5 Things That Make Your Posture Worse

Hi there!  I thought I'd share with you not only some tips, but point out some common things that people do to try and fix their posture that actually makes it worse.

The first step to improving your posture is better awareness and often the first thing that helps is to become aware of what you might be doing to fix your posture...that's actually making it worse. 

This may include forms of over-correcting, not getting to the root of the problem, or a mindset about what good posture is that keeps you from making progress.

1) Pulling your shoulders back

Sure, we don't want to slouch, but pulling your shoulders back, when your sitting for example, does not put them in a neutral, relaxed position.  If you feel like keeping them back is unsustainable, it's because "shoulders back" is not not a position your body should be sustaining for long periods.  The shoulders are meant to move in subtle ways as you use your arms and hands. 

Pulling your shoulders back can also make your lower back arch (like in the image above), which can be painful.

Pulling the shoulders back isn't just over-correcting, it's trying to correct the wrong thing.  Slouching shoulders are generally not the root cause of poor posture.  Most people try to fix them directly because it's what they notice, but...

Dropping your head and neck down (like to look at your phone or laptop screen) is the most likely culprit for your slouching shoulders.  Changing how you move to look down helps.  Also, putting more things (like the computer) at eye-level will help prevent your shoulders from drooping.

2) Sucking your stomach in

People have often told me that they are tightening their abs to keep their core strong.  Actively holding your belly actually isn't "core strength" and may actually prevent your core from being strong as well as keep you from having natural, good posture. 

Core strength involves deeper and lower abdominal muscles, your glutes, and pelvic floor.  Good posture will help these muscles to engage properly during normal, everyday activities...and the Alexander Technique (what I teach) helps you have better body awareness so that you know how to engage the right muscles if you do core strengthening exercises.

Here's a good rule of thumb.  If you are doing something to "fix" your posture that restricts your breathing in a sustained way (like holding your belly in), it's not helping...and may be making things worse.

3) Only doing exercises to try and fix it

Exercises can help, if you have proper form, but it's also important to develop good postural habits while you are doing everyday things like standing, sitting, walking, talking, carrying a bag, bending, etc.  What you do at the gym may help your overall posture (if you exercise with good form), but it won't teach you how to bend differently when you're chopping vegetables or how to stay centered when you have to think on your feet and talk in front of a group of people.  You need to work on changing your habits while you do those things.

4) Thinking there's one right position

If you try and hold a "right" position, you'll just get tired and start slouching again.  Good posture moves with you and doesn't restrict your range of movement.  It's not stiff and rigid.  It's relaxed, balance, and generates and even distribution of tone throughout the body.

You can develop a more neutral way of sitting and standing, but you can also have good "alignment" as you bend over to put your clothes in the wash or clean up after your dog.  Good posture doesn't mean standing straight all the time.  If you coordinate your body well as you move, your good posture moves with you in any position.

5) Only paying attention to how it looks

Here's the mindset piece.  Many people think good posture is about fixing how you look.  If I just hold this in and tuck this here...but it probably won't stay that way and it might feel stiff. 

The real secret to better posture is approaching it from in the inside out.  That means using your brain and connecting your mind with your body.  Being more aware and using that awareness to be more mindful.  The right adjustments are probably more subtle that you imagine.

Want to improve your body awareness and get concrete strategies for maintaining good posture in every-day life -- by learning simple and subtle strategies that work?  You'll be able to use these tools to change your habits during the actual activities that are triggering your poor posture.    If you work with me, I'll help you with exactly that!  It's not just exercises!  Here's how:

Want to learn more?Want to learn more? Check out my individual sessions and group classes.

The Most Embarrassing thing I've Ever Done and What it Taught Me about Being Present

It was 1997.  I was 17-years-old and knee-deep in applying to college.  The story begins in the waiting room of the drama department of of my top-choice school as I anxiously waited for my name to be called for my audition.

I was sitting perfectly still and totally freaking out inside...like I was out of my body.  The stakes felt high and I didn't know how I was going to go through with it.

I had to pee, so I made my way to the bathroom.  I hadn't grown up in New York City and I had never seen bathrooms with emergency alert buttons.  This bathroom had one...a big red button in the stall that said "push in case of emergency".

