Sit Up Straight!
When I was young, I heard those words hundreds of times. I was a bit long-limbed and gangly, at times awkward, not very sporty, a little shy. I was happy curled up with a book. I sometimes slumped.
My mother was a classical singer and performed publicly a great deal. She would admonish my sisters and me to sit up or stand up straight not only because she wanted us to look good, but also because she believed that optimal breathing and speaking were directly affected by the shape our spines. She was correct.
So we sucked in our guts and threw our shoulders back. (But not too far, because young ladies were not to show off their breasts… a bit of a conundrum there.)
Some very good things happened to me as I grew older. I became a musician myself and learned about breathing, I developed confidence and learned to love physical activity. And, at last, I found yoga.
Through my yoga practice, I learned that having supple joints, especially a supple spine, is at the heart of “good posture”. It’s also at the heart of good balance, fluid movement and agility – things we need every day all our lives.
But slouching and hunching, especially over a computer, are epidemic these days.
Here’s what slouchy posture, aka hunchback, or properly KYPHOSIS, looks like.
And here’s what actually happens if you start to slump regularly and permit your spine to spend too much time in a hunched curve.
- The shoulders curl forward.
- Therefore the chin drops.
- Therefore the gaze is cast down instead of out. We don’t see what is in front of us as we should.
- Therefore the chin juts forward and the back of the neck crunches into uneven extension, in order to compensate so that we can see ahead.
- As the shoulders and chin drop forward and down, the low back strains and even over-curves inward, working hard to keep us from tipping into a face plant. Our centre of gravity is shifting ahead of our feet.
- The chest muscles that are between the shoulders tighten and weaken.
- Therefore the diaphragm and related breathing muscles have less room to move.
- Because of 6 and 7 our breathing becomes shallow.
- Our spinal vertebrae, now out of their optimal “stacked” alignment, compress in spots. Ouch.
- If we have thin bones, which we all do as we age, small vertebral fractures can occur and we lose height.
How’s that for a dandy top-ten list?
What to do?
Well, keep moving the spine – gently and easily – in all its ordinary natural ways: curved forward and arched back, bending to the side, twisting and turning. These are all movements built into reputable yoga practices everywhere.
In my gentle yoga classes, spinal mobility and spaciousness are always a focus. A focus with practical, everyday benefits. Come to one of my virtual classes and see for yourself. I also have a great short lesson on optimal seated posture on my website for you to check out. https://movebetternow.ca/tutorials-and-resources/
In the meantime, this article from Harvard Health might offer more insights.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/stand-tall
