Clothing Affects the Entire Body in Many Negative Ways

I just took off my robe. I noticed a change in posture.

Yesterday, I was walking around the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show in my wrangler denim jeans. I had my hands in my pant’s pockets, which is a slouch.

A tight outfit, makes a body move more stiff. It limits the range of motion. These become habits when the muscles are not being used, stretched, or being exercised. A waistband can tighten a belly, squeeze it over the top as a pot belly and constrict flow. It can affect a hernia, giving false support to muscles that need to carry their own duties.

Too Tight!

Clothing can change attitude, and the way a person carries themselves. It supports a sense of pride and one-upmanship, a top dog and an underdog. It effects who one believes themselves to be, the false stories we tell ourselves.

Shoes, high heels, boots, platforms, flip flops, all make a different walk and posture and over time, affect the entire body. It can be sooner or later, even years in coming, but significant health issues are often a result of what are on feet.

After decades of adult life in cowboy boots, like women wearing high heels, I developed Morton’s Neuroma. Since spending my days barefoot and with thin sole footwear, my posture has changed. Now, the way that I walk, move, and bend are much more healthy and human, but still, I lost more during those years.

Posture has everything to do with health. The spine is linked to the whole system and every organ. The muscles in a sore neck can affect the muscles in the leg and vice versa. The shoulders, when not kept back will affect the entire system, how one walks, how one lifts, breathing and how one displays themselves to others. How one carries oneself influences how people treat each other and attitudes about themselves.

Bifocal glasses dramatically change the way that a person moves the head. Just watch older people as they squint, or peer down as they read. Try using them. I slouch forward on a trail when wearing bifocals. There is a blur at my feet during my next step. I don’t want to trip.

Babies out here walk different than babies in colder country. Here they live in diapers and learn to walk more fluid, their arms move, not that their diapers don’t make a more bull legged gait. Up north, they get bundled up and their arms are out like they are trying to balance themselves in a Michelin commercial.

All of these accoutrements make a difference. I’m saying that exercise, including walking and running are better done nude and most clothing is hazardous, especially if it is not loose and comfortable.

Do you sleep in your clothes? Probably not, because it is obviously unhealthy and uncomfortable. Many people sleep in pajamas, underwear and all, but not daily clothing. This should be a first hint. It is instinctively good to spend time out of clothing.

The pajamas deserve a note. The body doesn’t breathe as well and bacteria thrives. Studies say the heat disrupts hormones. It is less sensual and less relaxed. Sleeping naked is a whole story in itself.

I recently acquired a hernia, which I must now treat with stretches, yoga and walking, among other regimens. It is teaching me more lessons about spending so much time in unhealthy clothing. I stretch more fully without the clothing. My range of motion is much fuller. I walk much looser without the clothing and I use the full range of muscles that I need for health and to support my weak area.

The band that is the lower back that wraps around into the groin region has been getting a workout. My posture is getting better. After the training, I walk differently. I am more upright and move as I haven’t in years. I can feel the way that my body used to move, remembering when I was younger and cockier with a tad of wiggle in certain areas. It is not a tight soldier’s stance. It feels good, right and whole, when I achieve a degree of this.

Then, I put on some clothing and old habits sneak back.

So, exercising muscles, stretching and muscle memory training are hindered by clothing and allow habits to flourish. There is less awareness, or shall I say, not being mindful of what the body is doing. Habits have been around for a long time. They have snuck up on us when we weren’t looking.

So, be nude as often as possible and keep moving. Enjoy the body as a temple, a place to play, fascinating, loved and allow it to be natural, always. The best way to be aware of the body and be one with it, is to be nude…

…and if you can, let the world be your gymnasium (Latin, exercise ground, school, from Greek gymnasion, from gymnazein to exercise naked, from gymnos naked).

Just sayin’…hopefully not preachin’….