Bhubaneswar: Slouching and incorrect posture leads to serious health hazards. And these can be avoided by fixing your posture issues. Try these easy yoga asanas to correct your postures.
Standing Forward Bend Variation
This variation with the hands interlaced behind the back is a great shoulder opener. To get as much openness in the chest as possible, join your hands behind your back and scrunch your shoulders up toward your ears. Then let the shoulder blades slide down your back as you draw your arms straight.
To stretch your hamstrings, slowly come into a forward bend over your legs while keeping your hands joined. Roll your shoulders toward the middle of your back and extend your arms overhead.
Cat-Cow Stretch (Chakravakrasana)
Cat-cow stretches are excellent for helping you discover the ideal, natural curves of your spine. By moving the spine from flexion (cat) into extension (cow), passing through the middle each time, you learned to judge the neutral position more accurately. Let the movements originate from your tailbone and ripple up your spine so that your head is the last thing to move.
Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)
This gentle backbend opens the chest and shoulders, two areas that are often constricted in people with poor posture. It will also strengthen your back, giving your spine more support. Once you have lifted your hips, pause for a moment to tuck each shoulder blade onto your back. Then relax your butt and lift your hips a bit higher. For a less intense version, you can try a supported bridge instead.
Eagle Pose (Garudasana)
A strong core supports your spine and balancing postures are a good way to build your abdominal strength. Eagle arms open the back of your heart (between your shoulder blades). It doesn’t matter if you can’t wrap your top leg all the way around but do make sure that your shoulders are stacked on top of your hips. There’s a tendency to lean the torso forward in this pose. Keeping the erect alignment is another way to improve your awareness of your body in space.
If this pose is super challenging, try the chair version. It’s also a good way to get in a stretch at work.
Trikonasana (Triangle pose)
The triangle posture is a classic yoga position that stretches and strengthens your spine, inner thigh, abdominal and side muscles. It also helps to open the pelvis by stretching the pelvic ligaments. It is a great posture to help create alignment, space, and openness in the body.
