And stretttccchhhh....

I caught sight of myself in the mirror just now and and was none too happy. Nothing to do with the fact I need a hair cut, more to do with the fact that I wasn't thinking enough about my posture as I was going about my daily business.

On a typical day I run, I walk, I Pilates (I reckon it should be a verb so I shall use it as such!), I drive and I sit. But unfortunately the past few weeks I have been doing more sitting than anything else due to work and what sitting does is allow my shoulders to round, my spine to curl, my gluts to be inactive...and the list goes on. I also realised that although I have of course done Pilates, I have to admit, I hadn't necessarily adapted my sessions enough to the increased time spent sitting and have been defaulting to what I like to do rather than what my body has really needed.

What it has needed is extension. To work the back muscles to extend the thoracic spine, open the chest, release the shoulders. We're not just talking a quick swan dive, dart or cobra and job done, but maybe a series of extension moves to really get those back extensors working and to allow the front of the body to release.

I do think because of bad backs we do sometimes shy away from doing too much extension in any one session, but as long as it is done correctly, mindfully, with support and isn't causing pain, it can be a wonderful feeling to counterbalance all that dropping in to the front of the body from computer use, driving, sitting watching TV and using our tablets and phones.

So next time you're Pilates-ing give it a go - don't go crazy and go all Olga Korbut - but free your spine and in the process free your body!