Change your life: how to improve your posture
Are you tired to have pain and suffering injuries due to bad posture? Would you like to maintain a good relaxed posture but with a straight back moving with grace and elegance? If your answer is yes then you are reading the right post! In this fast paced life which causes lots of stress and anxiety we tend to neglect our body and pick up incorrect postural habits which can cause our joints to be out of alignment. When that happens it can lead to chronic pains and in the worst case scenario, a disability, which primarily is caused by years of keeping a bad posture. Here you will find lots of tips on how to have the freedom of movement, how to strengthen your core area and have that amazing posture which we all dream of. What you will also find here is an exclusive article for ballet dancers on how to understand and improve their overall posture and maintaining it especially while executing développés, grand allegro, petit allegro, adage etc. If you have any questions or any suggestions for my future posts please feel free to contact me or leave me a comment down below.
Bad postural habits and how to overcome them
Most of our days are spent sitting down in the office, on the bus, in the car, while watching Tv, at school, at University etc. and then we wonder why we have neck, shoulders and back pain and an unpleasant hunched or slouched position. Our bodies are meant to be mobile and not hunched in front of a computer for hours and hours and when there is lack of regular movement what happens is that the important muscles in our body such as our core muscles will weaken and cause instability in our body alignment. What is very crucial in maintaining a good posture is to maintain the 3 natural curves of our spine as any distortion in these can cause an imbalance in our spine and therefore affect our posture badly. In order to have a good posture we have to realise that there are many factors which can negatively affect it and that we must be active throughout the day in order to keep these muscles strong and work against gravity.
Things and activities that you can do to improve your posture
In order to correct our posture it is important to start to focus on our everyday habits and how to correct the bad ones. If you spend most of your days in a sedentary life then that needs to change because we can’t correct bad posture with weak muscles. I believe that a mirror can really help for people to see how a slouched or hunched posture is affecting their bodies as it will not just make us look ungraceful and bigger but also shorter. A good example are contortionists who are known to even be inches taller than a person who doesn’t practice contortionism. A flexible and strong spine doesn’t just contribute to a good posture and makes us look taller, elegant and slimmer but also it gives us a long and healthy life. So remember to check every time you walk, sit or stand your body alignment by looking through a shop window, mirror or anywhere you can see your own reflection and make sure you apply the points on the previous pin.
Also check out the post "Secrets of longevity and how to look and feel younger"
There are also activities you can do to encourage a good body alignment such as Alexander technique Pilates, Yoga, floor barre ( which is great for dancers but also for anyone else) and Gyrotonic method. Below you will find what each of these disciplines involve and what they teach you:
Alexander technique is an effective and gentle method which the main go al is to improve posture but also to alleviate stress, back pain and any other pain that is caused by bad postural habits. Many people found that practising this discipline will benefit the way you move positively and also your overall quality of life.
Pilates( originally called Contrology) is a safe, balanced and effective method which was developed by Joseph Pilates. This discipline, which the central focus is the “ power house” ( core muscles) will give you strength, flexibility and physical stability. The Pilates exercises are designed to prevent injury, to improve sport performance and overall posture which will also benefit your everyday tasks.
Floor barre is a technique in ballet training which instead to be done standing next to a ballet barre is instead on the floor. It gives extra attention to the legs and core muscles to make sure that the dancer or anyone else who attends these classes does every movement holding a correct body posture.
Gyrotonic is not known as well as the others as it is a modern form of exercise which teaches the body to expand to its limit and at the same time strengthening it. It is similar to Pilates but while Gyrotonic focuses on circular multidirectional movements, Pilates addresses postural and muscular imbalances but both are great to improve your posture.
Correct ballet posture
One of the fundamental principles of the ballet technique is to have an outstanding correct posture as having that will give dancers the ability to gain confidence and master stability in their steps and movements. In order to gain that dancers have to execute a series of exercises at the barre, centre work and also a variety of cross training such as Pilates , Yoga etc. for many hours per week and of course that varies from their age. At a more advanced level a dancer is expected to execute, for example, beautiful devéloppés (lifting the leg up at 90 degrees) and maintaining an upright vertical posture with their torso. For them to be able to do these beautiful and amazing movements (and many others) but at the same time it is so demanding on their body they have to work on their balance, stability, strengthen especially their back, core and legs muscles and flexibility. Of course there are also many technical requirements in order to have that perfect posture which allows dancers to move with such ease and grace. Below there’s another pin which you can click or tap on and once you are on my Pinterest page you can download it for free!
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