Solving Your Posture Puzzle

As I meandered through a corn maze for two hours on Saturday, wandering around the paths, getting lost, and finding my way to end of the puzzle, I realized that people see their posture in one of two ways...

1. It's something you fix quickly by lifting up your chest, pulling your shoulders back and keeping them there.

2. Constant adjustments, almost like chasing tension around the body...a bit like being lost in a maze.

The first example over simplifies the posture problem. The second one overcomplicates it.

I used to fall into category two. I restlessly adjusted my body, but no position felt right.

The corn maze was fun, but it was harder than it looked. There were a lot of dead ends, but some areas that appeared to be dead ends were actually fake walls that we had to walk around to reach the exit.

No one told us as we entered the maze that we should expect to walk around walls or roped off areas. I initially figured that these areas were blocked off for a reason...like maybe there was something dangerous in the path ahead....

...but we saw some other people go through, so we gave it a try.

Oh, I can go THAT way! If I hadn't taken a closer look or seen someeone else do it, I would have dismissed it.

Trying to fix my posture used to feel like wandering around in a maze in my own body with no clear direction. When I finally learned a different approach, it was like going around a barrier in the maze.

A solution that wasn't obvious got me on the right path.

I had been told for a long time that I needed to deal with my shoulder tension, so I had tried really hard to hold my shoulders down and just ended up in pain. Little did I know at the time that my head was crucial to solving my shoulder problem.

Most people just let their heads go wherever their eyes go...and heads are heavy, so they can create a lot of downward pressure in the body when they are pushed forward or pulled down.

Start to notice how much you either drop your head to look down or push your face forward to look at something in front of you.

Instead, see if you can just look with your eyes and make smaller adjustments with you head rather than big sudden movements or drops. Notice if you feel different.

You might be a quick fixer or a maze wanderer. Either way, starting with your head should bring you closer to sitting up straighter and feeling a lot more relaxed while doing it...and it can even be fun once you figure out how to get on the right path!

Interested in learning more? Click here to book a lesson or class.