First you need to engage your core at all timesāthis doesnāt mean sucking it in and keeping it tight; itās more like gently, ever so slightly drawing your belly button up and back towards your spine and breathing through your diagram just enough to keep those muscles activated. Strengthen your coreāit protects the spine and gives you the power to keep all of your other muscles engaged!
When standing, your head, heart (shoulders and upper chest), hips, and feet should ideally be in alignment. Obviously the same goes for sitting as far as the torso is concerned.
People tend to:
* have forward neck posture from mouth breathing and being on their phonesāpull your head back and keep your chin lifted! (Try yoga for text neck)
* slouch and slump in their shouldersāpull the heads of your shoulders back and rotate them outwards; retract your shoulder blades by drawing them back and towards the spine.
* tilt and lean their pelvis and hipsāyour tailbone should be scooping forward and down and your hips should ideally be perpendicular to the floor.
Check yourself throughout the day and see if youāre in alignment.
It takes active work to have good posture. Your posture-supporting muscles are most likely weak. I would recommend light body weight strength training like Pilates, barre, or yoga and I would also encourage you to do chakra yogaāstarting at the root chakra and working your way up. This will help you systematically get into alignment at every chakra which are essentially the posture points I identified above (I love Jen Hilmanās 7-day chakra series).
You might want to look into somatic yoga and Pilates and body scan meditations too because youāre probably not very aware of your body.
I sit on the front edge of seats whenever Iām not lounging on the couch (deeply engrained habit from playing viola for years). I think this helps because itās very easy to slouch when youāre leaning on the back of a chair for support rather than using your own muscles to stay upright.
There have been times where Iāve regressed and I bought an adjustable posture corrector to helpātheyāre like tight backpack straps for both shoulders that connect in the back and pull your shoulders back.
Thatās about all I can sayā¦ posture is very important to me because itās essential for your health and weāll-being and it makes you appear confident and elegant. hope this helps! š
Dec 7, 2024
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š
I struggled with slouching FOREVER. No amount of 'sit up straight' mindfulness during the day ever worked for me. In fact, I was a ballet dancer for 10 years, knew what good posture was per se but outside of dancing it just didnāt translate into my day to day and I still struggled.
The real game-changer for me happened earlier this year: With no intention of working on my posture I just started shifting my focus from lower body workouts at the gym to back and arm exercises, using machines as well as dumbbells. Suddenly my posture improved SO much. I noticed that my head started to naturally align with my spine again but without me forcing myself to stand straight. I think overhead movements, in particular, made the biggest difference. Turns out, I didnāt have bad posture or laziness. I just had underdeveloped upper back and shoulder muscles šŖš½
Dec 7, 2024
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Practice mindful sitting/standing posture and projecting confidence
Itās for your health
Jan 30, 2024
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āLife shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.ā
ā AnaĆÆs Nin
This is uncharacteristically raw and personal, even for me, and pretty heavy! I know many of you have seen me posting through it and I feel safe to talk about it openly now that Iāve safely landed at the start of my new life. Itās honestly even a little bit embarrassing but I think itās important to share.
Iāve never publicly mentioned it on here, but I have a husband; as of Friday, weād have been together for 11 years, and weāve been married for 3 years as of 2/22. I realize now that I wanted to explore what I looked like outside of my relationship with him because I had lost that. This is why PI.FYI has been so meaningful to me as a space to express myself and connect with peopleāto rediscover my voice.
I had been living a lie this entire time, to others but worst of all to myself. Heās been verbally and emotionally abusive, physically but without touching me, to the point that every day I spent with him I was in danger. Iāve been shrinking myself and walking on eggshells to avoid making him insecure and provoking his casual put-downs and fits of rage, while hanging on for dear life to the threads of good I could see.
Iāve wanted so badly to leave, more than anything, but I felt like there was no way out and that this was just something I would need to endure indefinitelyābut someone who is so very dear to me helped me see that I have wings to fly, not by acting as my savior but by reminding me of my own power. The emotional safety they built and the gentle care they showed me made me feel like I could open up to them. With their encouragement I was brave enough to tell the truth to my friends, my family, my boss, and they have received me with warm, loving and open arms and rallied to support and protect me. The financial andĀ logistical aspects were the most intimidating to me and itās going to be tough for a while but Iām going to be better than okay!
Now Iām opening up to you. This isnāt the only abuse Iāve suffered in my life, and my old therapist told me she believed it was my mission to share my strength and light with others to inspire them and show them that change is possible.
I hope that by sharing this, I can reach even just one person who is going through something similar and show that they are not alone, and they are not weak. People with certain backgrounds may be more vulnerable to abuse, but it can happen to anyone. It thrives in darkness, shame, and isolationāand breaking that silence is the first step toward freedom.
Leaving is the scariest thing I have ever done but I have so many angels around me, and I am endlessly grateful. Thank you for being here with me š
Mar 16, 2025
My dad teases me about how when I was a little kid, my favorite thing to do when I was on the landline phone with somebodyābe it a relative or one of my best friendsāwas to breathlessly describe the things that were in my bedroom so that they could have a mental picture of everything I loved and chose to surround myself with, and where I sat at that moment in time. Perfectly Imperfect reminds me of that so thanks for always listening and for sharing with me too š
Feb 23, 2025
Schedule sent my resignation email for the morning, effective immediately ā
š
Feb 27, 2025