Why Yara Greyjoy is rocking fatigue posture

"Fatigue Posture" involves pushing your pelvis forward; you use less muscular energy by essentially hanging on your ligaments. Pretty awful for your bones and organs, and yet, if you look around, you'll see it everywhere.

That's because most folks know more about body language than posture. They have no clue that fatigue posture might cause constipation and osteoporosis, but they can read loud and clear the "I'm cool and I'm powerful" message.

"I'm cool."

"I'm powerful"

And there is it, in 6th season, episode 9 of Game of Thrones, Yara and Theon Grayjoy stand in front of Daenerys, beseeching her for support. Through most of the scene, Yara has her hands folded in front of her crotch, very low-power in terms of body language. But she's also in a pronounced fatigue posture! Seemingly contradictory but it speaks volumes about what's going on.

And as long as I'm this deep in geeky posture land, let's talk about Theon's posture. He's more stacked, in other words, neutral. And neutral, in the world of non-verbal messaging, sorta says nothing. Again, appropriate. We need this character to fade into the background a little. He is, however, hanging his head for most of the scene, which tells us something about his beaten-down character.

I'm fascinated by this stuff. I also wonder, were they directed to stand like this, or do we have such an innate understanding of body language that these skilled actors just knew what to do and struck these poses? I looked for other pictures of Yara and the actress who plays her. She doesn't normally stand like this. But in this scene, she has to be deferential while subtly exerting her power. And subtly sending messages that we can all read loud and clear is what body language is perfect for. It's just too bad about what it does to your low back...

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Winter Recess (A Diet Change Rebrand)

The beginning of the year, my husband and I do a "fast." For six weeks we take things out of our diet. Sugar and alcohol are always included and sometimes other things. The first year we did this, we were insanely ambitious: sugar, alcohol, dairy, most meat, all wheat, in fact anything that rhymed with "eat", particularly if it was brown, looked like the moon, or had been blanched. That's my memory at any rate, and no, it did not go well. (Lotsa cheats.) Subsequently, we've been more modest. And generally it has gone better. (I won't lie. There are still cheats.) At the end of this detox, sure, you go back to a retox. But each year (Is it ten years we've done it now?), you go back less. Your tastebuds actually change. You get more sensitive to sugar and stop wanting it so much. You start truly liking and desiring the things that are good for you. It's incredibly valuable. But it is a negation. We take things away. It's hard not to feel ...

The other head problem

Though not as common as Forward Head , let's talk about another postural deviation I'll call Chin Up Head. Here's a good example. By our cultural standards, she's gorgeous: that neck goes on for days! But in addition to her head being forward, her chin is lifted. End result: stunningly beautiful uh....compression of the neck vertebrae. The technical term is cervical extension and it usually isn't as extreme as the model above. Here are more subtle examples: It's a little hard to see but all these people have their heads lifted a few degrees off neutral. Held habitually for years, it can add up to neck problems or even chronic headaches. It can even affect your eyes. Chin Up Head is very frequently associated with Forward Head because of issues in the upper back and neck muscles. But there are two other important reasons people acquire this postural problem: Limitation in thoracic extension and overstretched tissue in the front of the neck. Huh? Limit...

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I found this at the Polish Mexican grocery store near me: it's rolled rye flakes. How could I pass that up? But, uh, what to do with it? So, at the blog Flavor the Moments, I found a delicious recipe for baked oatmeal and I altered it a little: Apple Blackberry Baked Rye and Oats Ingredients: 1 cup old fashioned oats 1/2 cup rolled rye flakes 1/2 cup steel cut oatmeal 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 2 1/4 cups milk 1 egg 1/3 cup pure maple syrup 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 1 1/2 cups fresh blackberries 2 Pink Lady apples peeled and chopped 1/4-1/3 cup sliced almonds Instructions Set the oven to 375 degrees. Grease an 8x8" glass baking dish. Scatter the apple chunks on the bottom of the prepared pan. Set aside. In a small bowl, stir together oats, rye flakes and cinnamon. Pour half of the oat mixture over the apples, then layer with half the blackberries, the remaining oats, and then the remaining blackberries. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, egg, maple syrup, and v...

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