Strike A New Line

A digression. I have been revisiting a delightful little volume purchased in a small, second-hand bookshop in pre-Amazon days. 'Strike A New Line', by Inge Brandeis and published in 1946, promotes 'physical culture through everyday movements'; that is to say, it's a workout  book, albeit very modest by today's standards. It is written in simple and unpatronising language that nonetheless sounds surprisingly modern, give or take the odd moment ('See how your girl carries her doll or pushes her pram exactly like you!'). Miss Joan Garside provided a series of robust line drawings, alongside photos by Mr. Waldo Fergusson..

Ways of Walking. From left to right (in twos): exaggerated self-importance; simulated elegance; near approach to perfection; slack walk (this one closest to my own).

Ways of Standing: Apparent relaxed position, involving deformation of the spine and compensatory twists of groups of muscles.

Ways of Standing: Apparent comfort, with insidious curvature of the spine.

Attitudes to Work: Unnecessary stress on back and shoulder muscles while ironing.

Attitudes to Work: Inevitable stoop and hunch with badly adjusted sitting position at keyboard (very close to my posture at this precise moment).

Everyday Actions: Apparent comfort, but actually a tiring posture.

Everyday Actions: The careless sacrifice of the figure in favour of the face.

Casual Movements: Tiring inelegant variation (of shoe-installation, presumably).

Casual Movements: Clumsy gait arising from swinging the weight of the body to achieve upward motion (otherwise known as going upstairs).

A further digression. In her preface, the author credits a  'Madame Mensendieck' as the source of the movements and approach advocated, a rather Dickensian name which prompted more time wasting on the internet. Bess Margaret Mensendieck (1864-1957) was apparently an American physician who was called to Austria to instruct in her method of exercising, promoting good posture and correct body mechanics. She was herself the author of several books, and had been summoned to Europe by Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was greatly vexed by the daily sight of pot-bellied ladies-in-waiting, standing to attention with their hands over their stomachs in an attempt to disguise the bulge. Problems of self-image among females at court: plus ca change.