In my state of panic about the audition, I found myself totally stumped about how this strange, newfangled New York City toilet flushed.  It was actually just a normal toilet, but I was so nervous that somehow convinced myself that the only way to flush it must be to press that red button.

So I pushed the big red button.

An ear-piercing alarm rattled the drama department.  Covering my ears, I raced out of the bathroom and confessed my mistake to the person at the front desk before anyone called the police. 

They called maintenance to turn it off, but the maintenance person didn't show up right away, so I went back to my seat and continued to wait with the alarm blaring in the background as an ongoing reminder of how foolish I'd been.

How could I have thought that a button that said "emergency" would flush a toilet?  In hind-sight what I'd done sounded insane.  It made no sense...but  just moments before I felt so stressed about the audition that it was like I was out of my body, which affected my ability to think.  I'd gone temporarily out of my mind.

After a minute of profound embarrassment, I surrendered to the situation and even laughed a bit.  The alarm brought me back to the present moment, of being aware of myself and my surroundings, rather than being ruled by anxious thoughts about my audition. 

A maintenance worker finally arrived and turned the alarm off.  Soon after, I was called into my audition.  

It wasn't an Oscar-winning performance, but the wake-up call I got from the alarm calmed my nerves and I felt present in the room while I delivered the two monologues I'd prepared.  I actually enjoyed interview, in which I got to proudly show all of the work I'd done on a play I'd directed in high school.

I was accepted into the program and in retrospect, I think my "loss of sanity" was really a way of me pressing my own internal panic button.  I needed to snap out of my anxiety if were to have any chance succeeding in my audition.  Once I accepted the situation with the alarm, I was more focused on my environment and being present in it, I was more grounded as opposed to all in my head.

As I began studying acting, presence became this sort of magical elusive thing that I could catch hold of on a rare occasion, but I was never sure how I did it or how I'd do it again...and pulling the fire alarm to see if my red button trick still worked wasn't a option!

When I eventually had a class in the Alexander Technique, I learned that there actually were clear, practical steps I could take to reliably get in this "present" zone at will. 

And this presence had everything to do with my mind and my body and getting them to work together.  What I learned about being present in my body and environment also fixed my poor posture and helped me feel more comfortable and confident, even in stressful situations when fear of failure feels like it's taking over.

Posture isn't just a position we get into for no reason, something genetic, or an inevitable symptom of aging.  It's a habit and a physical manifestation of how we respond to thoughts, feelings, and all the stimuli we encounter all day from our computers, to other people, to trains we're trying to catch or bad traffic.

Posture is an attitude and is tied to your ability to be present and make choices that are non-habitual.

But how to you know if you're making the right changes?  Our habits are often, at least to some degree, unconscious and "fixing" them become elusive.

That's where a teacher comes in.  I found The Alexander Technique so helpful for me, that I later on became certified to teach it and have helped many people do just what I did...become more present and aware and to have specific tools to change long-held physical habits and to be able to stay grounded, present, and strong in difficult situations.

I'd love to help you do what I did and introduced you to the strategies I've developed to fast-track your progress.

Want to learn more? Check out my individual sessions and group classes.

Two Ways to Improve How You Bend and Pick Things Up

Do you every feel like you’re shoulders get tight or you get a twinge in your lower back when you pick stuff up?

In this week’s “Power Pause” video, I talk about:

• The most common advice people get for picking stuff (using your legs and sticking your butt out)

• Why this advice isn't wrong, but it often gets misapplied

• How to know which part of your butt to "stick out" so that you don't compress your lower back

• How to use your legs without overusing them and creating too much tension

And also keep in mind that though these videos address specific activities, that thinking about your posture, how you move an breathe and various moments throughout the day all add up to move through your day more mindfully.

The way we use our bodies when we lift a bag, take the wash out of the dryer, sit at the computer, and use our phones, or exercise all add up to our overall "posture" and what we're communicating with our body language.  More on that next week!

Want to learn more? Check out my individual sessions and group classes.

Better Posture - The One Thing You Haven't Tried and It's All In Your Head!

If you're struggling to change your posture and you've tried...

exercises
core strenthening
trying to holdy your chest up, tuck your chin, or tuck your pelvis
the list goes on...

nothng seems to stick...

