Proud Posture
Why it matters and how to achieve it
By: Patrick S. Cross, LMT, CPN, CET
It was some ungodly hour in the morning and the coffee hadn’t fully entered my blood stream yet. The gym lights were offending my still sleepy eyes, and as the class was warming up with high knee walking, our instructor was focused on one thing — “Proud posture!”
It was not the first time I’d heard this. Just a few weeks prior I’d been in a swing dancing class, my first crack at west coast style, and in the middle of class the instructor stopped everything and walked over to me.
“Why are you staring at your feet?” He asked, in a thick accent.
Before I could respond he flourished one hand high in the air and said, “It looks terrible! We are dancing here. Stand proud!”
At first I was annoyed by the not so subtle reminders that my posture was terrible, but I had also just started taking advanced courses in posture and movement at the Massage Therapy Institute of Colorado, and I knew that something important was lining up.
I’d had poor posture most of my life. Looking back through old photos of myself I realized that I had a strong tendency towards rounding my back and jutting my head forward. I’d even been referred to as ‘the turtle’ by some of my friends.
The more I learned about posture and the problems associated with poor alignment, everything from chronic headaches and back pain to diminished mental focus and mood issues, I realized I needed to make a change.
The first time my instructors at MTIC put me into FDP, or functional design posture (basically standing up straight) I felt a pulling in my knee and compression in my low back immediately. Another minute and a hot pain developed in my mid back that quickly spread up into my neck.
“The roll of the therapist is to clean all this up.” My instructor told me. “We are here to make sure you can actually get into proper posture without pain. Your job is to practice that posture so often that it becomes reflexive and you don’t have to think about it anymore.”
After receiving my first ten session series the pulling in my knee went away, the pain in my back was significantly decreased, and I could hold better posture for far longer. One of my best friends even pulled me aside at a party and asked if I was somehow getting taller. I was excited with the results, but I was also becoming acutely aware of how often I still fell into old patterns of turtle posture while driving, reading, speaking with certain people, and carrying out other tasks.
I started searching for other key factors in postural patterns. I went through the Cranial Sacral and Somato Emotional Release training through the Upledger Institute and learned about how mental and emotional patterns play into postural habits. I trained under therapists who place major importance in building a sense of how people engage in work and hobbies; coaching clients in those aspects of their lives. And I studied with personal trainers who showed me how to get strong enough to actually hold the posture I was looking for, especially in physically demanding situations.
Today I look at pictures of myself and am happy with the results of the work I’ve put in and the therapy I’ve received. I stand at my desk when I’m writing, studying, or painting. I take frequent breaks to stretch and move my body. I don’t feel fatigued when I do six or more massage treatments in a day at my clinic or with the athletic teams. And when I see pictures of myself dancing, running, or just hanging out with friends I am pleased to have shifted out of turtle mode and into proud posture.
