Improving Your Posture

good posture is part of good looks self assurance good health but you can't have good posture If You Don't Know What It Is Well balance is the key when you're standing the best body balance is when the feet and ankles knees pelvis chest shoulders and head fall within a straight imaginary line Let's Do It All Over Again slower we'll start at the knees and work up for good natural standing posture your legs are relaxed at the knees not stiff or bowed backward you've got it right legs relaxed next knees straight like the knees the pelvis is almost straight it's easy to do by tightening the abdominal muscles it keeps the stomach flat and pelvis comfortably positioned to find the correct tilt for your pelvis stand with your back to a wall just touching it with your buttocks and shoulder blades feel the position of your pelvis that's how it should be when you're standing and walking for good standing balance your chest is held high chest held high right your shoulders are held back with your arms hanging naturally and comfortably if your shoulders are back too far it'll give you a strain tense look right you've got it just relax don't relax too much try to keep your should shoulders level that's it shoulders up head up your body is now properly balanced your spine is also important to good posture as you learn to stand and walk your spinal column took on gentle curves that provided for shock absorption poor body posture produces excessive curves this can spoil the balance of your body muscles which work in teams to hold body parts in line by Standing Tall you increase the distance from one end of the spine to the other making the curves of your spine smaller one common type of bad posture is the sway back or excessive forward pelvic tilt the pelvis should be held with the abdomen and back muscles in Balance not like this you can help correct sway back with a simple exercise stretching and twisting help strengthen the abdominal muscles keep your knees bent and bring your back part way into a sitting position and since body muscles work in teams stretch those shortened back muscles that come with sway back this this is just one way to stretch those shortened back muscles another common posture problem is the backward pelvic tilt the slouch with a slouch the muscles of the back and abdomen are stretched and become weak the stomach protrudes when you slump forward your digestive system is crowded there's pressure on the blood vessels in the chest and abdomen here's a good simple exercise that aligns the pelvis by strengthening both the abdomen and back muscles for this exercise to do any good the back needs to be flat against the floor because a sloucher body is off balance round shoulders usually develop an easy exercise that helps correct cor round shoulders is lying on your back with your arms like this press your hands and head back against the floor that's it keep your abdomen firm and raise your shoulders by doing many different kinds of exercises your body becomes stronger and more flexible and that helps improve your posture now what about your feet each has two curves or arches which help support the body the longitudinal Arch runs from the heel to the toe if it's weakened it causes flat feet the transverse Arch is across the ball of each foot if these arches fail to carry your body weight properly you'll know it your feet will hurt both arches of the foot are rounded upward they're like Springs and shock absorbers to keep your feet in shape there are many good exercises you can do one simple exercise is done with a towel try to pull it towards you by curling your toes in and out use all your toes make the little one work too keep the toes curling Inward and downward the best foot exercise is the practice of walking correctly all the time when you're walking you're involved in what's called body Dynamics as you walk the body weight should fall first on the heel then the weight is put on the outside of the foot and travels across the ball of the foot to the big toe if you walk with your feet parallel you look better and not get as tired as walking toe in or toe out when you stand on one foot you put your weight on the outside of that foot you also grip with your toes that's how your feet should be when you're walking but how do you know if your walking posture needs improving a simple test to check your walking Dynamics is to put an x on the wall at the level of your eyes then go to the back of the room walk toward the X keeping your eyes straight ahead does The X bob up and down slightly it will a little even if you have excellent walking posture but if the X looks something like this you need to develop a smoother better balanced walk while walking keep relaxed the length of your step should be comfortable if your steps are normally quick ones it'll Tire you to walk too slowly to help your posture when you carry things you shouldn't always favor one arm over the other using both arms equally helps keep your posture balanced sitting is just like standing from the hips up your stomach is in chest is high head is high just like standing when sitting your hips are most comfortable when they're well back on the seat from your hips your body should incline forward not be rounded at your back good posture is really simple but any real Improvement depends on your own daily practice if you stay aware of your posture every day and really think about it it'll improve and by the time it improves you won't have to think about it at [Music] all