Reset Your Posture

Categories: Blog Jul 19, 2021

Posture is reflexive. Really, it’s an expressive representation of the state of your nervous system. It’s also dynamic, posture changes moment to moment depending on what you’re doing, what you’re thinking, and what you’re feeling. This means, posture is not a position that you hold, it’s the positions that you express. This also means that authentic posture is free from cognitive effort. 

But what about people with “poor posture?” Well, is their posture really poor? Or, is their posture optimal based on what their body normally does? If the latter is the case, then their poor posture is actually good posture. What you may judge as poor may be optimal for the lifestyle they have been living. 

But what if someone wants to improve their posture, or make it more aesthetically pleasing? Traditionally, when people want to do this, they use cognitive effort and they try to hold positions that they believe are appropriate. There are two issues with this: 

1. It’s a great deal of cognitive effort that uses a great deal of mental energy and vigilance. Since authentic posture is reflexive, using cognitive effort to achieve desired posture can be very frustrating. 
2. Holding your posture a certain way typically takes prime movers to hold the desired posture when they are meant to move you while your stabilizers fluidly “hold” your posture. This too, takes a great deal of energy. Prime movers fatigue a lot faster than stabilizers. 

Have you ever tried to back against a wall to find “perfect” posture and then keep it when your back is no longer against the wall? How long did you hold this posture before your mind lost attention of it or before your muscles fatigued from holding it? 

So how does one change or improve their posture? 

Well, if posture is to be improved beyond what the day to day life is calling for, then the day-to-day life may need to change. For example, if a person spends 8+ hours in a chair every day and rarely engages in a great deal of physical activity, why would they need the posture that would be optimal for throwing a javelin or for running a 100-meter dash? 

Engaging in life, moving often, can actually begin to change a person’s posture. The moving in and with life places strength demands and use on the body that must be adapted to. This alone can result in a change in posture. 

You could also “Press RESET” on your posture by getting on your hands and knees often. Getting on all fours, the way you did when you were a child, is what actually sets the perfect cervical and lumbar curves of the spine. Rocking back and forth on our hands and knees or crawling on our hands and knees like a child reflexively builds “perfect” upright posture. It reestablishes the curves of the spine, it teaches the stabilizers how to hold the spine while the movers learn how to move the body. The key is to keep the head and eyes “up” on the horizon. 

So really, if you want better posture or a different posture, you have to demand it from your body by engaging in your body’s design. Moving often and getting on the floor often are “demands” that the body will respond to. Rocking and crawling nourish the nervous system and remind the brain where all the moving parts of the body are at. Showing up often to do these movements eventually helps the body express and maintain beautiful, fluid, dynamic posture without cognitive effort and without using the wrong muscles to achieve desired positions. 

Rocking and crawling also help to reset moods. How you feel, your mood, effects your thoughts and your posture. These two movements can soothe your mind and emotions, thus freeing up your posture to be more fluid and dynamic. The better you feel, the better your posture, AND the better your posture, the better you feel. 

Again, posture is a reflexive expression of you and the life that you live. If you want to change it or improve it, if you want to improve the life that you live, Press RESET on your posture. 

Rock on your hands and knees for two minutes a day. Hold your head and gaze up, on the horizon when you do. Keep your back “flat” and don’t let it round. 

And, or, crawl on your hands and knees for two minutes a day. Again, keep your head up and on the horizon, don’t drop it. 

These two simple movements can reset your posture. In a wild way, they can lead to resetting many things about your life for the better. 

But don’t believe me. Experience it. Rock for two minutes a day, twice a day if you can. Crawl for two minutes a day, twice a day if you can. Do this for thirty days. Discover for yourself if what I’m saying is so. Don’t hold your posture, express it the way you want to. 

 

 

 

 

 

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