Posture

We start every Pilates matwork class with a posture check and end with a posture check - the point of this is to  encourage body awareness.  A person's posture can be reflective of their state of health, state of mind and muscular strength.  Often just reminding clients about relaxing their shoulders makes an enormous difference to their posture - they immediately stand taller and look more relaxed overall.  So many people carry tension in their shoulders and this is not helped by the modern lifestyle which puts the body in a constant flexed position resulting from so much sitting - driving, office work, computer work, watching tv, etc, and all this sitting also results in the gluteal muscles (the muscles in the bum) also becoming weak which affects the spine and therefore the posture. 

Regular practice of Pilates strengthens the small muscles which lie deep in the body around the spine and these affect posture.  In many people these deeper muscles are weaker than the muscles which are nearer the surface, creating a muscular imbalance which results in a posture which is not optimal for painfree living.  The body deals with these muscle imbalances by making adaptations in other parts of the body but ultimately this can lead to pain, eg, low back pain, neck pain, hip pain, etc.

Perfect posture is a goal which is hard to attain, regardless of age, but certainly the older we get, the more difficult it becomes, but it is no less important and it is definitely worth it!