Do you slouch? Do you get anxious in public?

The latter always seems to be a little more obvious… we know what anxiety feels like. Or at least we know that we get uncomfortable in public. But how do you know if you slouch? Beyond seeing a picture of yourself, it might not be entirely obvious, especially if you’ve been slouching for more than a few months - it just feels normal. A better question is probably, do you have back pain? Have you become a victim of the dreaded “zoom meeting” in your transition to working from home? The quarantine has been rough on a lot of us in many different ways, but most commonly it’s wreaked havoc on our bodies and posture.

A few weeks ago we talked about how paying attention to posture can have a positive impact on social anxiety. If you missed that, you can reach it here. It will serve as a good incentive for this weeks piece on learning how to develop optimal posture, permanently. Posture and the way we carry ourselves psychologically is a great place to invest some attention and work because they play such a massive role in how we experience the social world. Like you heard the other week, simply paying attention to and maintaining one’s optimal posture in social settings that otherwise create feelings of distress can have a massive positive impact on those who suffer from social anxiety. Simply put, it takes our mind off whatever everyone might be thinking of us and shifts our attention to thoughts like, “how can I hold myself in the best way so as to communicate confidence and health, regardless of me feeling confident or not”.

What I failed to mention in that piece was probably the most important part; how to get there. Sure, I briefly broke down what optimal posture looks like, but I really didn’t give any ways to get there. Let’s face it, we’ve all been sitting way too much, and with the soaring rates of anxiety and depression, most of us are probably in a bit of a lul. And that’s fine, but it’s time to start addressing it. Our inner and external lives deeply affect how we carry our bodies, but luckily for us, how we carry our bodies also deeply affects our inner and external lives. We can really make use out of this 2-way street.

So we know posture and how we carry ourselves feeds back into our psychological (and physical) health.

But how do we get to a point where optimal posture feels effortless and easy to maintain?

Exercise.

With plenty of evidence to back it up, resistance training based exercise will easily be the most beneficial and actionable thing you can do it improve your posture.

Even your most basic 5x5 strength training program will have you standing up taller and prouder within a week or 2. The changes can be very fast and surprising. I hear it all the time that even after 1 workout, especially workouts including deadlifts, people feel like they’re standing taller. I’m a huge fan of deadlifts for many reasons, but without going deep into it, deadlifts are unbelievably powerful in their ability to alter your body and psyche. Rest assured though, if you have back pains and struggle with deadlifts, workouts not including deadlifts can also help with posture.

It comes down to the brain and body conversation that is happening moment-to-moment.

When we aren’t exercising or using our bodies to move and/or pick up things, the conversation between brain and body begins to quiet down. Of course the same happens if we’ve been sitting all day too. There just isn’t much to talk about, so it goes sort of silent. This creates a less-than-optimal posture because instead of your brain telling your muscles to be at an ideal length to hold you up and proud, your body opts for the “easiest” posture, which is usually curled and flexed forward. Which creates this slumped posture that so many of us carry around with us. The longer we spend in this position, the more difficult it is to create and maintain optimal posture because the muscles aren’t very educated and active.

By imposing incremental demands on our muscularture, especially the muscles of the upper back and butt, we are changing the conversation between body and brain. Now there is something to talk about. Neural impulses and metabolic activity is then increased as a response to the increased demands, lending to:

• weight loss

• cognitive performance

• mood elevation

• faster reflexes

• less injury prone

• heal quicker from injuries

• Improved confidence

• Reduced social anxiety

• and even improved sexual performance.

Besides a small time investment and a little bit of soreness, there are virutally no side effects to exercise.

If you’re interested to learn more, I strongly urge you to spend 5 minutes paroozing YouTube to find some specific exercises that will help you on your journey to improving your posture.

I would also strongly suggest that if you decide to take this on, pick 3-4 postural changes that you can cycle through in social settings. By picking personal cues like: Chin tucked, belly breathing, butt slightly squeezed, and shoulders back and down, you are building associations that you can activate when you need.

So the next time you’re walking down the street, or on campus or work, cycle these cues through your mind.

I have to mention though; be patient with yourself. Like I said in the other piece on this topic, the first few times you try this you will probably feel a bit silly. And thats okay, if anything, its direct proof that your posture does have an impact on your psychological state. Let your posture work for you!

If you have any questions or need something expanded on, just leave a comment down below or email me at ourblueskyminds@gmail.com!

Have a great week folks.