Library's review
Relieve pain. Enhance flexibility. Halt the eroding effects of aging. Dr. Vance Bonner has spent two decades teaching body mechanics, kinesiology, and exercise therapy.
The Vance Stance is every reader's private seminar with Dr. Bonner. Beginning with simple self-diagnosis, here is a step-by-step,
WHY YOU SHOULD STAND UP STRAIGHT
Teaching Balanced Alignment, a way of positioning yourself in space that enables you to move with more grace and power, Vance Bonner shows you how to work with gravity instead of against it to reshape your body and reverse the restricting postural habits of a lifetime.
The Vance Stance and its program of Thirty-Four Movements will eliminate, step-by-step, the causes of chronic joint and muscle pain while greatly increasing your body-Ys flexibility. With knees unlocked, ankles unfrozen, and spine fully lengthened, you will experience a dramatic new sense of limberness, energy, and overall well-being.
The Program
Strengthens Weak Muscles and Releases Those That Are Tight
Takes as Little as 15 Minutes a Day, Three Times a Week
Requires No Special Equipment, Space or Accessories
Identifies and Corrects Specific Problems for Athletes, Seniors, Weekend Warriors, and More
About the Author
Vance Bonner received a Ph.D. in Health Sciences from Columbia Pacific University. She has been teaching the body alignment workshop she developed for the past 31 years. She has conducted seminars in The Bonner System of Structural Reprogramming internationally and has certified teachers in her method of body alignment therapy.
I've had this book for several years. I did the program faithfully several years ago when I had a lot of spare time on my hands, but then stopped once my husband and I were living in the same city again (but that's another story...).
Anyway, several years and two small children later, here I am with back pain, neck pain, knee pain. I remembered this book and dug it out of the bookshelf. After reviewing the concepts and the 34 exercises, I did just 3 of the 34 exercises. I know it sounds unbelievable, but just after doing those three, my body felt different. It felt more like NOTHING than ever before. And believe me, if you've got back and neck pain, feeling NOTHING is where it's at!
I woke up the next morning and still felt NOTHING. Went through that day quite conscious of the difference in my posture and movements. Decided that I need to practice this method regularly, even if it's just 15 minutes a day, or on those really crazy, busy days, just 5 minutes to do 3 exercises.
And that's where this book fits reality. Although 34 exercises sounds like A LOT (and it is!), Bonner says that you don't have to do all of them at once. She suggests that you try them all to find out where you need work, but you can put your own set of exercises together to put the focus on where YOU need help. She identifies which exercises are helpful for certain problems or certain activities that you are involved in.
It was easy for me to pinpoint a few exercises that I need to do faithfully and another handful that are helpful to sprinkle in occasionally. If I had even more time, I'd do more exercises. But doing something is better than nothing...try it and I think you'll agree.
I have spent nearly 20 years researching and studying various forms of self-care type body-mind awareness techniques and modalites. I had been searching for one that made sense, produced obvious results, and would allow the student to eventually be independent (or at least not fully dependent) of or on the teacher and still get results. Much to my delight, I found all that and more with The Bonner System of Structural Reprograming! The book is written in a very friendly and encouraging tone, with clear photographs and instructions. An added bonus are the many true-life accounts of some of her actual students. I highly recommend it for preventative self-care as well as injury or surgery recovery, or if you are just plain tired of your chronic pain. A great investment in yourself! A good book to have on hand even if you don't think you need it now. (I recognized this as such extraordinary work that I sought out Dr. Bonner and became trained by her to do this work myself!)
Since I have started reading this book, I have been amazed by the changes in my body. I have only started the program and my chronic hip pain is already subsiding. The book doesn't waste time with long explanations and stories. Rather, it illustrates how an imbalanced posture can lead to stressed joints and back pain. I thought I understood what 'good posture' was until I compared my own posture to her illustrations of bad posture. I am amazed that one slight adjustment can make such a difference. This book is by no means a replacement for medical care, but I highly recommend it as a manual for those who wish to discover more about the relationship between posture and chronic pain, and what they can do to correct it. Bonner provides a series of exercises that are easy to do and that don't require any special equipment. I think it is a 'must read' for anyone who suffers from chronic back pain.
