Your posture is strongly affected by your mental state. When you are open and relaxed you tend to have an open relaxed posture. When you are mentally closed and stressed you tend to have a closed tight physical posture. Below are some environmental ideas to help you to relax your spine into a tall healthy posture.
- Create a space to relax: When you want to develop a new habit, one of your most effective tools is to make a visible inspiring change in your environment. Your imagination is the only limit here, never the less here are some ideas: dust the recliner off and get a warm blanket out, get out some candles, set up the stereo for some relaxing music, stock up the fireplace, find some good books, get the tee selection out, setup Epson salt and bath bubbles anything that can help you to let down those chronically tight shoulders.
- Track your progress with biofeedback: Today there is lots of new technology developing to track your stress levels. EEG to measure brain waves, Heart rate variability testing and galvanic skin conductance are all used to measure how stressed you are. Some of this technology can be used to give you live-feedback to teach you how to meditate to a deeper level etc. Whole Body Chiro has a Pulse Wave Profiler an advanced multi-modality unit that establishes your base stress level and the amount of spare fuel in your neurological system. However, the technology is becoming cheaper and more accessible the newest Samsung phones have a heart rate variability monitor to measure stress levels with built-in as standard just next to the camera lens. If you are serious about de-stressing and like technology and stats, then these could be some exiting tools to keep you on track and get some tangible data.
- Install a “posture reminder mirror”: Install a mirror in the office so you can see your own side profile. Most people are totally unaware of how bad their posture is towards the end of the day and the mirror could provide a timely reminder to stretch, straighten-up and sit tall.
- Set up a tall reverse mirror in the car: a handy trick to remember to sit straight and tall in the car is to set the reverse mirror to a tall setting when you first drive out in the morning, then the challenge is to keep that height towards the end of the day. Every time you glance into the mirror only to see the car sealing you will be reminded to stop hunching.
- Schedule 10 min to relax: For the next month schedule all your appointments 10 min early into your calendar and leave a book, some good music or something else that you enjoy doing in the car. That way rather than stressing to run just on time you can have a safety buffer and if everything works out you will have time for a micro-break to do something enjoyable to enrich your day. This will work a treat for your chiropractic appointments too, it enables you to lie down on the table more relaxed and allow for a better adjustment.