How to Teach Posture on a Deeper Level

Increasing body awareness is the key to maintaining better posture when traveling. The body just feels better when it is aligned. Try this: Sit on the edge of a chair, with your feet on the floor. Place your hands on the iliac crests and imagine your pelvis as a bucket. Tilt forward and backward slowly, and note what happens below and above the hips. Go slowly, observing each joint one at a time as you rock forward and back. Although it’s subtle in some places, a chain reaction occurs:

• Forward pelvic tilt leads to hip flexion, knee flexion, ankle dorsiflexion, spinal extension and scapular retraction.
• Backward pelvic tilt leads to hip extension, knee extension, plantar flexion, spinal flexion and scapular protraction.

Remember, “pelvic tilt” describes a combination of movements happening at each joint in a perfect environment. It’s not an independent or absolute movement. In any case, can you feel the other joints moving? The hardest connection for people to grasp is the movement between the knee and the ankle. If the pelvis is moving and the feet are on the floor, then the knees and ankles have to move because they’re connected. Try this with a partner. Guiding someone through it and helping them identify what’s happening at each joint is eye-opening.

That’s body awareness.

To read more about how to preserve your fitness efforts while traveling, please see “Fit to Travel” in the online IDEA Library or in the November-December 2015 print issue of IDEA Fitness Journal. If you cannot access the full article and would like to, please contact the IDEA Inspired Service Team at (800) 999-4332, ext. 7.