How to Improve Your Posture
Just because you’re not on Dancing with the Stars does not mean you can get away with bad posture. I have to be honest and tell you that it’s very unattractive and worst of all it can cause headaches and back pain.
Some ways to fix your posture are as simple as paying attention to how you’re sitting at your computer desk and how you’re walking.
If you’re sitting, then you want to sit back in your chair so you don’t hunch. Need extra help? Use a lumbar pillow. Then when you're walking, stand up straight.
Stretch! I can’t say that enough. The lack of flexibility can cause muscles to be imbalanced and give you poor alignment.
You can find more tips for improving your posture here.
What do you think works best for improving bad posture?
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11 comments
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I try to maintain good posture at all times. However, when I get tired, sometimes I find that my shoulders have rolled forward and up in my ears. When that happens, I remember my ballet training. I pull my torso up, relax my shoulders down, pull my shoulders back, opening up my chest, and take a deep breath.
Another thing I notice when I get tired is that I start to carry my weight in my hips. I begin to sit in my hips as I walk. To correct that, I rely on another lesson I learned in ballet class. I imagine that a string is connected to my head, and is pulling me up through my spine, lifting my entire weight up and off my hips and legs. That physical correction gives me a lightness of step, which energizes me to move forward more. -
Very important, indeed! What’s influenced me most regarding this is my grandpa. When I was a child, and sprouting up faster than boys my age, as girls often do (although I’m not that tall now, 5’8”), he’d always tell me this story of my great-aunt in Madrid, Spain. She was always much taller than most of the people around her, as a child and still. So she started slouching and slooping over a lot, to make herself look shorter. Over time, the muscles in her back got used to that, and kept growing that way, so now her back is sort of permanently hunched over, and she can't correct it easily of course, even if she tried. Because I was tall for my age too, my grandpa always worried I would start slouching over like my tia, so it seemed like every time I saw him as a kid, he'd tell me, "Don't start walking bent over like Tia Paca! Always walk tall! Be proud of your height!" And I always did. Shoulders back, head up. And it's the best way to take in all the beauty of the world!
It is amazing how each part of ourselves is so connected to the other, as I’m sure you have a deep understanding of, being the dancer and artist you are. The body’s connection and influence on the mind and spirit so very real, and vice versa. When we walk tall, sit back, the body is in an expression of confidence, comfortable with itself, and open to the world. It is a wonderful way to take in life, like that. Thanks for talking about this Derek, I've never heard a man besides my grandpa talk about it before and it's very important and good to be conscious of. (And stretching! Yes! So important! When I was team captain for my track team, I always led long stretching sessions. It is such an important part of reaping the full rewards of exercise … creating those balanced connections and better circulating the blood flow = Our Energy!)
When I was in high school, I had a drama teacher that had us do this exercise once, a kind of homework assignment, I guess: He encouraged us to pay attention to the way people walk. He asked us to really spend a day paying good attention to all the different ways people move, the rhythm and pattern and cadence, you could say, of each person's step. He didn't tell us how we should walk, but that exercise of being conscious of the act of motion always stuck with me, and made me want to make my steps as beautiful and good as they could be. How does each of us move through life? How does the way we walk, or dance, or run or skip or saunter or whatever, affect us and change us? Because it does. I like thinking about it. I like that you like thinking about it too. Mysteries and the power of being. -
A good tip is always remembering to sit with your back straight and not slouch when you're sitting for long periods of time... I'm a terrible sloucher! -
Ballet class always helps my posture, especially with Kat Wildish in New York City. Whenever I took her hour and a half of class, she would emphasize good posture. I remember after having taken her class one time, and the next day, as I was walking down the steps at West 4th Street subway stop, I still held my posture as if I were in her class.
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My father was always correcting my posture growing up. I just try to be conscience of it and correct myself as often as possible. How does everyone else keep their good posture while working at a desk all day? Any ideas? -
My grandma used to make me walk with books on my head everyday after school since I was 4! I think it Definitely helped because when I started ballet & pageant training I always got compliments on my posture! Also, whenever I walk, one of my dance instructors taught me to imagine myself as a doll and there is someone holding a string from my head like a puppet, always keeping me upright :) -
Yoga!! Plus my dad use to tell me if I hunched over I would grow a hump on my back. I guess you could say it scared me straight -
Well it is your spine that tells you how to stand. I am envious of all who have straight ones, as mine is a bit bent. Yoga and constant awareness, is what is best for me. -
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Lose any extra weight you are carrying around and practice yoga to understand your body. Then when you walk and sit feel and engage your core muscles....after awhile it will come natural and you will have great posture and control......now where is that remote.....??
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Wearing high heels! You simply have to keep a great posture in order not to fall down, but I'm not sure if it's good for guys as well ;)
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