My clients keep telling me how hard it is to hold in their abs to keep the perfect postural alignment. It is hard, but like everything, the more you do it, the easier it gets. You simply have to aware and eventually, you won't even have to think to engage your core. It will feel strange not to engage your core or, eventually, it may even be uncomfortable not engaging your core.
People don't realize, but our bodies are connected. Our back is supported by our abs and vice versa. Most of the time, when people have back pain it's caused by a lack of abdominal strength. By holding your abs in during the day to maintain perfect posture, you are using your abs to take the added stress out of your back. By engaging your core, you are elongating your spine. You can actually manipulate your spine through your abs! It's crazy, but it's true. Sometimes, when I'm trying to get my client to close their rib cage (a very difficult concept to understand), I will cue them both from their back and from the front of the body. Clients may at first think that I am saying two different things, but soon they will learn, it's the exact same thing said differently. A great example is the cue "corset your ribs together" - the back cue for the same action is "let your back ribs get nice and heavy". Two cues, sound totally different, but do the exact same thing.
The other most common alignment issues I've noticed is that people lead with their chin. Notice, even when you are walking, is your chin in front of your chest? Is your chin in front of your collar bone or in alignment with your collar? I call this the "bird" complex. If you ever saw the "Pigeon Dance" that Burt does on Sesame Street, you will know exactly what I'm talking about.
If this is you, think about lengthening through the crown of the head and pulling the chin back (but not to the point where there are tons of wrinkles under your chin...) Also, know the difference between crown and Tiara. Whenever I think of crown, I think of Burger King and the paper crowns they gave you when you were kids. Think of the space inside the paper crown. This is the crown of your head. If you lengthen through this area, the crown will not fall off. Most people lengthen through what I call the Tiara. Think Barbie. The Tiara goes on the forehead. If you lengthen through the Tiara, the crown will definitely fall off!
Last alignment issue I will discuss on this blog is our sit bones. These are the two bony parts of our bum that if you've ever bruised this region will really hurt a lot. This is where we should be sitting. Anytime we are sitting in front of our sit bones, our lower back will arch causing our ribs to pop our our Tiara's to lengthen, definitely not what we are going for in regards to perfect postural alignment. When we are sitting behind our sit bones, our backs want to hunch, our shoulders will migrate towards the ears and our heads will start hitting that "bird" pose mentioned above. Just like pelvic rocking laying down, try pelvic rocking in a seated position to figure out both the front and back of the sit bones. Then try sitting on your sit bones again and see if this has changed.
Remember these hints and note how people treat you and respond to you. I always tell my clients to have perfect posture. Two days ago, my client found her perfect posture and stayed with this posture all day long. She noticed people actually treating her differently, with more respect and they were simply nicer to her. By having great posture, you present yourself as assured and confident. As people we respond to body language. How you carry yourself gives people a first impression. Be aware of how other people's postures affect your first impressions. Try standing tall today and see if anyone responds differently to you!
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