Then what is the problem?  Is poor posture simply genetic?

It's not and there's one key thing that you probably haven't tried or thought of and it's that the changes that make better posture stick start in your brain!

What do I mean by that?  At the risk of losing your attention by using a funny word, I'm going to do it anyway!

You may not have tried working on your body schema...and the Alexander Technique (which is what I teach) is unique in that it addresses exactly this.

Body schema?  

I will explain!

Body schema is part of your body awareness, but it's a very specific part of it that's very important. 

It's s the representation of where your body is spatially in your mind.  Your body "map" in your mind.  (This is different from body image, which is your idea of how your body looks from the outside.)

Here are some common examples of how peoples' body schema's impact their posture and movement:

Did you know that most people move their heads as if they were a flat sheet of paper rather than what they actually are...more ball-shaped? 

AND most people think that the back of their head ends around chin level and that's where they "hinge" their head from to look down...when ACTUALLY the joint where the head meets the neck is way up behind the nose and between the ears.

Both of these examples are connected to a body schema issue and it can lead to a lot of strain in the neck and upper back when looking forward, down, or when speaking.

People often perceive that their knees are higher than they actually are (internally, not when they look at them).  This misconception can impact gait and posture when walking...and even lead to strain in the hips.

If you perceive your shoulders as little knobs on the side of your body (like what you see from the outside), you're probably having trouble stopping slouching.  Getting clear about feeling where your shoulders are and how they move can actually free them up.

Your PERCEPTION of where your body parts are, how much space they take up, along with where you perceive your joints has a huge influence on how you position your body, how you move, and in some cases even your ability to stay composed and think clearly!

AND most peoples' body schemas are wrong.  They're mismapped.  It's like using your body based on a compass that isn't pointing north.  And I'm not talking about how you see your body from the outside...it's how you visualize and sense your body from the inside.

Improve your body schema and...

• You're ability to perceive how and what you're moving clearly will help you to naturally know if you're causing yourself strain...and to be able to adjust correctly in the moment (rather than over-correct or to correct the wrong thing, which is what people do when they're body schema isn't accurate.) 

• You'll be able to stay present and grounded in situations that might otherwise stress you out because instead of getting discombobulated, you'll be able to use simple spatial cues to help you stay composed.

It can be easy for people to either think that they are aware of their bodies already and assume that's not something they need to work on.

I used to be hyper aware of my body.  I felt every little thing and didn't know how to interpret it, so I had awareness, but it didn't serve me.  Once I started improving my body schema, I felt like I had command of my body.

Some people worry that they have no body awareness and therefore they can't be helped, but once they discover that they have an unconscious way that they've been perceiving their body from the inside, they can learn to change it.  When they change it, they're posture and quality of movement improves.

It's hard to change something if you don't realize it exists.  And people often spend a lot of time and money on therapies and exercise programs that may help, but they don't actually help people take command of their bodies in the day-to-day.

As an Alexander Technique teacher, I've been helping people improve their body schemas, and in turn their posture, for 17 years. 

You CAN improve your posture and make it stick.  You'll feel more relaxed, confident, and avoid things like back, neck, and shoulder pain at work and in other areas of life.

Want to learn more? Check out my individual sessions and group classes.

Improve Your Posture and Confidence for Women in Midlife

If you'd like to work on your posture to help with your confidence when you communicate...as well as to help you sit better at your desk, walk with more poise, and egage in your daily activities with more ease and energy, check out Debbie Harbec's interview with me on The Midlife Momentum Podcast. 

Debbie is a life coach for women over 40 who want to live healthier!  I had a lot of fun chatting with her and delving into this topic that is relevant to me and so many of my clients!

In this podcast, we discuss specifically how my work can help women over 40 when they might...
-- be moving up in their careers and have more responsibility at work
-- experience hormonal and phycial changes in their bodies and feel more sensitive to stress.
-- be at a point where they realize that their wellbeing isn't something they can take for granted and they're are more curious about what they can do to take care of themselves, keep their energy up, reduce stress, and continue to do the things they love to do.

If you like what you hear on Debbie's podcast, check out the info below on my upcoming course online course for women, Interact with Impact!

Manually Override Imposter Syndrome!

