Wealden Times | WT259 | December 2023 | Christmas Supplement inside

Wellbeing
Posture
Perfect II
In the second part of her
exploration of posture, Sarah
Maxwell shares gentle exercises to
improve and protect back health
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With Christmas heading
towards us faster than Santa’s
sleigh, my follow up to
last month’s posture tips might be just
the thing to get you through this busy
season and enable you to have a jolly
Christmas – less stressed and pain free!
Take a deep breath
One often overlooked aspect of
posture is our breathing. Many of us
unknowingly engage in shallow chest
breathing, contributing to additional
stress and tension in our upper body.
This can often result in poor posture,
muscular strain and discomfort.
Belly breathing, (also known as
diaphragmatic breathing) is a quick
and easy way we can help to alleviate
these symptoms and, in addition
to improving our overall posture, it
will help to keep you grounded and
release built up stress and tension.
When we breathe deeply into our
belly, our diaphragm and the muscles
between our ribs work together to
expand our chest and fill our lungs
with air. This action not only helps
stretch our spine, making it stronger,
but also reduces the pressure on our
back. Belly breathing is also a great
way to reduce stress and tension, most
especially vital at this time of year when
you need more than 24 hours in a day!
How to do it
To begin practising belly breathing,
find a comfortable position whether
standing, sitting – or even lying
down for a much-deserved break.
• Place one hand on your chest
and the other on your stomach.
Take a slow, deep breath in through
your nose, imagining your belly as
a balloon being filled with air.
• Then, exhale for the same count,
allowing your belly button to gently
lower towards your spine. Focus on
relaxing your shoulders and releasing
any tension you may be holding.
• Start with five breaths and
gradually increase the duration as
you become more comfortable.
Give yourself a clap
One simple yet effective exercise to
increase shoulder mobility is the arm clap.
• Start by mobilising your shoulders,
circle forward and back 10x in each
direction. Extend your arms forward, and
clap them together in front of your body.
• Repeat this motion 10x, gradually
aiming to clap higher and higher
behind you as you warm up.
• This exercise not only enhances
shoulder flexibility resulting in better
posture, it will also strengthen your
shoulders so you can hit January upright,
less frazzled and ready to take on 2024.
And relax
Don’t forget to take time out for yourself
to recharge. My favourite way to relax
is in an Epsom salts bath. Although
research is limited on the benefits,
they have been used for centuries for
relaxation and muscle soreness relief.
I fill the bath up to my neck with not
too hot water and enjoy for 20 minutes
twice a week. Even if the science is
lacking, the time with the bathroom
door locked is a welcome relief in itself!
And finally
My special Christmas gift to you this
year is to recommend you let others do
the vacuuming over the holiday season.
Keeping your spine rigidly over-extended
while vacuuming can potentially be
damaging and turn you into a grinch.
The last thing you need is your back
muscles tightened up like a bunch of
Christmas lights. So this year, why not
share the joy of the vacuum and have a
happy, pain free and jolly Christmas!
Sarah Maxwell is a multi-award
winning Lifestyle Wellbeing and
Fitness coach. You can find her at
sarahmaxwell.com. Get in touch via
email at sarahmaxwell@mail.com
and on social @sarahmaxlife
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