8 September

Posture isn’t a great word, because it tends to make people think it’s something they need to do. To hold themselves in a certain position. The concept of ‘neutral posture’ helps, it means sitting or standing in a way that requires no effort. Balanced. Probably the number one best thing you can do for your health is to have neutral posture when sitting or standing, and diaphragmatic (‘belly’) breathing. Those are connected things, non-neutral posture will also produce bad breathing, and vice versa. Bad breathing will cause tightening and strains. You don’t need to do either of those things, you just need to be balanced and not straining for neutral posture, and then the belly breathing will do itself. But it’s helpful to check for any feelings of strain, and that your belly is expanding when you breathe rather than your chest, as indicators of whether you need to adjust.