The Best Posture Exercises

Having good posture is important because so many parts of the body depend on your posture. Poor posture can make your shoulders, neck, knees and back ache. A person who has bad posture can quickly improve his posture by simply making an effort to improve. In addition to simply sitting up straight and walking straight, there are other exercises that can be done.

Upper-Body Exercises

• Some of the muscles that need the most strengthening to improve posture are the shoulders and upper back muscles. Working on these muscles can improve your flexibility and make weak muscles stronger.

  Move your head inward so that your shoulders are aligned on the same vertical plane as your ears. Raise both arms straight in the air so that each arm goes directly next to the ears. Keep the ears and the shoulders aligned. Bend your arms downward and touch your shoulder blades. Do this exercise 10 times with both arms simultaneously. Then do the exercise with only the left arm and only the right arm 10 times.

  To do another good posture exercise, again align your ears and shoulders as you did in the previous exercise. Place your hands in the air again. However, this time when you move your arms downward to touch your shoulder blades, do so slowly. Count to 10 as your arms move toward the shoulders. After reaching the shoulders, start counting to 10 again and slowly begin moving the arms back up. Keep the ears and shoulders aligned throughout the repetitions of this exercise.

Yoga Exercises

• Some poses in yoga are designed to specifically help you improve your posture. The balsana pose (child's pose) is one. It is a fairly simple pose, but it is effective, especially when done often.

  Kneel on the floor and sit on the back of your feet. Bend forward slowly until your forehead meets the floor. This is the balsana yoga pose. Once you reach this point, focus on deep breaths for a full minute. After 1 minute, slowly arise. This exercise is believed to help align the back and neck.

  The eagle pose also can be done to bring alignment to the spine and ultimately improve posture. Stand up straight and place your arms directly in front of your body. Move your left elbow so that it crosses on top of the right arm and lock your hands.

  Move your arms upwards until they reach the same horizontal plane as your shoulders. Stress the forearm muscles in both arms so that they push away from each other and spread the shoulder blades. Hold the pose for 1 minute and then repeat, but first switch the positions of the arms.