Best Way to Maintain a Good Sitting Posture in Your Workplace

Inactivity combined with poor posture – sitting hunched up in your chair, bending over paperwork – is a sure-fire recipe for a stiff body, tense muscles, spinal damage and back pain. And that’s just for starters. Necks and shoulders feel the strain, as do heads, brains and eyes also, especially when glued to a screen for long stretches of time.

Use the body check at regular intervals when you are sitting for long periods to correct posture, check for tension spots and relax. Sitting well has a huge impact on your overall well-being, and is the starting point for the exercises which follow. Good sitting posture not only reduces stiffness, aches and pains but, even more important, keeps your chest open so you breathe more efficiently.

The version of the body check given here is in essence the same as the standing version. Once you have got the hang of it, the body check can be done almost anywhere – at your desk, in the bathroom, in a waiting room -to get in touch with your body’s inner wisdom and become receptive to its needs.

Instructions

• Breathe in deeply, feeling your abdomen swell, your side ribs expand and the top of your chest lift. Straighten your back, lengthening your spine and extending the back of your neck without tensing the muscles. Keep your chin tucked in.
• Breathing out, lower your shoulders and draw them back gently, pressing your shoulder blades into your back.
• Hold the posture comfortably and, breathing naturally, consciously relax your whole body, being sure to soften and relax your face, jaw and tongue, which holds a lot of tension.
• If you have time, relax each part of the body in turn with the help of autosuggestion. Focus your attention on the body part and mentally give it the message to relax and let go, then moving on to the next part: Left foot, relax; left calf, relax; left thigh, relax; right foot, relax… and so forth right up to your scalp.
• Mentally scan your body from the tips of your toes to the crown of your head, noting any tension spots. These can often be a clue to inner conflict that needs resolution. Where there is tension in your body, visualize yourself breathing into it. Breathe in relaxation, breathe out tension.
• Open your eyes and keep on sitting this way for a few minutes.
• Your body should now feel poised, relaxed and centred. If you find sitting this way a strain it is probably due to weak back muscles, resulting from poor posture. Through regular practice they will strengthen and sitting well will become habitual.