You've spent a long day at the office. Eight or more hours hunched over your computer only to find yourself stuck in traffic on the commute home. Here you are, hunched over again, only this time over your steering wheel as you navigate the craziness to get yourself home safely. You pull in the driveway. Home at last! You grab something quick to eat and settle in on the couch with your iPad or laptop to catch up on the latest social media, news, or sports. And once again, you're hunched over.
C'mon, admit it, we've all been there and all of this hunching takes a toll on our posture. Have you even thought about your posture lately? Mom always told us to stand up straight, but other than that, as an adult have you even given it a thought?
Let's start with the basics of "what exactly is correct posture?" Correct posture can be defined as your body being aligned with your back straight, shoulders squared and relaxed, chin up, chest out, stomach in. Whew... that's a lot to think about! No wonder we don't give it more thought.
Correct posture has many health benefits including
~reduction in back pain
~ opens your airways to allow you to breathe better
~improves memory and brain function
~improves mood
~reduces stress
~makes you more productive
If the list above doesn't sell you on correcting your posture, this is sure to get you: correct posture can make you appear taller, slimmer, and more confident!
Sign me up! How do I improve my posture? One word: YOGA
An appropriate and consistent yoga practice brings awareness to your body. You learn to be awake in the present moment and you will simply be able to pay attention to your body much better.
Yoga strengthens your core, which is the very center that holds you up. When we think about our core we tend to think only about our abs, but abs are just a piece of our core. Our core muscles also consist of the pelvic floor, obliques, erector spinae, diaphragm, latissimus dorsi, and trapezius. All of these muscles make up our core, and yoga strengthens each and every one of them!
Yoga also balances your body. We all tend to favor one side over the other, which creates imbalance by over-use. When you do yoga postures (called asanas), the body tends to adjust to for balance on both sides.
Let's face it, we all can't quit out jobs or eliminate our commutes or even give up the iPad (although we should consider reducing its use), but we can add a little bit of yoga to our lives. Yoga will help to improve your posture and take you from hunching to h
ealthy!
Namaste'
~Lisa