Don’t be fooled by me , by the face I present
For I wear a mask from a large array.
A different mask for each new event,
Depending on whom I meet each day.

Deep down I detest phony games, falsity,
I want to be genuine, childlike and me.
So please hold out your hand to me e’en when it seems,
The last thing I want is that you share my dreams.

****************************

Please note: If you wish to make any comment you may address them to me through my
contact page

Some time after completing the meditation course a low stool was constructed which incorporated these principles of weight distribution, balance and movement. Having completed the first model a number of others were constructed and sold. However, it was the realisation that the concept could be applied to full size seating at desks, tables etc. which occupied time, energy and funds over the next four years.
Meanwhile studies in anatomy, physiology and physiological psychology were undertaken to discover those scientific principles, and any research experiments which might help to explain the greater comfort experienced with the Kneelsit as compared with all other forms of seating. Lessons were also commenced in the Alexander Technique and’ closer observation was made of clients posture problems which he encountered in his counseling practice.
. -:
Further research into back problems and their possible origins brought an understanding that two common factors seemed to be relevant with those clients whom he counselled:-
a. Psychological problems, such as rigidly held attitudes, poor self image etc. and that feelings of strain, tension, balance awareness and poor posture were all inter-connected.

b. Persons engaged in sedentary occupations appeared to be more severely affected in many 6ases and a number of them consistently complained of poorly designed chairs at work.
Continuing investigations slowly made it clear that the proprioceptive sense was one which was little appreciated or understood by society in general, despite the important part it plays in our total feelings of well being. Secondly that it has been largely neglected and allowed to deteriorate through poor body use and the undue strain of badly designed seating.
During the development stages of the Kneelsit, checks were constantly made with volunteers of various heights and build to ensure that the angles, distances, height differentials etc, all felt comfortable for the people concerned. No special notice was taken of any ‘norm’ or ’standard’. (except for the standard or common desk height). The most important criteria was that the Kneelsit had to “feel right” for each person when it was adjusted for their particular body size. This is why people find that having taken the time to custom-fit the various adjustments to suit them they rarely have to change it again. However, a word of warning to the unwary. Do not under any circumstances change the settings without first having received permission from the owner.! You can read about further aspects of balance and movement at this page on the kneelsit website.

Note:- If you wish to make any comment on any part of my blog then please do so
through the contact us form on my website I will add it after checking.

HISTORY
In 1988 while carrying out research for a paper on meditation and health I
undertook a ten day course of meditation in a technique called Vipassana.

Research had already been made into Yoga, Zen and Transcendental Meditation; there
was, however, no scientific literature published on this particular technique - hence the
decision to engage in the course itself.
The main emphasis in the Vipassana technique is to train the student to fully focus
awareness on all the sensations occurring in the body. As the mind wandered it had to
be brought back to the main task of focusing on sensations. In essence it was a mental
discipline which sharpened and improved the proprioceptive sense. (as well as providing
other benefits)

The course involved sitting in silence for a total of fifteen hours a day apart from meal
breaks. As a result the aches and pains felt throughout the body were quite severe the
worst pains being in the back.
Various devices such as chairs, cushions, low stools etc. were tried and finally a small
stool with half round legs. Being above an exact balance or fulcrum point which
continually moved slightly made a significant difference and all back pain was eliminated.
The main problem remaining was the pain in the legs and knees. Recalling school days
and kneeling in church pews with buttocks resting against the edge of the seat, a padded
moving knee cushion was envisaged.

The mind being free to wander, I began to recall my days in the infantry
during the Korean Campaign. Very heavy loads were carried at that time, spare
clothing, bedroll, boots, rations, ammunition and weapon, probably between 40 to 50
kilograms, yet, no back pain was experienced. The load had been spread evenly
around the body. Heavy ammunition in front packs to balance the bulkier back pack
and all the time you kept moving. Balance and movement were the key features.
Korean porters carried even heavier loads of fuel and ammunition up steep slopes on’ A’
frames of their own design, always, however, their backs were straight but leaning
slightly forward and their knees flexed so that all the weight was carried over hips and
knee joints.

Nevertheless I am still amazed today, more than 50 years on, how they carried those
heavy loads day after day with no complaints.

(I will complete this in my next blog posting)

I was roused today - perceptions stirred,
By an old, black crow who greeted me
with sly chuckle and cheeky grin in his wide brown eye.
White plastic bag of treasure? clutched in his powerful beak.
“Something good?” I called.
Flapping off - “Worth a grab and a peek”.

