravity. We become aware of the antigravity muscles only when we either interrupt or reinforce them, that is, when the voluntary change is made in clear awareness. The permanent contraction that is normally present before any intentional act is done is not registered by our senses. The electrical impulses, which derive from different sources within the nervous system, are involved. One group of these produces deliberate action; the other group causes contraction in the antigravity muscles until the work done by them exactly balances the pull of gravity.
我们没有意识到肌肉中有任何对抗重力的努力或活动。只有当我们中断或加强它们时，我们才会意识到反重力肌肉，也就是说，当在清晰的意识中做出自愿改变时。在任何有意的动作产生之前通常存在的永久性收缩不会被我们的感官记录下来。来自神经系统内不同来源的信号。其中一组产生我们意图想要执行的动作；另一组则引起反重力肌肉的收缩，直到其所做的工作完全平衡重力的拉力。
The upright posture is maintained by an old part of the nervous system
直立姿势是由神经系统的旧部分所维持的
A study of the limbs and parts of the body, such as the shoulders, eyes, eyelids, and so on, shows that their muscles are constantly working, work that is not sensed and that is not due to any conscious effort. How many people are aware, for instance, that their eyelids are raised, and can feel their weight? This weight is felt only in the moments between wakeful- ness and sleep, when it suddenly becomes difficult to keep one's eyes open: that is, when a sudden effort is needed to do so. As long as we are upright, our eyelids will not fall despite their weight. The upright position and all that it involves is organized by a special section of the nervous system, which performs a great deal of complicated work of which no more than a hint penetrates into our conscious mind. This section is one of the oldest in the evolution of the human species; it is certainly older than the voluntary system, and it is also physically placed below it.
对四肢和身体部位的研究，例如肩膀、眼睛、眼睑等，表明他们的肌肉在不断地工作，这种工作是察觉不到的，也没有来源于任何有意识的努力。 例如，有多少人知道他们的眼皮是被肌肉所抬起的，并且能感觉到眼皮的重量？ 这种重量只有在觉醒和睡眠之间的时刻才会被感觉到，这时眼睛突然变得难以睁开：也就是说，需要突然用力才能睁开。只要我们是直立的，我们的眼皮就算有重量也不会掉下来。 直立姿势和它所涉及的一切是由神经系统的一个特殊部分组织的，它执行大量复杂的工作，而这些工作并不会渗透到我们的意识中。 这部分是人类物种进化中最古老的部分之一；它肯定比我们可以自主控制的系统更古老，而且在身体层面上也在其之下。
The link between instinct and intention
本能（instinct）与意图（intention）之间的联系
Good posture, then, should be the privilege of every person born without gross defects. Further, as the organization of this posture is carried out by a system that works automatically, independently of the individual's volition, all humans should stand upright in the same way, just as one cat stands like every other cat, and every sparrow flies in exactly the same way.
那么，良好的姿势应该是每个天生没有严重缺陷的人的天生的特质。 此外，由于这种姿势的组织是由一个独立于个人意志的自动运行的系统进行的，所以所有的人都应该以同样的方式站直，就像一只猫像其他猫一样站立，每只麻雀都以同样的方式准确地飞进入一个空间。
But reality is usually both simpler and more complex than it appears at first sight. We like to think that instinct is something totally different from knowledge and understanding. We believe that the bee and the spider and the other engineers of the animal kingdom perform by instinct and automatically, without any need to learn, the things that we do with the aid of our brain, consciousness, and will, and only after much elaborate study. This is only partly correct. Even instinct does not operate altogether automatically, and the things that we do deliberately are not totally divorced from instinct.
但现实通常比乍一看更简单，同时也更复杂。 我们倾向于认为本能与知识和理解完全不同。 我们相信，蜜蜂、蜘蛛和动物王国的其他工程师是本能地、自动地、无需学习地完成我们借助大脑、意识和意志所做的事情，而我们只有经过精心设计的学习后才能完成。 这只是部分正确。即便是本能也不会完全自动运作，我们刻意做的事情也不会完全脱离本能。
Man's capacity to learn replaces the instincts of the animals
人类的学习能力取代了动物的本能
Man's instincts have become feeble by comparison with those of animals. Not every infant begins to breathe the moment it is born, and sometimes vigorous action must be taken before a baby will draw its first breath. The same applies to sucking. Many infants have to be encouraged and stimulated before the first drive is aroused that will make them feel the urge and ability to satisfy a vital need. Man has no clear and unmistakable instincts to guide him either in walking or in other movements, and not even in sexual activity. His capacity for learning, on the other hand, is incomparably greater than that of any other living creature. The stronger instincts of the animals do not permit them to cease or resist instinctive action, and obviously change in an instinctive action is neither easy to achieve nor permanent.
