few minutes before
you put on your clothes, and then again at night to rest the tired parts
and exercise the parts that have not been used, so you can even things
up.

=The Right Position=

First of all try to stand in the right position.

[Illustration]

Stand with the feet side by side, a few inches apart and pointed
straight ahead. Many people think you should turn out your toes because
they think it looks better. This is not natural. If you stand on a step
with one foot even with the edge, and let the other foot hang over the
step below, it will hang parallel with the foot you are standing on.
That is the way it is meant to go, and people who turn out their toes do
so much walking sideways that they have to travel much farther than if
they kept their feet pointed in the direction they want to go.

[Illustration]

Then your legs should come up straight from your ankles; don't stand
either on your heels or your toes, but right over the highest part of
the arch, which is the strongest part, and best fitted to bear your
weight when you are standing still, and brings your hips up to just the
right place to hold your body.

* * * * *

In the lower part of your body are some big heavy bones shaped somewhat
like a bowl. This bowl is balanced on the top of your legs, and holds
most of your organs. If this bowl is balanced just right, the organs
remain in place, the way they are meant to be, but if it is not balanced
right, the contents are tipped so that they would come tumbling out if
the muscles intended for other work did not hold them in. This is hard
on these muscles which have their own work to do, and if they are used
to hold up things that should keep their own balance, sooner or later
they give way, and there is a sad accident, or a general slump. Then
instead of saying, "That foolish person always stood in the wrong
position and of course her insides got out of place," we say, "Poor dear
so-and-so has given out from overwork and has acute indigestion, or a
'floating kidney,' or 'a bad liver.' How could it have happened?"

If your underpinning is all right it is not difficult to be straight
above.

Let your shoulders hang easily in a straight line under your ears, in
the position they will naturally take if from side stretch (fig. 3) the
arms drop easily to the side. _Don't arch your chest and throw your
shoulders back!_ This is not a slump and does not mean to let your