Since our early childhood, we are taught to sit straight and maintain our proper posture. Surely, at a very young age, we are commonly ignorant of the importance of such conduct. However, as we grow older, we manage to realize the effects proper posture has on our health. Alternatively, some less fortunate individuals realize the negative effects improper posture has on their adulthood.
Importance of Good Posture
Quite simply, proper posture prevents health complications which can take place in the future. Taking into consideration that your body is closely connected to your mind, taking proper care of your posture will have a positive effect on your everyday mood and attitude, making you more relaxed and mentally stable.
In order to prove the power of posture, try something simple as standing up with your feet side-by-side, keeping your shoulders mildly slumped. Then, ask someone to push you gently. You are likely to experience a lack of balance upon barely being pushed.
After witnessing this, try assuming the same position, with the exception of putting your whole weight on the balls of your feet, letting your heels touch the floor, but only barely and pushing your chest out a bit, keeping your head straight, looking in front of you. If the same push is applied this time, the chances of you losing your balance are likely to be minimal. This is so because this position is your natural one, being the correct posture of a human being, allowing him/her to have a complete control over his/her body.
Therefore, we do not practice posture because we desire to look more attractive or to show our torso musculature. Rather, we pay attention to our posture because we care about our health and desire to feel good at all times.
Exercise for Good Posture
In order to test your natural stance you are advised to touch your body, just bellow the collar bone and press this area towards the spine. Then, touch your lower back and move the area closer towards the middle of your body. Next, lift up your ankles and point your wrists directly towards the shoulders.
Since you cannot do this properly without someone's assistance, ask your friend to check your stance by touching the above mentioned parts of the body, making sure that they are perfectly aligned. If some additional pushing is necessary, do not resist the force you feel. Rather, move your body into the desirable position.
One of the best possible postures that human beings can assume is called Seiza. Sitting in seiza can result in pleasant feelings and decrease of frustrations, promoting nothing but one's well-being and health.
Maintaining seiza may not be easy at first. Yet, through exercising and trying your best to manage it, you can reap all the benefits of this excellent body posture exercise.
In order to perform seiza, you should kneel on the floor, with your knees about three fists apart. Once you sit like this, make sure that you are making contact between your bottom and your heels. However, do not rest on your heels, just maintain a close contact, Flexing your thigh muscles a little bit.
Then, after having assumed this posture, rest your palms on your thighs, near your pelvic area and sit up straight, making sure that your back forms a mild curve in its lower parts. Finally, push the sternum out a little bit and mildly tuck your chin in.
Bear in mind that seiza may feel like an unpleasant, even painful posture at the beginning of your regular exercise sessions. However, once you get the hang of it, you will feel major improvements in your well-being after each and every session, as well as the time you spend between them.
Of course, a friend of yours can test you, checking whether your seiza posture is adequate. When you assume the position, your assistant should place both of his/her hands on your chest, at the area right below the collar bone and press it forward and a bit downward at the same time.
Then, he/she should press your lower back a bit, only with a single hand, moving the area up a bit. Subsequently, the area under your knees will require a gentle lift and so will your wrists. Then, once you become capable of withstanding and managing seiza on your own, you can enjoy it during times of relaxation, when you have nothing movement-related to do.
Apart from enjoying seiza as a postural exercise, you can also practice cross-legged sitting, making sure that you are looking in front of you, keeping the back as straight as possible, with a minor bend at the lower parts of it.
All in all, the correct posture is not hard to be maintained. All you need to bear in mind are some of the rules of posture which decrease the pressure your body places on itself. Remember, keep your back straight, your hips pushed a bit to the front, your shoulders well-aligned and your chin up, balancing your body on the balls of your feet rather than on the heels.
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