How you look when you stand, sit, and walk makes a distinct impression about you. Your posture may, however, convey an inaccurate message. For this reason, good posture, or rather, good body alignment is essential in making a positive impression and is key to good physical health. You may feel comfortable when you slouch or lean, but a slouched posture looks bad and can cause other health problems.

Good posture is the correct alignment of body parts so that the body is supported by the right amount of muscle tension working against gravity. We are not typically conscious about maintaining posture because muscles do it for us, but postural muscles and ligaments work together to keep the body upright and in balance. Good posture also prevents the abnormal wearing of joint surfaces to prevent arthritis, fatigued muscles, and stressed ligaments.

If you are standing to speak, it is important to maintain good posture in order to sound good and to look good. In fact, researchers have found that sitting and standing up straight isn’t just good for the posture, but it actually gives you more confidence in your own thoughts. Psychology professor Richard Petty co-authored a study at Ohio State University, which appeared in the European Journal of Social Psychology and he concluded that, “Most of us were taught that sitting up straight gives a good impression to other people. But it turns out that our posture can affect how we think about ourselves.  If you sit up straight, you end up convincing yourself by the posture you’re in.” Information about the study:

http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/posture.htm

If your head is pushed forward and your chest caved in, it is not possible to take a deep breath needed for a good speaking voice. When standing, weight should be on the balls of the feet, shoulders back, head level and stretched up as if it is “floating” above the spine. Don’t drop your head to look at notes. (Bring the notes slightly up to meet the gaze without showing the top of the head, which can be very distracting.) Knees should not be locked but every so slightly bent with back straight. Stomach should be tucked in and hips tucked under.

One way to maintain good posture is to practice and check yourself in a full length mirror. If you haven’t had good posture it isn’t easy to fix overnight because your core posture muscles have adapted to the incorrect alignment. With practice, however, correct posture and good habits will gradually replace bad habits. Good posture can be maintained with study and practice. Or ask someone take a photograph of you from three angles: front, side, and back. Check the photos to see where you might be out of good alignment.

There are many techniques available for learning new habits of good body alignment. Myoskeletal Alignment Technique, Posture Alignment Therapy, Chiropractic, yoga, and a favorite of musicians, actors and dancers:  Alexander Technique. More about the Alexander Technique at:

http://www.alexandertechnique.com/