You may be familiar with the term "Imposter Syndrome", which is a feeling of self-doubt and inadequacy, despite clear evidence to the contrary.

"I'm not really qualified for this job."
"Who am I to talk like I'm an expert on a topic I've known inside out for 20 years?"
"I know my stuff, but I'm sure people will doubt my qualifications anyway."

You may question these beliefs and logically know they're not true, but when you're speaking in groups or meetings, giving a talk, or being interview these thoughts feelings might creep up nonetheless...

Or maybe you don't think these things, but you have a habit of scrunching and making yourself small when you talk to people. 

Many folks try the "fake it til you make it" strategy, but what does it mean to "fake" it?  This can be confusing because it can lead to over-correcting, feeling "fake", and like you're not being yourself...

So what's the solution in those moments when you feel uncomfortable and you want to come across as calm and strong?

Here's where another approach comes in...and that's to address the physical response to imposter syndrome.

Whether you have imposter syndrome or you're simply uncomfortable in certain contexts when you have to communicate, here are some examples of what happens physically:

• Hunched or slumped shoulders

• Difficultly catching you're breath when you're speaking

• Voice staying way up high

• Feeling fidgety and like your come up off the ground

I can help you to create a clear, personalized strategy to help you change exactly these things to help you look and feel more confident, even if your initial reaction is to feel uncomfortable.

Want to learn more? Check out my individual sessions and group classes.

How NOT to Run Out of Air When You Speak

A common issue I hear from clients on the topic of speaking is that they often feel like they are running out of air when they speak. 

For some people, this happens only in higher-pressure situations, like if they're giving a talk in front of a group of people.  Other folks report that it's ingrained in their speaking habits and happens all the time.

If either description sounds familiar to you, check out my Power Pause video today for three suggestions to help you breathe better when you're speaking.

First thing to recognize is that you have to breathe (let air in) before you speak.  Speaking is on an out-breath, so there's an in-breath just before. 

HOW you take in air before you speak will affect whether or not you're running out of air...and a lot of the HOW is tied in with your posture at that moment.

The resaon WHY peoples' breathing gets out of whack when they're speaking can vary.  Here are a few common reasons:

• Rushing to speak (so that you're not interrupted or thinking that if you go on too long, people will loose interest)

• Forgetting to pause.  Speaking many sentences on one breath and running out of air.

• Trying to hard to stand up straight when you speak and over-correcting your posture, which creates tension and less room in your body for you to breathe.

• Nervousness or Excitement - Either of these emotions can potentially be ungrounding.  If you're not anchored in your body when you're speaking, your posture won't be balance and you might feel like you're just breathing way up in your chest.

In today's video, I'll offer three tips for breathing better to help you feel more calm and centered while you speak.  

• Don't lift your chest - straightening up before you speak or gasp air

• Anchor yourself

• Slow down

Click here to watch it and see what I mean.

Want to learn more? Check out my individual sessions and group classes.

Tips for Talking with Less Neck Tension

Are you ever tense when you talk?  This week’s Power Pause video breaks down a common posture challenge that comes up when people are interacting with others.

Once you start to unpack your unconscious, automatic habits, you'll be on the road to feeling more comfortable, composed, and confident in all sorts of situations.

Check out the video here for one tip that you can put into action today.

Want to learn more? Check out my individual sessions and group classes.

Tips to Avoid Hunching when Loading Laundry

This Halloween, I hope you'll celebrate by doing the Monster Mash, not the Laundry Lurch! 

What's the Laundry Lurch?  It's what people do when they stick their necks out and round their shoulders to pull laundry out of a machine.

If you want improve your posture, but you always find yourself slouching even when you really need to be at your best, then you may need to look at what habits are contributing to your slouching.

What people sometimes don't realize is that it's the little things we do all day add up and affect those big moments.  The habits we develop duing every-day tasks impact overall posture -- for better or for worse -- and affect how you show up when it really counts.

To improve posture when you want to feel composed and make a good impression, it's also important to look at how you're interacting with all of the stuff you encounter, like your smartphone, the dishes, your car, and the theme of today's Power Pause video...

...the laundry!

