One of the first things I tend to notice about people when I first meet them is their posture. Unusual perhaps, as many people might notice a person’s face or what they’re wearing, but I tend to get a snapshot impression of how they hold themselves physically.
Are their shoulders rounded to the front of their body? Is their head jutting forward?
Now, I know it sounds like something your mother would say to you as you were growing up…”sit up straight”, but she had a point. As we age, we need to make more conscious choices around our posture. Checking in a bit more frequently with how our skeleton is lined up can have long lasting results, just as not checking in can find us in a slumped over position well before our time.
I believe improving our posture depends on a few things:
1. Awareness
2. Strength in the muscles that create beneficial alignment
3. Flexibility, or range of motion in the joints that contribute
4. Awareness…oh yes…I said that one already, but this one’s the first step.
I teach postural awareness on a regular basis and still need to remind myself to engage better posture. When our body is held in a biomechanically disadvantageous position (that’s a mouthful), we begin to create uneven stresses across the muscles and joints. If these imbalances are repeated over days, weeks, months and years, we begin to develop a less than ideal postural line which can lead to pain.
Try this to give yourself a postural check-up:
~Stand with your heels against the wall, feet evenly spaced about hip width apart, middle toes pointing forward.
~Roll your femurs (thigh bones) slightly in toward each other and see if you can slip your hand in the natural low-back curve between you and the wall behind you.
~Feel your shoulder blades against the wall.
~Place the back of your head against the wall without lifting your chin (keep it parallel to the floor).
~Place the BACK of your hands against the wall. Now hold it.
~Notice what part of your body is working to hold this position, yet embed this feeling of openness into your cells.
~Allow your hands to relax, but keep your shoulder blades against the wall.
~Now…walk away, relaxed, but with the same awareness of the wall being behind you.
You can practice this anytime you find yourself standing in line, or whenever you need a postural reminder.
And remember to listen to your Mother when she says…”eat your veggies”.