与动物的本能相比，人的本能变得微弱很多。 不是每个婴儿在出生时就能够开始呼吸，有时必须采取剧烈的动作才能让婴儿吸入第一口气。吸吮也一样。许多婴儿在激发第一个驱动力之前必须受到鼓励和刺激，这将使他们对满足重要需求的冲动和能力产生感知。人没有明确无误的本能来引导他走路或其他动作，甚至在性活动中也没有。而人类的学习能力，却是其他任何生物都无法比拟的。动物们更强大的本能不允许他们停止或抵制本能行为，显然本能行为的改变既不容易实现也不容易持久。
Our ability to learn, therefore, which involves the developing of new responses to familiar stimuli as the result of experience, is man's special characteristic. It serves us in place of powerful instincts, where even the slightest changes come about only with great difficulty.
因此，我们的学习能力，包括根据经验对熟悉的刺激产生新的反应，是人类的特殊特征。它代替了强大的本能为我们服务，在这些本能中，即使是最微小的变化也很难发生。
Man learns mainly from experience, animals mainly from the experience of their species
人主要从经验中学习，动物主要从同类的经验中学习
The function of speech will serve as a good example to help us understand our other functions. Every child born without some gross defect has the skeletal, muscular, and nervous equipment to allow him to learn to speak through hearing and imitating sounds. The animals with their stronger instincts, on the other hand, have little need to learn. Their executing mechanisms are linked almost from birth with the ordering mechanisms of the nervous system. The connections in the nervous system are predetermined and a minimum of experience is required to impress the function permanently.
言语的功能将作为一个很好的例子来帮助我们理解我们的其他功能。每个出生时没有任何严重缺陷的孩子都有骨骼、肌肉和神经系统，使他能够通过听和模仿声音来学习说话。另一方面，本能更强的动物几乎不需要学习。他们的执行机制几乎从一出生就与神经系统的排序机制绑定在一起。神经系统中的连接是预先确定的，不需要经验就能永久地发挥作用。
The nightingale thus sings the same song in Japan and in Mexico. (This may not be absolutely, scientifically accurate, but it is close enough for our purpose.) Bees construct their hives according to the same pattern wherever they happen to live; and every animal in whose veins there is dog's blood will bark, even if it also has a share of wolf or jackal blood.
因此，夜莺在日本和墨西哥唱着同一首歌。（这在科学上可能不是绝对准确的，但对于我们讨论的目的来说已经足够接近了。）蜜蜂无论生活在哪里，都会根据相同的模式建造它们的蜂巢； 任何血管里流着狗血的动物都会吠叫，即使它也流着狼或豺的血。
But in man there is no speech pattern that is fixed from birth; speech develops and grows anatomically, and at the same time functionally. A child will speak Chinese if he grows up in China; or he learns whatever language is appropriate to his surroundings. Wherever he happens to be, he will have to form through his personal experience the connections between the cells of his nervous system that activate the muscles he needs for speech.
但是在人类身上并没有生来就固定的说话方式；言语不仅在解剖学的角度发展，同时也在功能上发展。孩子在中国长大，就会说中文；或者他学习任何适合他周围环境的语言。无论他身在何处，他都必须通过他的亲身经历来形成神经系统中细胞之间的联系，从而激活他说话所需的肌肉。
At first these cells are provided only with the power to freely establish whatever combination of patterns experience will provide. These patterns, created by the individual's experience and not by the collective experience of the human race, are therefore permanent only as long as the experience is stable. It is even possible to forget one's mother tongue. And it is not very difficult to learn another language.
起初，这些细胞仅具有自由建立由经验所提供的任何模式组合的能力。因此，这些模式是由个人的经验所建立，而非人类的集体经验，因此只有在个人经验稳定的情况下才会永久存在。有的人甚至有可能忘记自己的母语，同时学习另一种语言并不是很难。
Individual experience
个人经验
But it is the early attempts at speech that have the greatest influence on the development of the mouth and on the relative strength of the vocal cords. Every subsequent attempt at learning a new language will be hampered by the early influences and it will be more difficult to become accustomed to the new forms. Learning a new language is also made more difficult by the existing speech forms that impede new combinations of movements of the muscles of the mouth and throat, for they have already acquired a tendency to continue the former patterns automatically.
但对嘴部发育和声带力量影响最大的是早期对语言学习的尝试。 随后每一次学习一门新语言的尝试都会受到早期影响的阻碍，而且要习惯新的形式会更加困难。现有的语言形式阻碍了嘴巴和喉咙肌肉运动的新组合，这也使得学习一门新语言变得更加困难，因为它们已经获得了自动延续以前模式的趋势。
Man's greater power of adjustment
人类更强大的调节适应能力
These observations will help us to understand why posture in standing and walking can be so different in different people, even though it is controlled by a part of the brain whose functions are closer to instinctual than voluntary action.
