“I want to get old gracefully. I want to have good posture. I want to be healthy and be an example to my children.”
– Sting
Dear Friend,
Can better posture improve your health? Your brain function? Your ability to handle stress?
The answer is “Yes”, “Yes”, and “Yes”!
Did your mom or grandma ever tell you to sit up straight? You probably heard that more than a few times when you were growing up, didn’t ya.
Well, mom and grandma were on to something big. Your posture has a huge influence on your energy levels, mental state and overall health.
Your posture is one of the master keys to abundant health and energy.
Posture doesn’t receive enough attention. Some years ago, I began to attend to my posture more consistently. I’m still not perfect, but I constantly work on it!
When I was in college, I was hit by a car. The car won. I had a lingering back injury that forced me to pay attention to how I stand and sit. Later, when I began to explore various causes and solutions for my asthma, I realized that my posture had a huge impact on how well I was able to breathe.
Today, I always pay attention to how people carry themselves when they are exercising. To my dismay, I see a lot of hunching and rounded backs when people are walking, jogging, or lifting weights. Not good!
Keeping an upright posture with good spinal alignment is key to avoiding injury, performing well, and getting good results from exercise. It also helps you feel more powerful and in control – not only when exercising, but in all areas of your life. And possessing an enhanced sense of power and control is something we can all appreciate.
Did you know you have four brains?
Well, you do – in your head, heart, gut and spine. Ever notice how excess stress causes your back to tighten or ache? The spinal cord is not just a passive channel for transmitting information. It’s actively involved in transposing and making sense of the information and sensations.
Your posture has a direct effect on your spine’s ability to conduct and intelligently monitor that information.
In addition, the way you hold your head directly impacts your brain’s ability to think. The poor habitual posture we can develop over the years leads to our head slumping forward. And when you lose this base postural support, you impede the flow of blood, lymph and nerve impulses to and from your brain – resulting in brain fog, low energy, and even chronic headaches.
Test this out: sit and slump. How focused and energetic do you feel? Now sit up straight. Feel better? More focused and alert? More confident?
Follow the example of Helen Keller. She lived such a rich life through sensations that typically don’t register with most of us. She was said to have excellent posture. If you have seen photos of her, you can see this is accurate. In several of her books, she discussed her posture and bearing and how important they were to her ability to sense the world around her, and even extend her sense further. As Helen advises us:
“Hold your head high. Look the world straight in the eye.”
You Can Do It!
