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Exercises to Improve Posture

If you have been accused, by the “well meaning” people in your life, of having a bad posture then in all probability you do have a wrong posture – what are well meaning people around for but to give you a head ups every time you slouch (pun intended). It makes sense to heed to your posture because it conveys a big impression about your personality.

People who have a bad posture usually come across as either being tired or lazy, or under-confident. A good posture conveys confidence and alacrity.

So what exactly is a good posture?

Knowing is half the battle as they say. So it’s important to understand what a good posture really entails, and it’s not what most people think. A good posture does not mean that you walk around like you just got deported from the Marines – shoulders uptight, spine upright and head held uncomfortably high as if someone had stamped on your foot, that’s not what good posture is, that’s what we call “standing in attention”.

A good posture is all about balance and natural ease. When you are standing or sitting in a good posture it does not look, or feel, unnatural to you, but it gives you a sense of steadiness and balance.

Achieving a good posture

Here are the simple guidelines to being in a good posture.

Keep your chin parallel to the ground – It’s so simple isn’t it? But if you will notice people who have bad posture, you will see that their chin is always at angle, either an obtuse angle or an acute angle. When your chin is parallel to the ground it feels comfortable and creates a sense of relaxation almost instantly (try it now).

Allow your spine to rest in a natural S – A good posture is not about straightening your spine, we humans naturally have a double curved spine (it looks like an slight S). You acquire a bad posture when you slump your spine too much, making the top part of the S bent (a hunch back has a highly bend top curve). So all you need to do is stop slumping so much so that you can come back to the relaxed position of the natural curve – the best way to achieve this is to bring your shoulders in alignment with your hips (not in an uncomfortable manner but in a relaxed manner).

Keep your head square above your shoulders – This might take some practice for many who have habituated themselves to slouching, but it’s worth it. All you need to do is keep reminding yourself to keep your chin parallel to the ground and keep your head square about the shoulders (like a box (head) sitting on a table (shoulder)). Improving your posture has a lot to do with the way you hold your head and shoulders.

Don’t tilt your lower back – The problem with a sedentary lifestyle is that we are sitting, in bad positions, so often that we learn bad habits for our waist position. You will see many people tilting their lower back as they stand, putting their weight on one foot while doing so – if you could look at yourself in the mirror, while standing this way, you will never do it again (it just looks real bad). So keep your lower back straight and in alignment with your knees so that your body weight is balanced between your feet.

Stand with your feet separated at shoulder length – When you consciously spread your feet to the shoulder length you will notice that you gain a comfortable balance while standing, this is because the body weight is now equally spread between the feet. When you stand with your feet close together you end up looking awkward without you releasing it.

The same guidelines hold true while sitting, just be sure to keep your feet flat on the ground, keep your eyes at level with your computer or just keep your chin parallel the ground. To get a chair with good lumbar support can be of great help in retaining a good posture while sitting.

The best exercise to improve your posture is to spend 10 mins everyday in front of a mirror while keeping the body in alignment as explained above. When you do this practice everyday for close to 30 days, it will get ingrained in your mind and you will have no problems retaining this posture even when you not consciously trying.

About the Author: Article by Outofstress.com staff author. Submit a free article by registering at Outofstress.com.