4 Yoga Positions that Improve Your Posture

A healthy back is essential to a healthy lifestyle. That usually means good posture. Even as I say it, you are now thinking about how you are sitting or standing, aren’t you?

Luckily a few simple yoga positions can help you improve your posture and your overall health. Good posture puts less pressure on your internal organs, and when your body has good posture it also improves your circulation. Fitness shoes are great for getting out, but sometimes you want to stay in and be barefoot. Yoga is a great solution for those times, like when it is cold or rainy. As with any new exercise or diet, please consult a physician before you begin. We are are all different stages and we want the best health for you.

1. Mountain Pose

Let us start with a simple one: Tadasana or Mountain pose is done by standing tall, feet on the ground, opening your chest with arms at your sides. Roll your shoulders back and down to lower your shoulder blades, this helps if you have been hunching. Slightly tuck your tailbone, engage your thighs (a slight flex), and bring your chin back so your ears are above your shoulders.

Align your body, head to foot and hold the pose for 30 seconds to a minute. Do it each time you think about your posture. Mountain pose is actually quite complex. This is because it teaches you to feel when your body is in alignment vertically. At first, you may overcompensate for a tendency to slouch by pushing the shoulders too far back and sticking out the chest. This is not the point of the pose: rather it is to find the neutral position and symmetry on either side of your midline.

2. Standing Forward Bend or Uttanasana

This pose is done by folding over towards your feet and then just hanging there. Next you’ll grab your elbows with your opposite hands, and breathe. After 30 seconds or so, release your arms. Try looking up by opening the chest and flattening your back on an inhale when coming back up.

A variation of this pose is done with the hands interlaced behind the back and is a great shoulder opener and hamstring stretch. To get as much openness in the chest as possible, before bending forward, join the hands behind your back and scrunch your shoulders up toward your ears. You can also try this one seated if you are just starting or are at the office. Remember arch support shoes help in supporting your body correctly while doing yoga standing on hard surfaces.

These few yoga positions can help you improve your posture and your overall health.

3. Locust Pose or Salabhasana

This is a great pose for strengthening the back and done by laying on your mat face down. You start by opening your chest, lifting your arms and legs off the mat while keeping the pelvis on the mat. If necessary, you can lift just your chest and aim your arms towards your feet. A more advanced yoga pose would be to go into bow pose but proceed with caution until you’re ready.

4. Cat-Cow Stretch or Chakravakasana

For this position, start on all fours on your mat and bring the wrists underneath the shoulders and the knees underneath the hips. Think of the spine as a straight line connecting the shoulders to the hips. Try visualizing the line extending forward through the crown of the head and backward through the tailbone. This is the position of a neutral spine. Keep the neck long, as the natural extension of the spine.

To start, curl your toes under, drop your belly, but keep your abdominal muscles hugging your spine. Take your gaze up toward the ceiling. Let these movements start in the spine starting from your tailbone so that your neck is the last part to move. Now move to round your spine. Drop your head and take your gaze to your navel. The goal is to repeat the cat-cow stretch on each inhale and exhale, matching the movement to your own breath and doing this for 5-10 breaths, moving the whole spine. After your final exhale, come back to a neutral spine. If this is hard for you, you can try using a chair and doing it sitting like with the forward bend.

These few positions can be practiced in succession or just when you feel you need a little tune-up on your posture. They can even help with other conditions, like with Achilles tendon pain, tension headaches or even just fatigue.

KURU Shoes for Better Alignment From the Ground Up

While none of our shoes are designed specifically to relieve back pain, ALL our shoes have the same anatomically correct shape inside, which realigns your body from the ground up for healthier posture and walking gait. Many customers who suffer from knee, hip and back pain have reported relief when wearing our shoes.

Wearing shoes with the proper support for your whole body will supplement your yoga workouts and help you get better posture, even after your workouts are over. Enjoy patented KURUSOLE technology for better back health, and have happier days and a better quality of life through improved posture.

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