Mindful Movement: Seated Yoga Stretches for a Healthy Posture

By Eve Delachartre

Nowadays, many of us sit for long hours when working, studying, in transit or while watching entertainment. This can trigger aches and pains in our body. Even children sit for long periods of time either in school studying or at home with TV and video games. They grow with backs not strong enough to sustain a good posture. 

For many years I have taught a chair Yoga class for seniors at a community center. During the summer, the youth camp buzzes with activity while our classes go on. Every year, the camp Director schedules a joint class between a group of 12 - 14 years old campers and my senior students. When the kids start our class they giggle and think it is a joke. They probably think it will be too easy for them. As we sit with our backs not touching the back of the chair for quite a while, they collapse on their chairs, exhausted. Their thinking changes and they start paying attention. They start noticing that the seniors are doing much better than them. Many of them would surely benefit from having a year round practice to improve their posture. At the end of the class, I pair each kid with a senior to share their experience and a general sense of admiration rises from this exchange.

A few months ago, the Hospital For Special Surgery, where I have been teaching for almost 2 decades, asked me to record a video showing a simple practice to improve our posture. I invite you to follow along in this 10-minute Chair Yoga sequence.

This short sequence is designed to maintain the mobility of the spine through its 7 main movements. These exercises could help relieve back pain, improve posture and reestablish a sense of wellbeing. Practicing regularly can fortify the muscles around your torso as well as keep the necessary mobility of the articulations between the vertebrae and the ribs. We don’t think very much about these joints. Maintaining their small range of motion is crucial for deepening our breath. In turn, deepening the breath has a beneficial effect on our nervous system with a ripple effect on the vast field of our health. 

The link to this video is as follows: https://youtu.be/am0skGJsIuo

To note: For people who don’t have unusual curvatures of the spine, it is possible to restore a good posture through a practice of daily mindful movements (as shown in the video). People who have an unusual curvature of the spine, such as scoliosis or other issues, it is recommended to seek private instruction for a customized practice.

Posture problems are not new to the modern century. About a century ago after World War I, women in our culture decided to get rid of their corset. What a relief it must have felt! However, the corset kept their back straight while sitting and moving around.

Meanwhile, people in other cultures have carried heavy loads on their head or back forever and still do. It keeps their spine tall and muscles around it strong. When I lived in India, close to a fisher’s village, I was in wonder when seeing the fisher women running barefoot on burning hot soil from the beach to the market, carrying a basket on their head full of fish, plus the scale and weights.  Their posture was impeccable. 

If you watch movies of the 1950s, I encourage you to check the actresses’ postures. They have a peculiar exaggerated posture with their back curved forward and their chest sinking inwards while their hips are going forward too. This is a posture of submission, not strength. At the same time, progressively, the furniture in homes have become softer and our bodies mold themselves in the shape of our cushions. 

We don’t need to continue the mistakes of the past. Our responsibility for taking care of our posture replaces the torturing corset. We know through science that optimal posture enables our organs to function efficiently; our mental and emotional states are not hijacked by an obsessive feeling of pain. We regain vitality.

I encourage you to take a few minutes each day and practice along with the video above. Your body will soon enough ask you to continue doing it and include variations too.  The best thing about this practice is that it can be done right on your chair at your desk or your dining room table!

And, please share it with people you love and care for.

Namaste