February 13, 2022

Why There is No Such Thing as Perfect Posture

How straight your spine is doesn't determine how good you feel in your body.

Then what can you do to improve how you feel?

FREE! Create an Environment for Movement PDF that will help you turn your home into a sanctuary for movement and move your body more every day!

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Human beings aren’t stagnant

We breathe to survive and breathing is movement. Breathing requires muscular contraction in order to pull in air, and since we are constantly breathing, we are constantly moving, even if we appear to be completely still.

Oftentimes, when a new student comes to us wanting better posture, they will hold their breath for a split second while mimicking what they think good posture is - a very erect spine, stiff and lifted chest, shoulders pressed down.

Perfect posture expects you to take away your humanity, to stay perfectly still, to never change your emotion, and to be stiff.

Instead of giving yourself an unrealistic goal of a straight spine, find ways where you can breathe more fully instead. Honor your beautiful spinal curves, you’ll be much happier - I promise!

Confronting Body Tensions

So then what do you do when your back is tight and you constantly feel tension in your neck and shoulders?

It is common for people to think that most of the action of breathing is entirely happening in the front of the chest.

But you definitely don't want to skimp out on breathing into all the luscious lung volume available to you in the sides and back of your ribs. This is where more than half of your lung volume is.

In fact - every muscle that is attached to your ribs (which is a lot of muscles) assists in respiration!

Knowing this, you might be able to imagine how breathing more 3-dimensionally can help soothe achy muscles up and down your back and shoulders. Not to mention the immense benefits to your entire nervous system.

Try this quick breath exploration:

1. Lie down on your back, place one hand on your chest, and the other on your lower abdomen.

2. Take a couple of rounds of breath, only breathing up into the hand on your chest.

3. Then, take another couple of rounds of breath, only breathing up into the hand on your lower abdomen.

4. Now breathe into only your back so that no breath rises up into your hands and only breathe into your backspace.

If you like this, that's how we start class! Join us in our live Pilates for the People classes.

Watch 3 Ways to Improve Your Lung Capacity:

Next time you are worried about good posture, instead of stiffening up consider moving stagnant areas of your body.

Take frequent movement breaks every 25 minutes if you're seated (or standing in one place) for long periods of time. Some examples of movement snacks:

- gentle spinal twists

- any version of squats

- stretching your arms above your head

- generally stretching like a cat waking up from a nap

FREE! Create an Environment for Movement PDF that will help you turn your home into a sanctuary for movement in ways that work for you!