这些观察将帮助我们理解为什么站立和行走的姿势在不同的人身上会如此不同，即使控制此行为的大脑部分，其功能更接近本能而不是自主控制的行动。
Upright posture, like speech, has no ready-made connections of cells of the nervous system, although walking becomes established before speech. In this function, too, man adjusts with more freedom to his surroundings than do some herd animals, for instance, who can walk, run, fall, and right themselves again within a few minutes of their birth regardless of the terrain on which the animal happens to be born. The functions established and fixed from birth show only small variations from one individual to another, while differences are the rule in the functions developed by the individual through his personal experience.
直立姿势，就像说话一样，没有神经系统细胞已有的现成连接，尽管走路先于说话得以建立。在这个功能中，人类和群居动物相比，能更自由地适应周围环境，例如，无论动物所处的环境如何，它们都可以在出生后几分钟内行走、奔跑、跌倒并重新站直。动物出生就建立并固化的功能在个体之间仅表现出微小的差异，而在人类中，此差异在功能方面具有决定作用，是个体通过其个人经验发展而来的。
Dynamic aspects of posture
姿势的动态一面
As long as we consider the standing and sitting postures as static conditions it is difficult to describe them in a way that might lead to improvement. If this is what we seek, we must examine their dynamic aspect. From the dynamic point of view, every stable posture is one of a series of positions that constitute a movement. In moving from side to side a pendulum passes through the position of stability at maximum speed. When the pendulum is in the stable state, at the midpoint of its path, it will remain there without moving until some outside force is applied to it. This stable position requires no energy for its maintenance. In walking, getting up, or sitting down, the human body of necessity from time to time also passes through the upright stable position that requires no energy. However, in cases where movements are not perfectly adjusted to gravity, the body's passage through the stable position is not clearly defined and the muscles continue to perform superfluous work.
当我们将站立和坐姿视为静态条件时，我们很难找到能够对其进行改善的描述方式。如果这是我们想要寻求的目标，我们必须观察其动态的一面。从动力学的角度来看，每一个稳定的姿势都是构成运动的一系列姿势中的一环。在从一侧移动到另一侧时，钟摆以最大速度通过稳定位置。当摆处于稳定状态时，在其路径的中点会保持不动，直到有外力作用于此。这种稳定的位置不需要能量来维持。人在行走、起身、坐下等过程中，也时不时地经过不需要能量的直立稳定姿势。 然而，在运动没有完全适应重力的情况下，身体通过稳定位置的通道没有得到确定，肌肉将继续进行额外多余的工作。
No effort is required to maintain the standing and sitting postures, which are positions of stability. In the stable state only a minimum of energy is required for the beginning of any movement, and therefore none in order to remain at rest.
无需费力即可保持站姿和坐姿，这些都是稳定的姿势。 在稳定状态下，任何运动的开始都只需要最少的能量，因此不需要任何能量来保持静止。
Automatic and voluntary control
自动和自主控制
Most of the theoretical and practical difficulties disappear when due consideration is paid to the fact that the voluntary muscles that respond to our intention will at the same time also react to orders from the other, unconscious parts of the nervous system. Under ordinary conditions automatic control takes over, although the voluntary control can come in at any desired moment. When the fastest possible reaction is needed, as when there is danger of falling or a sudden threat to life, then the automatic system will do all its work before we can even understand what is happening. We need only slip on a banana skin to discover that our body will in general right itself "by itself" in a reflex movement of which the voluntary control is not even aware.
我们意识可以控制的肌肉同时也在响应来自神经系统其他无意识部分的命令，当我们开始考量这一点时，大多数理论和实践中的困难都会消失。在一般情况下，自动控制接管，尽管自主控制可以在任何需要的时刻出现。当需要尽可能快的反应时，例如当有跌倒的危险或突然的生命威胁时，自动系统会在我们甚至还没有弄清楚发生了什么之前就完成所有工作。我们只需要踩到香蕉皮上滑倒，就会发现我们的身体通常会在一种反射运动中“自行”纠正自己，而这种反射运动甚至是自主控制系统完全不知道的情况下完成的。
We know if we are in the stable position through the kinesthetic sense of our muscles. If control over the muscles is with the voluntary system, then we are in the stable position; if it shifts to the automatic system and voluntary control ceases for a moment, the position is no longer stable. Voluntary control will return as soon as the automatic system has succeeded in bringing the body back to a stable position.
