Initially, all of the exercises in Structural Alignment Articles should be practiced as relaxedly as possible.  This means that you only use active muscular strength to the degree that is required to maintain the alignment details at your current stage of development, without any sense of strain or discomfort.  Always remember that even mild feelings of pain are an indication that the exercise is being practiced incorrectly, too intensively, or for too long.  

As your practice progresses, you can add force to your stretches.  When this is done appropriately, it will be enjoyable, and will also be totally without strain or discomfort.  When more force is applied, there will be greater muscle tone that increases the extension of the body.  The structural details will remain the same, while there is a more active elongation of the spine, and a greater decompression of the joint spaces throughout the body.   

For example, during Backbend over Roll, the arms may be actively stretched upwards away from the torso, while the legs are actively extending down away from the torso. This will significantly increase the overall stretch. The Spinal Elongation Breath in any of the exercises may be practiced more strongly.  Even the conscious practice of the alignment principles described in Structurally Aligned Standing Posture can be practiced strongly as well, once the relaxed practice is well-learned by the body. 

A stronger practice of any of the exercises should only be investigated once the body has already been opened to some degree, and you are comfortable with the practice details while more relaxed.  If you develop the more active form of practice in any of the exercises, a particular practice session for that exercise may involve: first aligning the body in the exercise with relaxation, then smoothly adding more force, holding the stronger position for a time, then smoothly releasing the added force, until you are again in relaxed practice.  You might do this several times during a particular exercise depending on its duration.  

Slightly stronger practice can be held comfortably for longer than much stronger levels of practice; so as you increase the applied force, this will usually be intermittent, and not for the entire duration of practice of a particular exercise.  Be sure to add or release increased force smoothly during practice (and during all other body use as well).  Smooth application and release of force need not take more than a few seconds, but should not be sudden or abrupt.  Your body sense will clearly direct you as to appropriate timing for increasing and decreasing internally applied force.  

It is not necessary to develop the more active form of any of the exercises in order to derive tremendous benefit from their practice.  As with the whole system, the active form of practice is best learned from a competent teacher.   

FEET

Parallel along the lines of the second toes, if these lines were pointing straight

Toes separated by widening of the feet through the balls of the feet

Equal weight on 3 points of the foot: the ball of the large toe, the ball of the fourth and fifth toes, and the center of the heel

Toes relaxed and not clawed

The arch is lifted (the acicular bone can be felt as a primary center of this lift)

KNEES

Knees unlocked, as far as the kneecaps being even with the end of the large toe

The greater the flexion of the knees, the more the pelvis naturally tucks under

Strong, aligned buttocks and thighs result in less knee flexion being required to maintain pelvic alignment

THIGHS (when feet are pointed straight ahead)

The front of the thighs (quadriceps muscle) are lifting the kneecaps (in a relaxed standing posture, this is slight) - this lifting of the kneecaps increases with increasing exertion in the legs.

The backs of the thighs (hamstring muscle) are as relaxed as possible

There is balanced activity of the lateral and medial rotators (this includes buttocks and thigh musculature)

PELVIS & BUTTOCKS

The pelvis stretches down in back and in front equally, so that the pelvic basin is not tipping to the front or back

The pelvis widens out to the front, back and sides, instead of squeezing together

The buttocks are active (not flaccid), without excessive contraction, knitting together or anal contraction

The greater the strength needed in the lower body, the stronger the tone of the buttocks

ABDOMEN

The abdominal wall remains relaxed

LOWER RIBS

Lower ribs remain in, particularly during inhalation

This involves activity of the psoas muscles, and creates a feeling deep inside the upper abdomen of pulling in and up, just below the lower ribs

CHEST

Lifted and open (sternum up and forward), without contracting the pectoral muscles

This is a stretching up which begins with the head and neck

SPINE

Upwards elongation and decompression, which for most persons, results in a straightening effect

Slightly lengthening during inhalation, and shortening during exhalation

SHOULDERS

Relaxed down, and out to each side

For those persons with shoulders typically rolled forward, the shoulders will also roll back

For everyone, the shoulders are "squared off”, which can be imaged and felt as rolling the shoulders back and down without drawing them together.

NECK AND HEAD

The neck elongates, while the head is held as though gently pushed back from the upper lip, and lifted from the top of the head - this must, of course, be done without any strain or forcing

Occasionally imagine and feel that the cranial volume is increasing as the cranium opens like a flower to the front, back and sides along the suture lines – this encourages normal cranial respiratory motion

When normalized, the skull widens out to the sides, shortens from front to back, and increases in vertical height during inhalation, with the opposite occurring during exhalation – visualizing and feeling this also encourages healing of distortions in the rhythm

FACE AND EYES

Neck, throat, and face relaxed

Eyes soft / relaxed / smiling

Visual and auditory stimuli allowed to flow in, rather than being grasped for outwardly – this will increase peripheral vision and hearing

Tip of the tongue touching the palate, just behind the upper front teeth

Lips touching lightly, with the jaws slightly separated

The outer corners of the mouth have a very subtle sense of lifting, in an inner smile – this is the “neutral” or “idling” position for the mouth, when you are relaxed and the face is not expressing other emotions


DEVELOPED NATURAL BREATHING

During relaxed states, breathing involves primarily the abdomen and lower ribs

During states of stronger activity, breathing also includes the middle and upper rib cage

During relaxation and moderate activity, the lower abdomen will protrude slightly farther during inhalation than during exhalation – however, it is not appropriate during normal daily activity to contract the abdomen to increase the exhalation

During stronger activity, the lower abdomen may not expand during inhalation, as the focus of the breath is increasingly in the chest; likewise, the abdomen may contract during exhalation