Contents
Acknowledgment
Intoduction What is the Vance stance-and what can it do for you?
The principles of the Vance stance
The promise of the Vance stance
The Vance stance is for everyone
Chapter One Our perfect bodies
Our ideal selves
If we were born perfect, what happened?
Chapter Two A first look at the stance
The feet
The ankles
The knees
The pelvis
The two-way energy stream
The waist
The spine
The chest
The shoulders
The neck
The head
Chapter Three You and the stance
Identifying the 'trouble spots'
Taking the stance
The energy stream
Feeling like Frankenstain?
Now you have a choice
Chapter Four The thirty-four movements
The hang-over
Hands on floor, legs straight
Doorway stretch
Arms behind on railing
Heel drop on stairs
Up against the wall
One arm overhead, lean to side
Stork stand
Toe crunch series
On the ball
Monkey walk
Squat and reach
Leg on railng
Wrists on railing
Stair climb, up and down
Groucho walk
Up off the floor (no hands)
Ankle sit
Toe bend, achilles stretch
Cross-legged sit
Cross-legged sit: Head to floor
Cross-legged sit: Elbows up and out
Head to knee on floor
Sitting forward bend
Knees to chest
Dead bug
Pelvis flatten and arch
Partial roll-ups
One-leg roll-down
Roll-down, legs together
Leg extensions
Reverse bridge
Stomach crunches
The favorite
Chapter Five A new you
Addiction to well-being
The journey and the goal are one
The process is the point
Helping yourself to do it
Appendix-The Vance stance in action
The Vance Stance is every reader's private seminar with Dr. Bonner. Beginning with simple self-diagnosis, here is a step-by-step,
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joint-by-joint series of sessions and stretching exercises that ease the body back to its original design so that a person can stand and move in balanced alignment, working with gravity instead of against it. Soon back pain disappears, foot problems such as hammer toes are eliminated, stress is reduced. And ultimately, one discovers the next best thing to the fountain of youth: how to keep the body trouble-free after the age of 30. Selection of the Literary Guild and Health Book Club.WHY YOU SHOULD STAND UP STRAIGHT
Teaching Balanced Alignment, a way of positioning yourself in space that enables you to move with more grace and power, Vance Bonner shows you how to work with gravity instead of against it to reshape your body and reverse the restricting postural habits of a lifetime.
The Vance Stance and its program of Thirty-Four Movements will eliminate, step-by-step, the causes of chronic joint and muscle pain while greatly increasing your body-Ys flexibility. With knees unlocked, ankles unfrozen, and spine fully lengthened, you will experience a dramatic new sense of limberness, energy, and overall well-being.
The Program
Strengthens Weak Muscles and Releases Those That Are Tight
Takes as Little as 15 Minutes a Day, Three Times a Week
Requires No Special Equipment, Space or Accessories
Identifies and Corrects Specific Problems for Athletes, Seniors, Weekend Warriors, and More
About the Author
Vance Bonner received a Ph.D. in Health Sciences from Columbia Pacific University. She has been teaching the body alignment workshop she developed for the past 31 years. She has conducted seminars in The Bonner System of Structural Reprogramming internationally and has certified teachers in her method of body alignment therapy.
I've had this book for several years. I did the program faithfully several years ago when I had a lot of spare time on my hands, but then stopped once my husband and I were living in the same city again (but that's another story...).
Anyway, several years and two small children later, here I am with back pain, neck pain, knee pain. I remembered this book and dug it out of the bookshelf. After reviewing the concepts and the 34 exercises, I did just 3 of the 34 exercises. I know it sounds unbelievable, but just after doing those three, my body felt different. It felt more like NOTHING than ever before. And believe me, if you've got back and neck pain, feeling NOTHING is where it's at!