我们通过肌肉的动觉（kinesthetic sense）知道我们是否处于稳定位置。如果肌肉是由自主系统所控制的，那么我们就处于稳定位置； 如果它转向自动系统，并且自主控制暂时停止，则该位置不再稳定。 一旦自动系统成功将身体带回稳定位置，自主控制就会恢复。
Origin of the distortion of sensations
感觉产生扭曲的源头
Anything that tends to lessen the sensitivity of the power of discrimination will slow down response to stimuli. Posture will be adjusted only when its divergence from the stable position is already considerable, that is, when the adjustment has become more urgent and requires more muscular effort. This reduces even more precise awareness of the change; the entire system of action and control has taken on coarser dimensions. Ultimately there will be serious failure in control and even damage to the system.
任何倾向于降低辨别力敏感性的事物都会减慢对刺激的反应。只有当姿势偏离稳定位置非常大的幅度时，即当调整变得更加紧迫，并且需要更多的肌肉力量时，我们才会调整姿势。这个过程减少了对变化的更精确的认识；整个行动和控制系统已经呈现出更粗略的维度。最终会出现严重的失控甚至系统的损坏。
One of the original causes of such a course of events is pain, which may have either a physical or an emotional origin. Pain that undermines confidence in the body and self is the main cause of deviations from the ideal posture. Pain of this kind reduces the individual's value in his own eyes. Nervous tension rises, which in turn reduces sensitivity once more; so we do not sense continued small deviations from the ideal position, and the muscles tense without the individual's even being aware of the effort he is making. Control may become so much distorted that while we think we are doing nothing we are in fact straining muscles needlessly.
这个过程发生最初原因之一是疼痛，它可能有身体或情感上的根源。疼痛破坏对身体和自我的信心，是偏离理想姿势的主要原因。这种疼痛会降低个人在自己眼中的价值。神经紧张加剧，这反过来又会再次降低敏感性；所以我们感觉不到与理想位置的持续微小偏差，并且在个人甚至没有意识到他正在做的努力的情况下，肌肉持续收缩和紧张。控制可能会变得如此扭曲，以至于当我们认为我们什么都不做时，我们实际上还是在不必要地让肌肉收紧。
Sensitivity in voluntary action
自主行动的敏感性
It seems reasonable to suppose that if we were to increase the degree of our awareness of muscular effort when our muscles are working as the result of voluntary action, then we shall also learn to recognize muscular efforts that, as the result of habit, are normally concealed from our conscious mind. If we can rid ourselves of such superfluous effort we shall recognize the ideal stable position with greater clarity. Then we shall have "returned" to the stage in which all conscious muscular effort to maintain equilibrium disappears, for this equilibrium is maintained solely by the older parts of the nervous system, which will find for us the best possible position compatible with the individual's inherited physical structure.
似乎可以合理地假设，如果我们在肌肉依靠自主控制进行工作时，增强我们对肌肉用力的意识觉知程度，那么我们也将学会识别那些通常因习惯而隐藏在我们的意识觉知不到的层面的肌肉用力。如果我们能够摆脱这种多余的努力，我们就会更清楚地认识到理想的稳定位置。然后我们将“返回”到所有维持平衡的有意识肌肉用力消失的阶段，因为这种平衡完全由神经系统的较旧部分维持，它们将为我们找到与个体遗传相适应的最佳位置的物理结构。
The dynamics of equilibrium
平衡中的动态
Let us return to the dynamic view of physical stability in order to learn from it as much as is possible. We saw that the stable position of the ordinary pendulum lies at the midpoint of its path, when the pull of gravity seeks to hold the pendulum in a purely vertical position. The force that first set the pendulum swinging is finally absorbed by friction, the movements becoming progressively smaller, until the pendulum remains at rest in the stable position; it can be moved by the application of a minimum of force applied in any direction other than the vertical. This is equally true for any body in a state of equilibrium. Thus, for instance, a tree that has grown upright will bend its top in whatever direction the wind is blowing. In the same way good upright posture is that from which a minimum muscular effort will move the body with equal ease in any desired direction. This means that in the upright position there must be no muscular effort deriving from voluntary control, regardless of whether this effort is known and deliberate or concealed from the consciousness by habit.
让我们回到物理上稳定性的动态观点，以便尽可能多地从中学习。我们看到普通钟摆的稳定位置位于其路径的中点，此时重力将钟摆保持在完全垂直的位置。使钟摆摆动的力最终被摩擦吸收，运动逐渐变小，直到钟摆保持静止在稳定位置； 它可以通过在垂直方向以外的任何方向施加最小的力来产生移动。这对处于平衡状态的任何物体同样适用。例如，一棵直立生长的树，无论风吹向什么方向，它的顶部都会弯曲。同样地，良好的直立姿势是指用最小的肌肉力量就能使身体在任何需要的方向上同样轻松地移动。这意味着在直立姿势下，必须没有来自自主控制的肌肉努力，无论这种努力是已知的和故意的，还是被习惯隐藏在意识之外。