My washer and dryer are stacked in a tight spot in the bathroom...perfect for a demonstration...so check out the video above for two key pointers on how to avoid hunching and scrunching when you're loading your laundry.  The Laundry Lurch really is avoidable!  

Want to learn more? Check out my individual sessions and group classes.

Do You Suffer From Pajama Posture?

I’ve heard people say that the pandemic ruined their posture because of the habits they developed working from home.

Whether you’ve worked from home forever, just during the pandemic, or now you do hybrid work, you might have developed a habit of slouching on the couch in sweats with your laptop.

So, today’s topic isn’t about how we sleep, it’s is what happens to your posture after you sleep and you get up…and you start work in your pajamas…and maybe you don’t have any meetings, so you stay in your pajamas all day.

And my point here isn’t really about clothing.  It’s more like the attitude of sinking into a comfy work day on the couch or even in bed.  That “comfiness” might quickly turn into back, neck, shoulder or other aches and pains.

The good news is that.working from home offers us opportunities to set up multiple workstations for ourselves, but many folks find the the the first surface that they flop onto is where they stay.

Not only can these habits affect your posture, but they can affect your mood and how you come across when you eventually do have to jump in a meeting or go to the office.

Trying to do a quick fix of pulling back the shoulders when you have to be “on” will just make you look stiff and won’t really get rid of the couch slouch 

Check out today’s video for tips on bridging the gap between working at home and being ready to meet the world in person.

Want to learn more? Check out my individual sessions and group classes.

Better Posture for Photographers and Bird Watchers!

I’ve recently re-taken up my old hobby of photography after of a hiatus of about 20 years and it’s definitely an adjustment to carry a camera with some weight to it…heavier than a iphone I mean!

Whether you’re a professional photographer or hobbyist, you might experience some aches and pains in your back, neck, shoulders, or wrists…even if your camera isn’t as heavy as the one shown in this week’s Power Pause video.

And even if you’re not a photographer or bird-watcher, you can still learn some valuable tips for how to maintain good posture and protect your back when holding something heavy!

In this video, you’ll meet a wildlife photographer who has been having back and wrist pain when photographing birds.

We look at some common postural issues with holding a camera or binoculars, and how to address them, such as:

• Bringing the object to your face, rather than moving your face forward

• How to avoid compressing the lower back when holding something heavy

• Remembering to breath to avoid getting tense

Interested in learning more? Check out my free online training, 1:1 sessions online and in person, and online group classes.

Wear Your Backpack, Don't Let it Wear You

The school year is underway and the backpacks are getting heavier!

Whether you’re a student or a parent of one, or you carry a backpack to work, you might be feeling the pressure (literally) of all of the stuff you or your kids carry around.

Check out this week’s Power Pause video for info on:

• The best way to wear your backpack to maintain good posture

• What I look for when choosing a backpack

• What types of backpacks to avoid

• Small adjustments you can make to keep your posture in check as you walk with your backpack.

Interested in learning more? Check out my free online training, 1:1 sessions online and in person, and online group classes.

Better Posture While You Drink from a Mug

Hi there! Do you find that you hunch and slump when you have your morning coffee or tea?

It’s generally not the look people are going for at the café or in the breakroom at work!

In this week’s video, I demonstrate two things you can do to stand or sit taller when drinking a beverage.

• First we look at how to lift the mug without slouching

• Then I demonstrate how you can lower your head to sip a hot drink without getting stuck in a permanant slump.

  Interested in learning more? Check out my free online training, 1:1 sessions online and in person, and online group classes.

Posture Climbing Stairs

Does climbing stairs feel like a chore?

Maybe it has something to do with your posture.

In this week’s Poise Geek’s Power Pause video, I demonstrate two small adjustments you can make to make stair climbing feel lighter and easier.

I’ll show you:

• What most people do when they climb stairs that makes it feel difficult

• The magic of using the back leg as well as the stepping leg

• How not to have a heavy head

Interested in learning more? Check out my free online training, 1:1 sessions online and in person, and online group classes.

Sitting on the Floor - Is It Ok for Your Posture?

People often worry that if their set-up doesn't look like an ergonomics diagram, that they are messing up their posture.

Not necessarily!

First of all, when considering the best position at the computer I think it’s important to consider your work style more than trying to fit everyone into a cookie cutter set-up.

