Bad Posture? Adopt the Samurai Posture

 

If you work at your computer or spend a lot of time sitting down, there may be a time when you realize that you are too hunched over. We’ve all been there.

Logically, at that moment the first thing we do is adopt a “good” posture. And it works for us, for about half a minute. Until we forgot that there’s anything remotely similar to a posture and went back to our turtlenecks.

Bad posture not only has negative effects on appearance, but also on health. It can cause neck pain, headaches, muscle aches, etc.

That’s why today we decided to give you some tips to adopt the perfect posture of a samurai.

Are you ready?

Take notes!

Sitting like a Samurai

El samurai had a peculiar way of sitting. You’ve probably seen it in movies. If you’ve trained in a dojo, you’ve probably sat like this.

While it’s always interesting to imitate this way of sitting, it’s not something we can do in everyday life. What we will do, however, is imitate the shape of the samurai’s body from the waist up.

If you’re sitting, make sure your legs are separated at an angle of 45 to 60 degrees. Don’t cross your legs. What you can do is rest one foot on one of your knees, as long as you respect the angle mentioned between both legs.

After this, position your hands on your thighs as comfortable as possible.

Now you should straighten your spine and pull your shoulders back. A mistake that many people make here is to pull your shoulders back too far. Don’t do that. Ideally, they should be in line with the rest of your torso. If you feel pain in your back, you are pulling too much.

The posture you’re in now should look something like this:

Try to stay in this position while you work. It will be difficult at first, but you will gradually get used to it, and your back will thank you for it.

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Some tips

Here are some tips to help you maintain an ideal posture throughout the day.

– Keep your shoulders relaxed. You don’t need to keep your shoulders tense or up. Just keep them in line with the rest of your body.

– Try not to tilt your head forward or backward. You don’t need to lift your chin like an imperial guard. Just point your face very slightly upwards.

– Move from time to time. Especially if you work or study in front of a PC, it is best to have a timer that rings every 25 minutes— the well-known Pomodoro technique. This way you can take a 5 minute break to walk, stretch, get some fresh air, etc.

– This is more related to the face, but it is always worth remembering. Puckering your eyebrows while working will give you headaches. Whenever you notice that you are frowning, relax your face to adopt the calm gaze of a samurai.

– Don’t rest your wrists on the desk while you write. Doing so can lead to long-term problems. The idea is that you only write from time to time, and while you are thinking about what to write, leave your hands to rest on your lap.