A peek at tired grey fences - staggering,
Leaning exhausted in summer’s haze
Caught up idly by the spider of time
Weaving her web of rusty barb.
Criss-cross here, loop there , no pattern, no seeming design,
But serves to catch the human fly
Who dares to cross her boundary.

Females converse in a an ordered group.
Murmurs, comments but no complaints,
Patiently they wait in line.
Till one - a stranger to the group - inserts herself,
Loud bellows, shoves - she stands confused.
Then one with loving patience, generously allows her in.
They settle down again to wait,
To give again, as they have given all these years
Udders full, milk dripping from their teats
Outside the bails.

Dandelions in bloom
Spread golden butter thick across green fields
While Illawarra flame
Extends her jewelled arms in prayer,
Praising creation with her finery.

A rusty length of steel - discarded,
Twisted by fate into pretzel shape
Stands proudly in the ditch.
With silent grace she speaks
“I too am part of God and S/He of me.”

Kisses, quick greetings of three dear friends,
My spirits lift e’en higher still
Than I thought possible.
I tiptoe lightly on the wings of life
New-born, awakened.

Thus stirred today my senses glow
Roused from slumber by this old black crow.
T’was not his raucous call
But the baleful grin in his piercing eye
Which lifted the scales from clouded sight,
And gave fresh vision to glimpse the All
- - - for a time.

Strange thoughts now rise from hiden deeps,
Of Merlin, Beowulf, Odin, Thor,
Familiars, ravens, silent speech.
Child’s nonsense, Myths? Inflation? - - - OR?

Note: If you wish to make any comment please use the contact form on my website
Thankyou
Greg.

Way back in 1997 I was priveleged to meet up with a lovely lady who was head of the Ergonomics Department at Worksafe Australia - now re-branded as The National Occupational Health and Safety Commission. At the time of our last meeting I gathered ( from what was not said) that there had been some rather heavy internal departmental disagreements and Glena had just resigned. I believe that it was on her very last day of work that she had set up an appointment to carry out an assessment of my invention - the Kneelsit Balance chair. I quote now from her covering letter to the ergonomic report that she compiled for me on that day.

“Thank you for again requesting my opinion on your unique balance seat. The attached comments are based on my subjective assessment of your interesting product.
I have for 5 years managed the Ergonomics Laboratory at Worksafe Australia and during that time the Worksafe checklist for adjustable and non-adjustable chairs was compiled from extensive research. For around 4 years the checklist was used by most large chair manufacturers as a
de facto standard and there was a marked improvement in standardisation of ergonomic stability and design quality during that period.

23/6/97

Note:- I trust that this covering letter from Ms. Ellitt may help to clarify just why it is that I can not give a definitive answer to those peoplewho ask the question “Does the Kneelsit comply with the AFRDI Standard? . I believe that the numerous testimonials I have received over the years constitute their own form of compliance.

POOR POSTURE

Poor posture is learnt early in childhood and made worse by badly designed school furniture. You learn early on to slouch in your seat to try to overcome the torture of a horizontal seat and a vertical backrest (often set too far back to be of any use or value). Even if you were lucky enough to get a chair or seat close to your size, very often the desk was the wrong height and in almost every case there was no lumbar support whatsoever. Thus the stage was set for you to learn how “not to sit.” If you learnt nothing else at school, your body learnt this lesson very well!

The posture you are forced to adopt when sitting in a conventional office chair (whether it’s labelled ‘ergonomic’ or otherwise) is one where your body is constrained by your trunk and thighs having to form a right angle (90°). What happens when you sit in this position is that your hips bend to 60°, your pelvis moves backward and your lumbar spine flattens out to take up the remaining 30° thus placing an unnatural strain on your muscles, joints and ligaments. This strain is felt most acutely at the end of a long working day as back pain of varying degree and intensity.

The ideal posture when sitting is one which helps to maintain the natural lumbar curve or lordosis of the lower back - this is when our discs, joints and ligaments are under the least amount of stress. However, it is just not possible to achieve this ideal posture using a conventional chair where the seat and backrest are at right angles. When we take up this position there is excessive pressure placed on the lumbar vertebrae of the low back. This pressure will eventually cause lower and sometimes upper back pain.

Some things you can try to minimise this discomfort.

While watching TV

When your children are sitting in front of the TV, encourage them to sit on the floor rather than in the standard lounge chairs; or buy some inexpensive ‘bean bags’ as these place less strain on young spines.

At Work.

