October 31, 2019

Aaron Alexander: 12 Lifestyle Hacks for Better Posture – Collective Insights

Check out the Collective Insights Episode Page and Show Notes

Your overall fitness doesn’t start in the gym – it starts from the way you breathe, sit, stand, and walk
A non-optimal work environment sets you up for depression by putting you in an anxious position
Poor posture creates a traffic jam for the nervous system and disturbs blood flow
Your posture affects the way others see you: “If you move in the world in such a way that you don’t believe in yourself, no one will believe you” – Aaron Alexander

Aaron Alexander (@alignpodcast) is a manual therapist and movement coach. He hosts the Align Podcast.
- He’s also the author of The Align Method, which is due out in December
Host – Dr. Heather Sandison (@DrSandisonMD)

The Align Method is a 5-step user manual aimed to add movement back into your life
Our environment has been set up to outsource the need for movement
- You can literally “hunt and gather” food by pressing buttons on your cell phone

Going too big too soon (like going from your couch to trying to run a marathon)
Your overall fitness doesn’t start in the gym – it starts from the way you breathe, sit, stand, and walk
- Bigger achievements come later

Look around your home or office and ask: “How does this sculpt me“?
- Is your desk facing a wall, with a bad chair that’s too low? – Fix it!
A non-optimal work environment sets you up for depression by putting you in an anxious position
- Get a standing desk, put it near an open window so you get some UVA and UVB rays from the sun, take frequent breaks for fresh air, etc.

Avoid the “sad puppy look” (hunched, head forward)
- Raise the height of your seat or get on the floor!
- An easy hack: Picture a string on the back of your head pulling you toward the ceiling

Put your hands on your lower ribs and feel your breath expanding outward
- You want to breathe through your whole torso
  - “If you’re just belly breathing, you’re missing out” – Aaron Alexander

If you’re out of alignment, your cells are not going to communicate
- At some point, you’ll wind up with disease
  - Poor posture creates a traffic jam for the nervous system and disturbs blood flow
“Harmony dwells where obstruction does not exist” – Aaron Alexander

“Cut those people out of your life that are parasites; they’re leaching on you, in part, because you don’t carry yourself in a way that shows they can’t touch you, so they get in” – Aaron Alexander
- In simpler terms: Parasites come to a diseased organism

Stand in the mirror and check out your body profile
- Your posture affects the way others see you: “If you move in the world in such a way that you don’t believe in yourself, no one will believe you” – Aaron Alexander
The way you move—your posture—reflects the way you think
- Your motion is a product of your emotion
- You can tell how people are feeling by looking at them
Posture affects memory
- If you’re hunched, you’ll find it easier to access bad memory associations
- If you’re upright, it’s easier to remember good memories
When people use defeated language, their body reflects it

Pay attention and be mindful: to the way you move your eyes, how the breeze feels on your skin, and to the healing sounds around you
Focus on creativity
Only do the stuff that you can do, outsource what you can’t
A coach/mentor is a great investment
Hang around people who are where you want to be