Improve your posture

As children, many of us were frequently told that we did not have good posture, that we were slumped over and that to have good posture we needed to “stand up straight” or bring our “shoulders back.”

images.candycanes.postureAs if these are easy to do.

How do you feel when you are not standing or sitting as straight as you would like? What do you do to straighten yourself? What does it mean to have a good posture?

Your body posture says a lot about how you present yourself to others.  Think about how you appear to others if you look tall and confident compared to making yourself small and demure. How do you feel and view yourself when you are tall? How do you feel when you feel small and not at your best?   

Good posture is complex.

It is not just about how we hold our body in a stable position. Good posture is more than how straight we sit or stand or where we hold our shoulders. 

Another way to think about posture is that it is dynamic, reflecting how the body rests, arranges itself, and moves from one position to another, moment by moment, throughout the day.  When we can move freely from one situation and position to another with ease, we experience space and length rather than compression. With space we feel better about ourselves and look different to others.

Try this short sequence to explore how to reduce the slump. You will experience more length in your spine and will feel taller, and more open and spacious. You will improve your posture.

  • Stand on the floor, feet about hip width apart, knees softly bent.
  • Lengthen your left arm toward the ceiling as if someone was pulling you upward through your arm. Then release it. Look at your hand as you reach it toward the ceiling.
  • Repeat a few times, noticing:
    • How your head moves each time your arm lengthens
    • How the reaching arm connects with your ribs on the left
    • Your breathing as you lift and release your arm
    • What happens along the left side of your back and at your waist each time you lengthen your arm
    • What you feel in your feet and heels
  • Stop and pause for a few moments.
  • Lengthen your right arm to the ceiling, paying attention to the various connections on this side.
  • Stand and notice how tall and open you feel now and how your feet connect with the floor.

Improve Your Posture Workshop

Our next Improve Your Posture workshop is coming up soon. Join us to learn more about what you can do to improve your posture to be more upright and tall, you will feel better about yourself and will have less pain so you can enjoy your everyday activities with more comfort.

For more information and to register click here