1. To figure out the correct amount of lordosis (lumbar curve) for sitting with minimum strain, Physiotherapist Robin McKenzie has suggested the following:-(*1)

Sit forward on your chair so the backrest doesn’t interfere while you learn this.

Allow your body to slouch to its maximum and hold that position for a few seconds.

Then reverse this position so that you are sitting totally erect ( the limit of your lordosis ) - again hold for a few seconds.

Repeat several times so that you can feel and understand the difference between these two extremes.

Take up the totally erect position and then allow your body to relax by 10%.

This is about the best sitting position for the lumbar spine (if you can remember to maintain it). Do NOT try to keep up the fully erect position as this will cause pain.

2. Using a wedge-shaped support to gain some forward-sloping effect can offer a stop-gap solution to keeping your back in a more correct posture and relieve some of the pressure or you might try to find some way of tilting the seat pan of your chair forward.

3. Some temporary relief may also be achieved by carrying out regular exercise.

4. In a similar fashion, if you are experiencing pressure on your hamstrings, you may find that sitting with your legs tucked back underneath the chair can often help to bring you some relief.

At the Keyboard.

You can maintain good posture at your keyboard when:-

Your lumbar curve is at 10% less than maximum.

Your trunk and hips are at an angle of about 110° - i.e. forward-sloping.

Shoulders are relaxed - not hunched.

Your head and neck are in a ‘neutral’ position.

Elbows at about 90° and level with the middle of the keyboard.

Your upper arms are vertical by the sides - not out or forward.

Wrists are in mid position with your hands in line with your forearms.

At Anytime MOVE! MOVE! AND MOVE AGAIN

In addition to excessive pressure on the spine, lack of movement can have quite serious effects on the discs of our spinal vertebrae. So walk instead of drive, take a walk around the block with your kids! Take up Tai Chi or Yoga, learn Aerobics. Just get moving!

You might like to check out the exercises page on our website

Because of a general feeling of a need for keeping fit in today’s society many people take up jogging, gym work, Yoga, Pilates etc. etc.

How long after completing their physical activity and returning to their desk work is it before they start to feel back pain? Is this connected in any way to their chosen activity? It is not very likely. You can be virtually certain that this aching back is caused directly by the chair in which they are sitting. It has long been known by responsible ergonomists and physical therapists that the conventional chair which is common in 90% of offices today is the direct cause of lower back pain.

A quick glance at the angle provided by the seats in conventional is one of 90 degrees. This angle places inordinate strain on muscles, vertebrae and tendons - particularly in the lumbar area of your spine. The best angle for your thighs and trunk is one of around 110 degrees. This places your spine in its correctly lordosed position and ensures best posture.

Check out kneeling chairs in Wikipedia - these are the only models which allow for this correct angle.

If you are at all curious about the origins and history of the development
of the Kneelsit chair than you would need to go back 3 or 4 thousand years
and give credit to the ancient Maasai who first came up with the idea of making
a milking stool with crescent shaped feet.

Until very recent times milk and blood from their cattle formed the staple diet of
the Maasai tribes. If you have ever had to milk a number cows by hand you will
appreciate what a marvellous device the Maasai milking stool actually was.

Having started out in my youth at age 15 working on a small dairy farm - I think it was
actually my first paid work - helping to hand-milk 40 cows per day. So yes, I still have
vivid recall, or perhaps I should say my back remembers.

Try to visualise a small wooden stool - around 12 inches high, a
bucket clasped between your thighs and your knees in the dirt as you
milk each cow.( BTW in Australia the stool was a 3 legged conventional
one and the floors were concrete.). You started work at 4 a.m. and
finished around 7 p.m.

To summarise, the initial inspiration for the Kneelsit chair was this simple little
Maasai milking stool. It had nothing whatsoever to do with the the backless knee stools which came out some time in the 70’s. As a matter of fact I did not know such animals existed, being one of the early dropouts from the rat race and having retreated to a hidden valleys on the South Coast, office buildings were not on my schedule of places to go.

Once I became fascinated - or “hooked” on the reason why this little stool had worked so
well to eliminate my back pain I began to do some really serious research. This
took me into the areas of physiology, anatomy, psychology, physiological psychology
and then neurology and neuroanatomy.

I believe that the answer to the improvement in people’s assessment of their comfort
level and improved posture is very closely related to the changes in their vestibular
apparatus and it’s stimulation by regular movement which over time will be building
new neural pathways to the motor coordination centres of the brain. What I have referred
to on my website as improving their overall
proprioceptive sense.

So forget the Scandinavians and thank the Maasai!

