Posture matters - the ONE adjustment to breathe with ease
Let’s start the article with a hands on experience. As we know, paper is patient and your own felt sense says more than 1000 words. Please take 2 minutes to follow along! I promise it gets to the point, a good one, also promised!
We want to explore how posture - your body posture - influences your breathing capacity:
As you are - either sitting or standing - round your back, shoulders collapsing to the front, chin moving towards the chest, you should be in a slouchy position. Bring your awareness to your breath and just notice the movement of the breath in your body. Take a minute to breathe here, slouchy, rounded, collapsed. And maybe you notice even how the quality of your thoughts changes.
Now let’s change the posture again: please sit or stand upright, long through the spine, shoulders relaxed, chin parallel to the floor, broad across the collar bone. Again noticing your breath, feeling the expression of your breath in your body. Breathe in this posture for a few more cycles of inhalations and exhalations. Do you sense a slight shift in your mind?
What did you notice from our little experiment? Could you sense the difference of breath quality within the two postures? What are your conclusions?
What is healthy and efficient breathing?
It might seem so obvious but actually none of my clients and retreat participants have ever connected their body posture with healthy and efficient breathing. What do I even mean with healthy and efficient breathing?
Your breath is healthy when you are able to intentionally regulate your body and brain system with your breath and when you are capable to use the full capacity of your lungs (which indicates a strong and mobile diaphragm).
Your posture & mood influence each other
In my training to become a certified embodiment coach I have learned so much about the influence of the posture on our psyche, our mood and mental state: yes, our body posture affects how we feel and move. You can regulate your mind, shift your emotions and perspective and tadaaaa enhance your breath quality just by changing your body posture. Posture matters!
Research suggests that standing or sitting upright can positively influence how we perceive ourselves and others perceive us. On the flip side, slouching or hunching might convey a lack of confidence and impact our mood negatively. I guess we all suffer a little of our “scrolling posture”….
Align to support your breath
Also when it comes to breathing your posture matters: you provide your lungs with the room they need to expand fully and function optimally. By sitting or standing with proper alignment - where effort and ease are in balance - we enable healthy breathing. This not only increases oxygen intake but also supports relaxation and reduces stress levels. In contrast, poor posture restricts lung capacity, constricts the airflow and impedes smooth exchange of oxygen, which can increase feelings of anxiety and tension.
I am ending with a really really cool and probably most unexpected fact: breathing exercises (of course the healthy and steady ones) can correct and improve postural problems! Imagine that! Baaam!
So, enough! It’s more than clear to welcome awareness of our posture in our daily life and it’s more than clear to start with proper breath-wellness better today than tomorrow.
For more insightful tips and guidance, stay tuned to our blog.
Thank you for breathing with me!
With love, Felicia
Further reading and tips:
If you are interested in educating yourself more about embodiment, I can highly recommend the courses and podcast from Embodiment Unlimited by Mark Walsh (he might trigger you and he is a genius!)
There are so many studies out there about the correlation of body posture and emotional well-being. Here are just a couple for you to browse:
Dehcheshmeh, T.F., Majelan, A.S. & Maleki, B. Correlation between depression and posture (A systematic review). Curr Psychol (2023).
Sarah Awad, Tobias Debatin, Albert Ziegler, Embodiment: I sat, I felt, I performed – Posture effects on mood and cognitive performance, Acta Psychologica, Volume 218, 2021.