Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The popular culture of fitness today is based on the idea that developed muscles are a requirement of fitness. However, muscles that have been developed in this way are storehouses of contracted tension, making it difficult for them to lengthen and relax. #2 The modern-day confusion about what constitutes authentic strength and natural, easy flexibility is at the root of most of the chronic pain experienced by millions of people every day. In fact, exercise can reinforce and embed unhelpful patterns of movement, which can cause pain. #3 The definition of fitness is possessing a quality of strength and overall health. However, for many people today, fitness has become more about how they look than how they feel. This is a cultural standard that has nothing to do with what is natural to our species’ design. #4 The alignment of the skeleton dictates whether muscles will work in a way that is natural, efficient, and, ultimately, pain-free or in a way that is prone to injury and pain. It is not one’s level of activity that determines whether one will experience back pain but, rather, the position of the bones in relationship to each other.

Restoring healthy posture from childhood for relief from chronic pain, easy flexibility, and enduring strength and vitality well into old age • Offers 12 physical exercises to become mindful of your posture and discover pain-free alignment of your pelvis, rib cage, shoulders, neck, and back • Provides simple yet detailed instructions on how to sit, stand, walk, bend, get up from a chair, sit to meditate, sleep, and practice yoga with proper alignment • Includes detailed diagrams and posture photographs from around the world Our bones are the framework of support for our bodies, much like the wall studs and beams of a house. Yet the alignment of the skeleton along the vertical axis of gravity is largely overlooked today, even by fitness experts and yoga teachers. In a culture of cocked hips, sauntering models, and slouching TV watchers, where “chin up, shoulders back, stomach in” is believed to be good posture, we have forgotten what healthy alignment looks and feels like--leading to chronic neck, shoulder, and back pain for millions. Sharing photographs from around the world of “gurus” of natural posture and authentic strength, such as women in their 80s who easily carry heavy loads on their heads and toddlers learning to walk, Kathleen Porter shows what natural skeletal alignment truly looks like. With insights based on the fundamental laws of physics and detailed diagrams, she guides you through an understanding of the body’s naturally pain-free design. She explains that when the body is aligned as nature intended, your weight is supported by your bones rather than your muscles, allowing a blissful release from chronic muscular tension--which you may not even be aware you had. She offers 12 physical exercises to become mindful of your posture and discover healthy alignment of your pelvis, rib cage, shoulders, neck, and your body as a whole. Providing easy-to-follow instructions for mindful alignment during the most ordinary daily activities, even sleeping, as well as a chapter on practicing yoga safely, Porter shows how returning to our forgotten alignment from childhood can offer relief from chronic pain and tension and can provide easy flexibility, enduring strength, and vitality well into old age.

Ageless Spine, Lasting Health clearly illustrates just how the body is designed to really work and what true fitness and graceful aging can look like when you simply sit, stand, bend, walk, lift, reach and even sleep in a natural way. Genuine, natural strength is not about 'developed' muscles, as almost all of us have come to believe, but is a natural interplay between elastic muscles and aligned bones. It's more about 'working in' rather than 'working out, ' and this book will show you how.

A manual for parents, teachers, and kids to restore their natural alignment • Explores the principles of natural alignment in accessible ways to share with children • Details simple and fun exercises--for kids and adults alike--that “remind” the body of its natural patterns and movements • Explains how innate movements and natural alignment play an essential role in the development of a fully functioning body and nervous system Babies and toddlers develop naturally healthy alignment by moving in instinctive ways. Their posture is easy and relaxed, founded on correct pelvic positioning and deep core muscles to hold their bodies upright. Yet, as evidenced by the slouching epidemic seen in school-age children, most kids lose this natural alignment early in life, often due to an overreliance on strollers, baby seats, and bucket-style carriers during infancy and the reluctance to put babies on their bellies because of widespread fear of SIDS. In this richly illustrated manual for parents, teachers, and kids themselves, movement educator and researcher Kathleen Porter explains how to relearn natural alignment with a simple movement routine that “reminds” the body of its natural patterns. Detailing the principles of natural alignment in accessible ways to share with children, she also explores research on the importance of “tummy time” and how the movement patterns present at birth act as an engine that activates neural pathways to key areas of the brain. In this way, movement plays an essential role in the development of a fully functioning nervous system, coordinated muscle tone, and a strong, internal core that stabilizes the spine and prepares the baby for the soon-to-be-acquired upright position. The author explains how many children who struggle with a growing number of neurodevelopmental challenges, including autism, learning disabilities, and ADHD, also exhibit poor muscle tone, lack of core development, and difficulties with balance and coordination. With a multitude of easy-to-follow principles and exercises--far more fun and effective than the futile mantra of “sit up straight”--Kathleen Porter provides a detailed road map for parents, teachers, and health professionals to learn how to guide children back to their natural posture by inhabiting their bodies mindfully for a lifetime of easy movement, strength, and energetic vitality--the hallmarks of enduring good health.

Abortion has remained one of the most volatile and polarizing issues in the United States for over four decades. Americans are more divided today than ever over abortion, and this debate colors the political, economic, and social dynamics of the country. This book provides a balanced, clear-eyed overview of the abortion debate, including the perspectives of both the pro-life and pro-choice movements. It covers the history of the debate from colonial times to the present, the mobilization of mass movements around the issue, the ways it is understood by ordinary Americans, the impact it has had on US political development, and the differences between the abortion conflict in the US and the rest of the world. Throughout these discussions, Ziad Munson demonstrates how the meaning of abortion has shifted to reflect the changing anxieties and cultural divides which it has come to represent. Abortion Politics is an invaluable companion for exploring the abortion issue and what it has to say about American society, as well as the dramatic changes in public understanding of women’s rights, medicine, religion, and partisanship.

Natural posture for a pain-free back. Pain-relief, vitality, physical ease, and strength have less to do with exercise than with how you carry yourself in everything you do. This insight is based on over 40 years of research by French yoga teacher Nöelle Perez-Christiaens, whose quest for pain relief took her to cultures where back and joint pain were practically unknown. Thea Sawyer describes the technique Perez-Christiaens created and how it is taught in the US under the name of Balance. This book shows you how to: Go about your daily activities with ease and without tension Relieve chronic pain without medication or time-consuming exercise Walk without tiring Improve circulation while you sleep Prevent injury Testimonials "As a Physical Therapist and chiropractor I can highly recommend these teachings. This approach frees the body to function according to its original design." Petra Eggert, PT, DC "I came to Balance with the perspective of a yoga teacher, and what I learned turned my yoga practice and teaching upside down." Janet Wong, Yoga Teacher "By the time I was introduced to Aplomb, I had spent over 20 years trying nearlyevery traditional and alternative treatment for widespread chronic pain." Pamela Rief, Director of Biomechanics Education

Alliance politics is a regular headline grabber. When a possible military crisis involving Russia, North Korea, or China rears its head, leaders and citizens alike raise concerns over the willingness of US allies to stand together. As rival powers have tightened their security cooperation, the United States has stepped up demands that its allies increase their defense spending and contribute more to military operations in the Middle East and elsewhere. The prospect of former President Donald Trump unilaterally ending alliances alarmed longstanding partners, even as NATO was welcoming new members into its ranks. Military Alliances in the Twenty-First Century is the first book to explore fully the politics that shape these security arrangements – from their initial formation through the various challenges that test them and, sometimes, lead to their demise. Across six thematic chapters, Alexander Lanoszka challenges conventional wisdom that has dominated our understanding of how military alliances have operated historically and into the present. Although military alliances today may seem uniquely hobbled by their internal difficulties, Lanoszka argues that they are in fact, by their very nature, prone to dysfunction.