During our childhood and youth, we probably have heard many times from our parents the phrase “put your back straight”, without giving much importance. And, over time, when we feel pains in the neck, shoulders or back, we will have remembered that advice that maybe was not so trivial.

How to lament will serve little, why not think that we are still in time to ignore them? With the practice of yoga, in addition to obtaining other benefits, we can recover the desired body posture.

What is body posture?

The position is the relationship between the position of the arms, legs, trunk and joints. The human body can adopt an almost infinite number of positions, but it is evident that some of them can be clearly identified as more natural and beneficial. We would be talking, therefore, of a good body posture , such as one in which the back is straight allowing breathing to flow and both the spine and the muscles to be comfortable.

What factors affect bad body posture? And how to detect that you have a bad body posture?

In general we associate bad body posture with certain habits repeated day by day and that end up modifying our alignment, such as spending many hours in front of a computer with arms stretched forward and head down. And while it is true that adopting a good posture in the workplace or study is essential, we could also ask ourselves why some people develop bad postures more easily than others. The answer is that the factors that determine that the body adopts bad postures are several. There may be physiological or hereditary reasons, that is, because of their anatomical characteristics (for example lack of muscle tone or overweight) a person has more tendency to deform the posture.

It also affects the emotional state. A sad, fearful or pessimistic person will tend to bend their back, while someone who is cheerful, confident or optimistic is more likely to stay erect. There is also a whole group of external factors that we can not underestimate, such as the characteristics of the chair where we work or the bed where we sleep, the type of more or less sedentary, the preventive or corrective exercise that we can perform regularly or the way we carry pesos.

The most common is that we pay attention to our postural defects when we begin to have certain physical symptoms, whether cramps, pain or frequent contractures. Likewise, apart from these acute complaints, poor body posture often accentuates the natural curvatures of our spine and can lead to certain chronic pathologies. The most common are lordosis (excessive concave curvature of the spine), kyphosis (excessive convex curvature) and scoliosis (lateral and rotational deviation of the spine).

How can yoga help to improve our body posture?  

To recover a good body posture it will not be enough to stand up each time we realize that we are bent, but we will have to incorporate doses of consciousness of our body and regular exercise in equal parts. Although a particular part of the body hurts us because of our bad position, we will hardly be able to improve our posture and increase our well-being if we dedicate ourselves to correct an isolated area. The whole body is connected to the muscular, osseous and nervous levels, with which a global work will be the most indicated.

And here is where Hatha Yoga (or physical yoga) enters , a discipline that takes into account each and every one of the parts of our body in order to balance them.

What kind of exercises would you recommend to improve these types of problems?

Most yoga exercises will help us release tension and gain flexibility, especially in the spine. However, we must be clear that in the case of minor ailments the improvement can be felt very quickly, while in chronic diseases the process will be slow and in some cases the most we can hope for is to stop the process of deviation of the spine and prevent major problems . For the most severe ailments, it is essential to consult with specialists to adapt the practice to our needs.

In general, the following yoga exercises can help us:

• Balasana or child’s posture.
• Adhomukha or the dog’s upside down pose
• Bhujangasana or cobra pose.
• Tadasana or mountain posture.
• Vriksasana or tree pose.
• Surya Namaskar or greeting the sun, the most common sequence of postures in the practice of yoga.\

From all these positions we can easily find images and videos freely available on the net.

Recapitulating, if we want to improve our body posture we must take conscience of our body and adopt favorable changes in our lifestyle (less sedentary lifestyle, better rest and chairs designed for our back). In the second place we will have to develop a feasible yoga routine for our profile, on our own or with the help of someone with more knowledge. And, finally, we will have to conspire so that these good intentions materialize in a regular practice.