The back is the physical correlate of the shadow of the psyche. There is a part of yourself that you cannot observe but to others is evident. In the psychological realm, the mirror is the other human being telling you things that are evident to them but unknowable by you. A primitive human would have known he had a birthmark only by the information relayed by his tribe. In the case of the body, one cannot observe the back with a simple mirror, so some effort is also necessary in capturing that which we cannot see.

The body stores memories, and embarrassing situations are experienced as a contraction of the chest into a protective position. A humiliated person will adopt a hunched posture, and when they challenge their bodies against their habit they will face the very memories that created that posture. It still sounds woo woo to me, but I cannot deny my personal experience when counteracting my own slouching. Particularly intense is the feeling of vulnerability when one brings out one’s own monsters.

Demons are emerge visually from your back and in your psyche. Only through continued efforts can you correct the (often unjust) humiliation you suffered to stand tall and proud. The tall and proud people will think you are one of them, one who has never been humiliated, until they see the monster and they become afraid. Let them face their own monsters.

The body is a tensegrity structure which becomes more rigid or relaxed according to circumstance, I do not yet understand the particulars of this structure, it is said that muscle chains run diagonally between the left and right sides of the body, I can feel it from experience as you do the dancer’s pose in yoga, a single string that stretches from opposite ends of the body.