I’ve talked about how to optimize chairs, but nonetheless I think that having more than one workspace set-up is actually ideal. Spend some time out of the chair either standing or siting on the floor. This may be more of an option these days for many people if they are spending time working from home...but you want to make sure that you have a healthy set-up in any workspace (ie. Don’t just plop down on the floor with your computer and call it a day.)

Check out this week’s Power Pause vidoe for tips on working on a laptop on the floor. I’ll show you:

• What props you’ll need

• How to sit and move to avoid slouching

• Variations on how to position your legs and feet

If sitting on the floor just isn’t your thing, that’s fine, but if it’s something you do or would like to do, try out my tips and let me know how it goes!

Interested in learning more? Check out my free online training, 1:1 sessions online and in person, and online group classes.

Better Posture When Gardening and Doing Yardwork

Do you find you get slumped over when gardening or doing yardwork?

Do you end up with a sore back or tense shoulders?

I don’t have my own garden or yard in the city, but I was helping a friend clear out some vegetation on her farm over the weekend and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to tackle this topic. Check out this week’s Poise Geek’s Power Pause video for some tips!

In this video, I demonstrate:

• How to bend without compressing your back.

• What not to do with your head as you bend down.

• How to keep the shoulders from getting tense.

Interested in learning more? Check out my free online training, 1:1 sessions online and in person, and online group classes.

Posture & Pulling a Suitcase

Hi there. This is Part II of my series on travel. Last week, I talked about lifting luggage and this week’s theme is pulling luggage, namely a suitcase on wheels.

What’s the biggest pitfalls of pulling a suitcase?

Pulling your shoulder with the suitcase. There are two ways in which people tend to do this, which I demonstrate in this week’s Power Pause video:

• Pulling the shoulder up or forward and leaning forward.

• Letting the suitcase drag the arm back, pulling the shoulder with it.

I’ll show you how to keep your arm stable and use your back instead of your shoulder to do most of the work. Watch the video above to see how and try it out!

Want to learn more? Check out my individual sessions, and upcoming group classes.

Lifting Luggage - Not to Be Taken Lightly

Do you ever find lifting luggage to be a strain on your back, neck, or shoulders? Your posture and how you think about lifting a bag will affect how you lift it.

So before you haul your suitcase up into an overhead compartment on your next trip, check out this week’s Power Pause video for quick tips on lifting luggage with less strain.

Check out the video below and you’ll learn:

• What movement leads to compression in the lower back when lifting

• How the shoulders tend to try and do all the work

• A quick process you can follow to distribute the weight of what you’re lifting more evenly so that your neck, shoulders, and lower back don’t suffer.
  

  I suggest practicing this at home first so that when you’re boarding a plane or train or loading your car, you already know what to do.
  

Running (or Walking) with Better Posture - Quick Tip!

If you're into running or walking to stay fit (or trying to get into either one), do you ever feel like you might be able to run or walk, better...

but you don't know where to start?

Poor posture, movement, and breathing habits can put a wrench in your workout.

By interfering with your quality of movement, these habits can make you more prone to injury, provoke aches and pains, make moving feel like a chore, and cause you to run out of steam easily.

There are many aspects to maintaining good posture, breathing, and form...and in today's Power Pause video, I’m going to share with you one quick tip that you can go out an experiment with: your rhythm.

In today’s video, I…

• Explain why rhythm can affect posture in running and walking

• Demonstrate two contrasting rhythm patterns an suggest why one may help you improve your posture and boost your energy as you move.

I suggest you get up and try this one so you can experience the difference between the two rhythms.  Click here or on the image below to check it out.

Interested in learning more about posture and running?Check it out the workshop I’ll be co-teaching in NYC in July. I also offer individual sessions on running and walking form.

Eating with Better Posture

Do you ever find yourself slumped over your meal and wonder how you got there? In today’s Power Pause video, I demonstrate three quick tips to start sitting better at the table.

This video will help you:

• Bend over the table without slouching

• Use your best supports to help you stay upright (your feet!)

• Discover that dropping your head or curving your spine to avoid spilling food doesn't ruin your posture.  The problem occurs just after and I'll show you how to avoid it.

Want to learn more? Check out my individual sessions here, and upcoming group workshops here.