THE TREE’S JOURNEY

Once upon a time a young tree started on a journey. This was in the ancient times before trees were all settled in one place. He did not know the reason for his journey but felt a restlessness within. As he travelled on he met with many adventures and many strange creatures.
Each day he greeted the sun with joy and spoke to it, saying “Are you the end of my journey?” But the sun answered and said: “No, you are your own journey’s end”. The little tree could not understand this, but took the warmth of the sun into himself and hung the saying among his branches.

Sometimes the sun was clouded and the winds blew cruel and cold. The little tree bent with the wind and shuddered and many of his leaves were torn off and scattered. He spoke to the wind and said “Where do you come from and why do you torment me so?” The wind answered and said~ “I come from everywhere and blow where I will; those who cannot stand against me will fall and die, or if they do not die they will be twisted and bent”. Again the little tree did not understand but hung this message among his branches next to the message from the sun.

At times on its journey the sun beat down fiercely and the wind blew, so the little tree grew very tired and rested for a time. Then clouds gathered fromthe four corners of the sky and sent down rain which refreshed the little tree. As he drank in the life-giving water he asked the rain “Are you the end of my journey?” The rain replied “No, but we become part of you and you become part of us”. Again the little tree did not understand but put this message among his branches with the others.

Finally the tree came to a beautiful valley with a sparkling stream winding through green hills.. Everywhere around were other trees, mostly taller and older than himself, only they were not moving around but standing still.
“Come join us” they cried, “and grow with us”. So the little tree found a place among them and put down his roots into the rich, warm earth, lifted his branches towards the sun, laughed at the wind and greeted the rain with joy.

Each day as he grew with the others in the.beautiful forest he took out the messages from the sun, the wind and the rain and looked at them together with the message he received from his roots in the rich, warm earth.

He still did not fully understand these messages, but he was content in himself as he grew steadily closer to the sky.

Note:- If you wish to make any comment on any part of my blog then
please do so through the contact us form on my website I will add it after checking.

There was a most interesting segment about balance shown recently on the ABC’s - ‘Catalyst’ - a weekly TV program dealing with science and medicine. The presenter was showing old film from around 2 years ago and more recent clips from over the past 6 months.

The subject was motor neuron disease and the disastrous effects it has on the body’s ability to move in any coordinated manner. Similar difficulties are very often suffered by people with Parkinson’s Disease. A radical approach towards treating the effects of Parkinson’s was developed some years ago which entailed surgeons drilling through the top of the patient’s skull and inserting an extremely fine wire into that part of the brain which controls motor coordination. By attaching the wire to an electrical controller similar to a pacemaker electrical
signals regularly stimulated this part of the brain so enabling the sufferer to be virtually free of the unfortunate effects. As a result they found they could walk and move in a normal manner.

Some several decades ago Neuroanatomist D.L. Clark from Stanford University engaged in research into the effects of movement (specifically vestibular stimulation) on the development of balance and motor skills in children.Working both with normal children and others affected either by Down’s Syndrome or cerebral palsy he split the whole group at random giving the first group of children one hour a day’s regular stimulation over a period of three months. The second group acted as a control. While this stimulation was not electrical but physical the results were quite similar.

Tests on balance and motor skill co-ordination were carried out at the beginning and then on completion of the trial. Scores of the children subject to stimulation increased by more than 20% compared to the control group. What was even more gratifying, however, was the discovery that the rate of improvement among the handicapped children was almost equal to that of the normal children. (1)

Regular stimulation of the vestibular apparatus also assists in maintaining alertness , as well as influencing certain learning centres of the brain. Regular back and forth movement such as rocking in a rocking chair has the effect of actually increasing our level of alertness. This was dramatically illustrated back in 1989 when a woman in England stayed awake eight days and seven hours by rocking in a rocking chair to claim a record in the Guiness Book of World Records ( i.e. stimulating her “alerting mechanism”).

The gentle back and forth movement of your body which you initiate when using a rocking chair, or which occurs naturally when using a chair such as the Kneelsit, stimulates the tiny cilia lining the tubes of your vestibular system (balance mechanism of the inner ear) so helping to keep you alert. When a person is falling asleep in a chair and leans too far in one direction their “alerting mechanism” will tend to jerk them awake.

One of the major functions of the vestibular system is “to promote general alertness and attention as well as assist in determining how sensitive one will be to any given stimulus.”

(Ayres, 1972, p.41).Sensory Integration and Learning Disorders. Los Angles: Western Psychological Services.