I woke up the next morning and still felt NOTHING. Went through that day quite conscious of the difference in my posture and movements. Decided that I need to practice this method regularly, even if it's just 15 minutes a day, or on those really crazy, busy days, just 5 minutes to do 3 exercises.
And that's where this book fits reality. Although 34 exercises sounds like A LOT (and it is!), Bonner says that you don't have to do all of them at once. She suggests that you try them all to find out where you need work, but you can put your own set of exercises together to put the focus on where YOU need help. She identifies which exercises are helpful for certain problems or certain activities that you are involved in.
It was easy for me to pinpoint a few exercises that I need to do faithfully and another handful that are helpful to sprinkle in occasionally. If I had even more time, I'd do more exercises. But doing something is better than nothing...try it and I think you'll agree.
I have spent nearly 20 years researching and studying various forms of self-care type body-mind awareness techniques and modalites. I had been searching for one that made sense, produced obvious results, and would allow the student to eventually be independent (or at least not fully dependent) of or on the teacher and still get results. Much to my delight, I found all that and more with The Bonner System of Structural Reprograming! The book is written in a very friendly and encouraging tone, with clear photographs and instructions. An added bonus are the many true-life accounts of some of her actual students. I highly recommend it for preventative self-care as well as injury or surgery recovery, or if you are just plain tired of your chronic pain. A great investment in yourself! A good book to have on hand even if you don't think you need it now. (I recognized this as such extraordinary work that I sought out Dr. Bonner and became trained by her to do this work myself!)
Since I have started reading this book, I have been amazed by the changes in my body. I have only started the program and my chronic hip pain is already subsiding. The book doesn't waste time with long explanations and stories. Rather, it illustrates how an imbalanced posture can lead to stressed joints and back pain. I thought I understood what 'good posture' was until I compared my own posture to her illustrations of bad posture. I am amazed that one slight adjustment can make such a difference. This book is by no means a replacement for medical care, but I highly recommend it as a manual for those who wish to discover more about the relationship between posture and chronic pain, and what they can do to correct it. Bonner provides a series of exercises that are easy to do and that don't require any special equipment. I think it is a 'must read' for anyone who suffers from chronic back pain.
Contents
Acknowledgment
Intoduction What is the Vance stance-and what can it do for you?
The principles of the Vance stance
The promise of the Vance stance
The Vance stance is for everyone
Chapter One Our perfect bodies
Our ideal selves
If we were born perfect, what happened?
Chapter Two A first look at the stance
The feet
The ankles
The knees
The pelvis
The two-way energy stream
The waist
The spine
The chest
The shoulders
The neck
The head
Chapter Three You and the stance
Identifying the 'trouble spots'
Taking the stance
The energy stream
Feeling like Frankenstain?
Now you have a choice
Chapter Four The thirty-four movements
The hang-over
Hands on floor, legs straight
Doorway stretch
Arms behind on railing
Heel drop on stairs
Up against the wall
One arm overhead, lean to side
Stork stand
Toe crunch series
On the ball
Monkey walk
Squat and reach
Leg on railng
Wrists on railing
Stair climb, up and down
Groucho walk
Up off the floor (no hands)
Ankle sit
Toe bend, achilles stretch
Cross-legged sit
Cross-legged sit: Head to floor
Cross-legged sit: Elbows up and out
Head to knee on floor
Sitting forward bend
Knees to chest
Dead bug
Pelvis flatten and arch
Partial roll-ups
One-leg roll-down
Roll-down, legs together
Leg extensions
Reverse bridge
Stomach crunches
The favorite
Chapter Five A new you
Addiction to well-being
The journey and the goal are one
The process is the point
Helping yourself to do it
Appendix-The Vance stance in action
Show Less
Genres
ISBN
156305311X / 9781563053115
Publication
Workman Pubishing New York