If I were to pose the question to you right now, on a scale of 1-5, how would you rate your posture? What would your answer be? Like me, would you immediately contract your abdominal muscles, pull back your shoulder blades, and lift your torso to straighten the spine? Or just remain slouched in the chair with legs resting on the ottoman, crossed at the ankles, unconcerned that the spine is presently curled in some sort of haphazard manner? As my chronological age begins to bear witness to the time spent walking this earth, focusing on Good Posture seems to become a greater concern with each passing day. And although a talented massage therapist will do her best to compensate for my lack of Good Posture, the reality is that hours spent at a computer with improper alignment are taking its toll on my neck and elbow.
Since the idea of Good Posture has frequently appeared in my readings lately, I decided to conduct a search online to see if there was a phrase related to posture that would properly serve as the title to this post. Grabbing my attention from the overwhelming list of searchable options was a quote from the founder of the Japanese martial art known as aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, “A good stance and posture reflect a proper state of mind.” Because this quote offers a deeper reflection than just proper spine alignment, I mulled over other applications for Good Posture, such as the idea presented in the post entitled Get Low, where the physical act of bending down allows us to be the hands and feet of Jesus to a hurting world.
Mirroring Ueshiba’s concept about Good Posture impacting more than just our physical self, Mark Batterson shares in Do It For a Day, the idea that “Physical posture is a powerful prompt. Your physical posture affects your heart posture and vice versa. When you kneel and pray, it sets the tone for the rest of the day.” Encouraging us to develop healthy daily habits like kneeling in prayer, Dunn and Sundene add that “reflectively seeking [God] daily in the postures of trust, submission and love” allow us, as disciplemakers, to be “engaged with Christ in the pursuit of the Christlife” which allow us to be more “likely to create a relationship with a young-adult disciple that reflects these postures.” Here, we see the application that embracing the Good Posture modeled for us by Christ, we are preparing our bodies, hearts, and minds for the journey of equipping Emerging Adults to engage with others and to live a flourishing life.
In their book The Tangible Kingdom, authors Halter and Smay also mention this idea that Good Posture is an essential element to living an abundant life because of what it communicates to others. “Posture represents attitude of the body: the nonverbal forms of communication that accompany what we say…verbal communication isn’t nearly as accurate as the nonverbal rolling of the eyes, crossing of the arms, or inflection in the voice; it’s what isn’t said that often tells the real story…Words communicate what we know; posture represents what we believe and feel. Therefore, posture is the most important part of relationship and communication. Posture shows true emotion and the intent of our heart.”
Well, if the intent of my heart is to love God and love others, then I am forced to consider whether or not I am achieving this outcome through the development of Good Posture. Just as finding a better-designed workstation will likely improve my neck and elbow issues, perhaps I should also consider my posture as it connects to the relationships in my life—what is my current posture communicating to those around me? Is the Wake Left Behind one that is life-giving or life-taking?
Is there someone in your life who exhibits Good Posture—someone who leads us to the truth of Christianity and models what it means to develop the Habits of a Flourishing Life? Please feel free to share in the comments below.
References:
Batterson, M. (2021). Do it for a day: How to make or break any habit in 30 days. Multnomah.
Brainy Quote. (2021). Morihei Ueshiba quotes. Retrieved from https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/morihei_ueshiba_183588
Flourishing @ Life 
I really enjoyed this blog post about posture! As a former collegiate athlete, I experienced years of excruciating pain in my shoulders after about 15 years of softball. One of the things my doctors told me was to fix my posture. Learning to become disciplined about something as small as my posture enabled me to focus on the importance of posture in all areas of my life. Prating discipline, no matter how small the task, allows us to let it spread it into other areas of our life, especially our relationship with God. When we can be disciplined about talking to God and develop a habit of being extremely disciplined, we allow God to truly work in our lives. And we portray to others what posture can really be in our lives.
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I enjoyed this blog. Something I have never really thought about, so it opened my eyes. I drastically noticed a change in my attitude, emotion and affecting the things I did just by changing my posture. I like what you said in paragraph four explaining how posture is an indicator of several things such as “… attitude of the body: the nonverbal forms of communication. Verbal communication isn’t nearly as accurate as the nonverbal rolling of the eyes, crossing of the arms, or inflection in the voice; it’s what isn’t said that often tells the real story…Words communicate what we know; posture represents what we believe and feel. Therefore, posture is the most important part of relationship and communication. Posture shows true emotion and the intent of our heart.” I really liked that because I didn’t realize how important it is to have good posture, not only to look more confident and better but just to be disciplined and determined to maintain good posture.
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I enjoyed this blog. Something I have never really thought
about, so it opened my eyes. I drastically noticed a change in
my attitude, emotion and affecting the things I did just by
changing my posture. I like what you said in paragraph four
explaining how posture is an indicator of several things such as
.. attitude of the body: the nonverbal forms of
communication. Verbal communication isn’t nearly as accurate
as the nonverbal rolling of the eyes, crossing of the arms, or
inflection in the voice; it’s what isn’t said that often tells the
real story. Words communicate what we know; posture
represents what we believe and feel. Therefore, posture is the
most important part of relationship and communication.
Posture shows true emotion and the intent of our heart.” I
really liked that because I didn’t realize how important it is to
have good posture, not only to look more confident and better
but just to be disciplined and determined to maintain good
posture.
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I really enjoyed reading this blog. It really opened my eyes and made me think about something that I had never thought about before. Our posture can effect us in so many different ways. Physically our posture effects or joints and for me personally, I do not have the best posture. Spiritually, we need to have good posture to live the life that Jesus called us to live. I love this way of thinking about how we should live our life. If we allow ourselves to have good posture with Christ, we can see him move in different ways in our life.
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I have always heard of people talk about posture and how important it is and I have sort of just pushed it away and did not really listen. Do not get me wrong I know it is important, but to a certain extent not quite sure I realized. Reading this has definitely opened up my eyes not just to sitting up straight, but with everything spiritually, attitude, and etc. Especially with me having fractured my L5 in my spine before I still to this day deal with pain in my everyday life and I hope it heals or eases up a lot and I feel like my posture and stiffness could definitely help ease that up and just move and feel better each and everyday.
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After reading this blog post it has showed me that I do constantly find myself trying to have good posture even if its uncomfortable. This is something that I think about constantly and I always worry if I am having good posture or not. Having good posture is something important to me because I want to be a chiropractor in my future. After reading this blog it has really showed me how important having good posture really is.
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My whole life I have heard that you always need to have good posture but I have never really thought about the positive effects that it can have on the body. I never realize the fact that it wasn’t just about sitting up straight but it helps with the attitude of the body. Personally, I don’t have the best posture. Posture shows our true emotion. I feel like improving posture leads to a better, healthier life.
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I have known for a long time that posture is a very important thing. I think that posture can have a big reason on how older people stand. For example: if you slouch over for years and years then you have a good chance of standing in a slouched position when you get older. This is why I think it is important to maintain good posture in your every day life. Overall, posture will always be something that needs to be taken serious if you do not want to pay the consequences in the future.
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This article definitely hit home for me. I have always been told by my mom that I would look taller if my posture was better. That I would look more confident and prevent many future back problems. But article was a great insight because it showed me something new. I never realized the effect posture could have on the spiritual spectrum. Like you said, it can indicate attitude but it actually effects your heart. As a youth pastor, I have never thought of the concept that physical posture could actually translate to the posture of being a better disciple of Christ. Thank you for sharing this, I know this will increase my physical well-being but also my walk with Christ.
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