One of the guilty pleasures of being a yoga teacher is how much we love to observe the way others move.

A movement teacher can often tell what's happening in your physical, mental and emotional world by watching how you hold your body and how you move that body. Ruling out obvious injuries or shortcomings, a disjointed, lumbering gait can often signal neurological challenges. A forward head angle (text neck) sends out alarm bells for a future of spine and neck issues and a stiff, short stride often highlights tight hips and tight psoas. Your fight or flight nervous system might be constantly turned ON. 

Regular yoga practice allows you to know your body better. How your body moves, where you hold your tension and as you strengthen your corset, how you hold your body upright. Most of us think of poor posture as only affecting how tall you appear, but the scary truth is that bad posture can affect not only your physical health but your mental health as well. 

Our body posture provides a portrayal of who we are and how we move through the world. Have you ever noticed how when you slump, sit really badly for a length of time or stomp along unconsciously it affects your mood? Now imagine a lifetime of poor movement and poor posture. It’s fairly obvious it will have an effect on your disposition (grumpy, short-tempered, and stressed) over time.  

There is a continuous amount of stimulation to the brain from the mechanoreceptors in the joints and muscles as we resist gravity. Any dysfunction of joints and muscles from altered biomechanics will result in a disruption in the communication between the body and brain. This is especially true for the spinal joints and muscles which receive the majority of force from gravity in the upright posture of humans. Hours sitting staring at screens, lack of exercise and poor biomechanics all contribute to poor posture, which then leads to other symptoms such as many types of headaches, back pain, visual disturbances, poor balance and more. Many neurological issues are helped by better posture. Things like depression, anxiety and ongoing pain can often improve as the body is taught to hold itself better and move 
 more naturally.

Regular yoga will help you become aware of how you sit, stand, stretch and how you use your spine. As you start to link movement with mind and mood you start to see how posture (the spine) affects the brain more than the brain affects the spine. It’s also obvious that as our posture improves so does our use of breath. And when we breathe more easily and naturally, our mood lifts, we think more clearly and we have more energy. Our better posture opens up biological and neurological pathways to improved health, happiness and energy.

Margot Wagner
Yoga Under the Bodhi Tree

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