Today’s episode is about posture. Posture is so much more than how you stand. It is your presentation into the world. Our bodies contain everything – our energy, our emotions and our spirit. And the external frame, our posture, has an effect on all of those things.
A lot of people realize their posture is not great, but they don’t know what to do about it. So I want to give you some ways to check in with your posture throughout the day.
First of all, we need to find out what is your optimal posture. Optimal doesn’t mean perfect because there are variations, for example some people have scoliosis so that’s going to have an effect on their posture. But everyone can improve their posture in some way.
For optimal posture, your ankles, knees, hips, pelvis and spine are stacked really well. This means you’ll need less energy from your muscles and connective tissues to support you and you’re able to have variety in your movement patterns.
The Triple S (the sacrum, the scapula and the back of the skull) needs to virtually be in the same line as the primary curves of your spine. You can use a wall or the floor to try and find contact with all three of those points. Use a timer to remind yourself to check in on this if you’re standing or sitting during the day and if you’re not against the wall or the floor, use your hands for feedback.
Secondly, get up and walk around as frequently as possible. We sit for such long periods that it’s disastrous for our bodies. It’s much better if you had to sit for eight hours to sit for 20-25 minutes, get up and move around for five minutes then come back than it is to sit for eight hours and then get up and go to the gym for an hour and a half.
You can check your posture from the time you get up. You can brush your teeth while standing against a wall or doing a wall squat. For people who have lots of difficulty with their posture, you can do a bridge pose first thing. Make sure your glutes start to fire right away because they are going to be really helpful for keeping your pelvis in a neutral position throughout the day.
Resources:
- Check out: movementbylara.com
- Instagram: @lara.heimann
- Facebook: facebook.com/movementbylara
