Your thoughts can provoke anxiety. Anxiety may lead to stress that intensifies low back pain. Breath observation will help you calm down. Breathe in through your nose by inhaling for a count of 10. Hold for 5 seconds and release your breath through your mouth for a count of 5. Relax all of the muscles in your body. Focus only on your breathing. Follow your breath. Allow your mind to drift. Breathing is a very powerful relaxation technique.
A legendary samurai, Miyamoto Musashi once said, "Make your fighting stance your every day stance, and make your everyday stance your fighting stance." Musashi survived more than 60 life-and-death duels. Hopefully you will not be required to fight to the death. Your altercations occur in the board room. Or in your kitchen. So, if you are standing, sitting, lying, leaning, or walking, you should be centered. No shifting, no wind-up. Pure balance. Unnecessary physical tension detracts from balance. A static muscular contraction caused by stress interferes with your relaxed posture. Anxiety also affects your breathing, and therefore your body alignment. You may notice that worry increases tension in the muscles surrounding your sacrum. Anxiety may debilitate your lower back. You lose your equilibrium. A fret-filled day can bring you to your knees.
When you are stiff or tight, you're jerky and unsteady. You are at your best when you are relaxed, focused, and balanced. Balance pertains to good posture, a neutral spine, and a firm stance. To find your neutral spine, stand with your heels, hips, shoulder blades, and head against a wall. Slip your hand in the space behind your low back, just above your hips. Sustain this posture throughout the day. A natural stance, with a neutral pelvis, demonstrates a relaxed posture.
Balance is particularly important as you age. If you are off balance, it disturbs your mind in subtle ways. While balance obviously pertains to good posture, it also refers to your psychological profile. Correct posture is directly related to a relaxed, aware, ideal state of mind. The greater your awareness of your body, the better chance you have to be your best. Impeccable balance demonstrates a discipline of body/mind. You have a sense of power. Your movements are free and easy.It is as if you hit a home run. You are sure of yourself, poised, and secure. You tend to have increased confidence. You have the ability to handle adverse situations with zeal.Posture and balance allow you to move without wasted energy. Watch novice tennis players. Notice how they are tight and out of breath. Professional tennis players are graceful. They use only the muscles necessary to stroke the ball. There is no wasted energy. Every gesture has a reason.
To stand upright, without muscular effort, your body parts must be balanced around your center of gravity. This neutral posture prevents strain on ligaments and muscles. If you lean forward at your desk day after day, week after week, postural imbalances develop. When you flex the spine in a forward lean, your disks are loaded unevenly. The ligaments in the back (posterior) of your spine become overstretched and created problems in your upper torso as well.
Many times postural deviations are caused because you do not maintain a neutral spine. If you sit most of the day while eating, working, driving, and watching television, you inadvertently stretch your upper back and shorten or contract the muscles in your chest. This is exemplified in a round shouldered, collapsed chest, and forward head. After years of assuming this unwieldy posture, it seems natural. When you try to change to a correct neutral spine, with your shoulders back, it feels stilted.
Watch yourself in a mirror or on a video to help remedy your posture. Your deviation may be temporary if it was caused by muscle imbalance. To enhance alignment, sometimes specific stretching and strengthening exercises are necessary. Mediballs and Rebounders are specifically designed to help you with your spacial awareness and balance.
Every movement you make, from walking to diving requires you to change your center of gravity. Your muscles exert force to re-establish equilibrium. The right and left sides of your body are almost symmetrical. The front and back halves of your body are too, allowing your spine to support you. Your low back (lumbar) area is curved slightly inward while your upper back (thoracic) area is counterbalanced outward.
