Improve Your Posture With Yoga

No, a good posture is not just for the aesthetics. It surly affects the overall appearance, like whether clothes hang right on you. But it is only the tip of an iceberg. 

The physical body’s response to external pressure, inevitable ones such as gravity and aging, and unexpected ones such as blunt forces like falling, is largely decided by our posture.

While it does not exist a perfect posture that fits all, in different physical positions, standing, sitting or bending forward, there is a place where the body is designed to be in, so that it can take on external stresses more safely and effectively for the purpose of the action.

In this video I share 3 ways that yoga helps improve posture, from the inside out. 

3 Ways Yoga Improves Your Posture

📌Start Here: Posture Check-In

The nitty gritty of ideal postural form in other common body positions will be discussed in future posts. For the purpose of introduction, this post begins the conversation with the standing pose, also known as Tadasana in yoga. 

Your best standing posture can be found against a wall with these 4 touch points, detailed in this part of the video: 

4 Point Posture Check-In: See Where You Are And What To Work For

From here, you would be able to better understand which part(s) to work on and pay attention to in the exercise, physical trainings of your choice. 

📌 Benefits Of A “Good Posture”

In case you need a little more convincing on building and maintaining a good posture as much as possible, here are the benefits of having a good form, just to name a few major ones:

1. It Promotes Proper Airflow In and Out of the Body. 

This is arguably the number one reason to maintain a good posture – to breathe better. 

Our breath is the one and only aspect of our existence that is with us from the beginning to the end. From birth to the grave. It is literally the definition of life. 

Building and maintaining a proper posture is essentially living and breathing in an appropriate physicality, a cylinder-shaped upper body that is designed for each unique body to operate in.

So, when the upper body is lifted up straight, which generally means: 

• The shoulders squeezed to the back and slid downwards, 

• Rib cage gently closed, and 

• Lower belly tuck in

A good posture, which can be found in Tadasana, standing pose in yoga, is with the shoulders to the back, core softly engaged by tucking in towards the mid-line, and feet firmly press into the floor.

On the other hand, a closed off upper body is often seen in a hunched back; 

• The shoulders shrugging up and rounding in, 

• Core soft and disengaged, and 

• The low belly curling into the ribs.

A hunched back closes off the chest and curls in the belly, compressing the entire upper body container inwards and, thus, limiting the amount of space available for the breath.

A closed off, hunched in position can serve as a protection, an offense. We tend to crouch into this position under stress and/or experienceing negative emotions. 

But when it becomes a norm for the body, that’s where troubles begin. The chest and lungs have very limited space to expand with the breath, physically restricting the airflow in and out of the body. The breath becomes shorter, more shallow and in need for more rapid movements. Overtime this can make a cascade of negative reactions much easily triggered, physically and emotionally.

2. Ease up bodily discomfort.

Normally when viewed from the sides, the spine has an S shaped curve.  A proper posture helps maintain this organic form, which helps disburse evenly onto the body the gravitational force that is pulling us down.

When the design is not appropriately aligned, our body would deploy other mechanics to compensate for it. 

Take standing for example; a disengaged upper body leads to a C curve in the spine (viewed from the side) passing on its share of gravity load to the lower body. 

Tadasana, Standing Pose.

This creates a cylinder like open structure in the upper body, which allows air to flow in and out smoothly without obstruction. 

The hamstrings and quads would then be made to work extra hard and carry the entire body weight while lifting the upper body up. 

To make things worse, if the muscles are not properly trained and maintained, which is often the case if you don’t have a regular movement habit, it would intensify the wear and tear already on the knees, ankles and other joints. 

So, our body’s smart, compensating response oftentimes come at a cost. As parts of the body that’s supposed to work don’t, where other parts that’s not supposed to bear majority of the force do, the imbalance could easily cause tightness and discomfort.  

3. Confidence.

Imagine a body that is not in nagging pain all the time. Every breath is full and fresh. Doesn’t that seem nice! 

Again, it’s not about how it looks. A good posture that is rooted deep within the self plays into other aspects of the 8 limbs of yoga. 

Besides better body and breath awareness, the yoga asana practice helps manage, and, sometimes eliminate body discomfort.

The best part is then the head is freed up from discomfort and limitations to mind other, more productive matters in life. 

📌 Find Your Good Posture

Like many things in life, building and maintaining good posture is always a work in progress. That is why you can start at anytime. 

And you probably should. If you want to function better and well in daily living. 

👉 First, Improve Body Awareness

Body awareness is an important starting point to address many modern living issues. 

This is where yoga comes in. By connecting the breathe with body movement, you can build up body awareness on the mat while getting daily movements in.

👉 Drills That Build Better Posture

“The effort is the point,” said Andrew Humberman, a neuroscientists at Stanford University. So here’s the fun part.

In a nutshell, risking oversimplifying the complex structure that is the human body, here are 3 key reference points to start with when you seek out drills that help the body stand up tall and strong:

• Lower body: hamstrings and quad strength and flexibility

• Core: integrated core training for the front, back and sides

• Upper body: chest and shoulder opener 

Building towards boat pose is one of the best ways to train for a good posture. It incorporates all the necessary elements in lifting up the body against gravity, using gravity to our advantage.

If you would like to learn more about building a good posture with a yoga practice, join my email list to receive a 30 minute, themed yoga class in your inbox. This month we will flow through a sequence that works the mentioned parts, designed to build a good posture.

Every month a themed yoga class, under 30 minutes each, will be sent to your inbox for you to practice at home, anytime. Don’t miss out!

📌 Going Beyond Posture

Posture is much more than wearing clothes right and looking good. A good posture conveys confidence that is rooted in the self, and opens up the body, mind and spirit to possibilities. 

Most importantly, you are the one that put in the effort and time to build up a proper posture for yourself. 

Keep that in mind when you start seeing differences and impact on your body and overall well-being. It wouldn’t have been possible without your determination and actions towards it.  You made it happen by actively creating a better container for yourself to take on the stress of the world. That’s effort well spent!