The Incredible Work [and benefits] of Improving Posture
The last time a doctor looked at my posture was when I was 8 and was diagnosed with minor scoliosis, caused by growing too fast. It was not in the US.
Every year, most of us dutifully go to our annual well visit, allowing our physicians to tick off boxes related to weight, blood pressure, sleep and moods. The entire topic of how one is holding and carrying its skeleton is not included. Having even minor postural misalignments can result in chronic pain, increased risk of falls and injury, and a whole host of compensatory conditions, such as forward head posture and TMJ. By correcting our posture, and doing the work of keeping it aligned, we can achieve very real improvements in how we feel, how we look, and how the other systems of the body - the digestive, nervous and endocrine, to name a few - function.
Let me illustrate this using just my own body’s experience. I grew up in a very cold climate, as an insecure and too-tall kid. This caused me to slouch and cross my arms. Aside from the occasional index-finger poke from my mom, or that scoliosis adventure, the only “help” I received around posture correction was reminders that slouching was not attractive. The idea that one should just stop slouching is not unlike thinking that one should just lose weight. Both quandaries were built habitually and over time, shaped by a number of environmental and familial factors. To imply that one should “just fix it” with no knowledge or tools only builds the surrounding insecurity. Fast forward to my early 20’s. After a car accident, my neck seized up, causing years of pain and resulting in teeth grinding and TMJ. I started practicing yoga and got some relief, but was ultimately practicing with the incorrect posture, which caused me to hate downward dogs because I was straining the neck and shoulders and underutilizing the abdominals, pecs and arms. When I had my first child at 25, the weakening of my core muscles caused significant chronic lower back pain.
I was always a movement person. I loved exercising and was able to find some partial relief through pilates, walking and other exercise. I also had the benefit of youth. I continued to practice yoga, sporadically at times, more regular at others. And yet… it took me the two years post teacher training to get really honest with myself about what correct alignment looked like.
In the simplest terms, correct alignment of the skeleton is the ability to have your joints line up vertically in a single line, and to be able to stand, sit and walk while maintaining that balance. When the joints are stacked like this, there is a natural opening to the chest, which optimizes the vagus nerve and eases physical anxiety. There is also no need for the shoulders to be raised toward the ears, and for the neck to be tense, so when the body is aligned, the shoulders drop and the shoulder blades gently pull toward one another. The waist lifts to support.
When we do not have the balance of the joints being stacked, the body has to compensate through other means. The shoulder / neck activation is one example, another is a posterior pelvic tilt, where the back of the pelvis drops down and the front lifts up, causing a tucked-under appearance. Whatever posture we carry day in and day out is the one that develops the muscles around it. This means that every walk, sit, run and asana practice in which you do not correct imbalance, gets more and more settled and imprinted into your body. Eventually, one can reach a state where change becomes very difficult. I’ve often wondered if I owe my short waist to my lifelong posture wounds, and the emergence of my waist after many years of practice seems to point to “yes” on that one.
This explains why it took me much time and discomfort, and why it continues to be something I must pay attention to. It took me the first half of my life to build and reinforce this posture. It was out of balance from childhood. Being fit and active throughout life has helped it not worsen too badly. Stress and two pregnancies have at times made it worse. Fast forward to now. I have the most valuable things as a result of my practice and my work as a teacher: I have undeniable awareness of my body, and the bodies of the students I teach. I can’t unsee it. I also have the experience of knowing how many chronic, painful issues resolve by themselves as a result of posture work.
In yoga, we talk about alignment and posture all the time. Whether it is working toward a balanced seated posture for meditation or breath work; or within an asana pose, the correct posture uses balance to ease the muscular work of holding a position or pose. When I was a newer student, I found this mildly annoying. Couldn’t we just flow and breathe? Over time, however, I came to see that flowing with an imbalanced posture is like riding an amazing road bike on a gorgeous course, but having your seat too high and handlebars too low. You will hurt after. And when you hurt, getting back on the mat is a lot tougher.
I recently started to discuss posture on my Instagram (@she_who_oms), with real examples, and I invite you to explore and share what is resonating with you:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdHPOuNz2YZ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&stkn=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdHYnsvJjEq/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&stkn=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
My main message is that it is highly possible to improve a host of body things for yourself through posture improvement, but that having awareness and expecting that it will be felt, it will cause temporary soreness, it will feel like work… until it doesn’t.