Improve posture and standing nice and tall, with a neutral spine, could be a solution to most of your psycho-somatic problems. During your next practice, focus on the ‘art’ of standing correctly.

Believe it or not, a poor standing posture, in 90% of the cases (excluding misalignment due to organic defect), leads to structural misalignment. If you don’t trust me, take a look at one of your picture when you were a child, while standing, and compare it with your adult picture in standing position. You will definitely be surprised when you see the differences.
Even though you might have been born with correct natural alignment, over the years, due to a ‘comfy’ lifestyle, we lost touch with our natural structure and have fallen into shapes given by comfort accessories, pc, and computer desks. Of course, the process was slow and gradual, hard to detect in its transitional phase, but the tough reality is that our unnatural posture has now become our natural posture.

Good body alignment is the foundation of the skeletal structure, and, obviously, standing upright improves body alignment. The right posture allows muscles, bones, internal and external organs to remain healthy and perform optimally. It also helps to distribute bodyweight uniformly. Lack of balance or misalignment or uneven weight distribution can have consequences, such as back pain, neck pain, knee pain, shallow breathing, which leads to lethargy, irritation, poor memory, lack of confidence, inferiority complex, bad mood, etc. All these feelings and illnesses can be considered obstacles to your personal and spiritual growth, as per Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, ‘Vyadhi’ (physical illness) is one of the first obstacles in your path of progress.

The correct standing posture: how to stand upright

How to stand upright and improve posture? A good way to check if you are standing correctly is noticing if the bodyweight is evenly distributed, you should not feel any strain in any part of your body. Also, check that the shoulder blades are in line with your hips.
Other fundamental rules for standing upright with the neutral spine are:

• Bear your weight primarily on the balls of your feet and in the middle of the heels
• Keep your feet about shoulder-width apart
• Keep your knee cups lifted
• Let your arms hang naturally down the sides of the body
• Shoulders relaxed and pulled backward
• Tuck your stomach in
• Keep your head level, your earlobes should be in line with your shoulders
• Chin is parallel to the floor

The right posture allows muscles, bones, internal and external organs to remain healthy and perform optimally. It also helps to distribute bodyweight uniformly.

Yoga asanas: the best way to improve posture

Tadasana (mountain pose) is the basic foundation pose of all yoga poses and perfectly teaches the “art” of standing correctly and it’s an excellent asana to improve posture. It represents the length and the strength of a mountain and hence, provides a firm foundation for the body. Just practicing Tadasana every day, with keen attention to small details, can create the required symmetry in the body, strengthen the core and the back, increase height, and relief many lifestyle-related ailments, like back pain, knee pain, neck pain, sciatica, etc.

Make a good yoga practice a part of your daily routine and bring the awareness of Tadasana in your standing, no matter, where are you standing. Your posture is the reflection of your spirit.

Love and light, beautiful souls.