Posture and breathing
With mindfulness for
conscious posture and breathing.
Surely you already know the interrelationships of your thoughts, feelings and actions. We all also know how important it is to adopt and maintain a correct posture in everyday life. But how much time do you actually invest in that? Besides, did you know that your posture has a direct effect on your breathing?
The most common cause of poor posture is sitting for too long. Researchers rate sitting as just as harmful as smoking. In short, a complete lack of exercise has a strong negative impact on our health.
Adopting a perfect posture requires a regular, healthy introspection.
Pilates offers the perfect base for holistically straightening yourself up and consciously perceiving your body in the flow of breathing.
Joseph H. Pilates (the inventor of Pilates) was convinced that a trained body can always move with grace and efficiency. Posture is improved by strengthening the abdominal muscles, which also stabilizes digestion, circulation and the spine at the same time. Additionally, the increased length gives your internal organs space. Therefore the waist becomes smaller, regardless of whether you want to lose weight or not. The foundation of Pilates is breathing and absolute control in a healthy flow of movement.
No only does an upright posture feel good, but it also relieves back pain, promotes your digestion, strengthens your immune system and much more. If we always work bent forward, the body has to find other ways and means to expand our lungs further. This quickly leads to an overuse of the secondary muscles. As a result, especially neck muscles and shoulder blades can become tense and hardened.
Through conscious breathing, your organs, muscles and neurons can be optimally supplied with oxygen.
In Pilates, we make sure to not only inhale into the stomach and rib cage, but also to consciously activate the costal arches which allows you to flow through your training in a healthy, back-friendly manner. Your entire body becomes more stable and you breathe more deeply, creating constant length in the musculoskeletal system. Once having mastered these basics, you will develop more strength. Imagine your muscles as a team – no movement takes place without the help of others.
First, ask yourself: What is causing your pain? Is it from sitting or standing at work for a long time or a bad sleeping position? Also, which movements feel good to you and what would you love to change for yourself?
Be aware that you always have the opportunity to straighten your posture with targeted Pilates training in order to gain new zest for life in your motor skills. At REALZ Pilates we offer group, duo and solo classes in equipment training. If you are curious, please contact us here on our website or send us a message on social media.
In Pilates, the focus is on the same and opposite posture so that we can counteract incorrect posture and enhance the body’s motor skills.