“Be loose. Dance. Breathe. All day.”

Posture rocks. It may be the most underrated detail in your wellness regimen. It is the key to your breath being in flow, your spine and shoulders maximized and pain-free, and your self-confidence in tact.

My theory about why we do not stand up straight is because our mothers told us to. Some kind of subconscious rebellion from sixth grade that we never got over. Time to get over it.

I think the other reason that women, in particular, do not assume good posture is because they are embarrassed to stand out in the crowd, or if they are well endowed, perhaps they don’t want to be noticed in that way either. And tall people are the worst offenders!

Hogwash! Go for it. Stand up and stand out! You have nothing to lose except your insecurities.

An additional point: Many of us when in our stress mode go into stacatto, choppy movements as our modus operandi, because we are holding our breath, most likely compartmentalizing in our mind and hurrying and, of course, the body reflects all of it.

If you can catch yourself doing this, take that moment as a reminder to relax and shift to that inner flow. It starts with a couple of sighs of relief to kick start a flowing breath and then feeling that relaxation soak into the body. Swinging the arms is your reminder to be lyrical in the way you move. Feeling comfortable in your body is the gift.