The image on the left is me in my "mindless posture." Or, my we-are-lucky-we-made-it-out-the-door-and-are-getting-there-on-time posture. Or, my be-quiet-I-am-trying-to-drive-do-you-know-being-that-loud-could-make-me-get-in-a-car-accident posture. It just depends on the day.
My son actually snapped that photo of me as we were driving home from school. And I took a good look at it.
"Are you kidding me?!" I said to myself. Here I am, an educator of posture, and I look like that driving my kids around? Yikes!
But, it's the truth. Unless I'm thinking about good posture (insert moment where I straighten up on my chair to continue typing), it doesn't happen for me naturally. Some people have that natural posture. It's beautiful. I love it. But, my body waaaants to curve.
The photo on the right is my "mindful posture." I'm actually engaging my abs and trying to stack my shoulders over my hips, my head over my shoulders. It's not perfect, but it's definitely better than the prior. I feel so much stronger when I sit like this. I can feel myself breathing better.
Looking at the two images made me stop for a moment and think. How do I want my kids to see me? Sure, I might have good posture when I'm working out, but what about the rest of the time? And if I feel stronger in the picture on the right, imagine what that body language communicates to my kids? And how do I want my spine to look as I continue to age?
Change happens one day at a time. I don't think that overnight I am going to roll out of bed and have perfect posture all the time because I wrote about it. But, just for today, I am going to make a little note to be more mindful about my posture. And it's going to start each time I am in the car.
Today, when I drive, I'm going to pull my belly into my spine, and squeeze those abs. And maybe smile a bit at those other crazy drivers out there.
Join me?
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