The Truth About Your Posture

It’s not what you think it is

Tami Bulmash
2 min readJul 10, 2023
Photo by Márton Szalai on Unsplash

Many people think that posture is something that is good or bad — namely, you either have “good” or “bad” posture. With that kind of thinking we might feel stuck with either label.

In the Alexander Technique community we regard posture as a fluid state — one that is moving and changing. In contrast, when we think of posture as a fixed state (like a position) it’s similar to viewing our thoughts as ”good” or “bad” in that they become a label susceptible to judgement. Instead, it’s more helpful to look at the context for what makes them appear as such.

For example, do I have shoulder tension because that’s just what happens to me? Or perhaps, I have a lot to get done and I’ve been behind a screen all day (and my shoulders are where I tend to hold tension when I’m stressed)? Another is, do I “sit up straight” because I’ve been told this is good for me (even if it hurts and is uncomfortable)? If so, why do I continue to do this?

Our mind and body are not separate entities. And therefore, our thoughts and actions are one and the same — they are one unit. Sometimes they bring us up, other times they take us down.

This is article explains this further:

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Tami Bulmash

I write and teach about the mind-body connection and its relationship to health and well-being. More at https://www.bodyandposture.com/