Amber is my massage therapist from {Dharma Studios}. She is also a yoga instructor specializing in restorative classes and traditional healing. I have been seeing her quite often lately and as a result she has come to know my body quite well. She was also able to identify many things that were "off" with my body after a few sessions - muscular imbalances, postural problems, and tendencies that I probably would want to rid of ASAP. 

For starters, my left shoulder in always in slight medial rotation (turned forward and in) due to 21 years of sleeping on my left side. Both of my shoulders are too depressed (low) because of my silly fear of having scunched up shoulders. My lumbar spine in overly lordodic (low back is too curved) because Stu McGill has scared me probably way more than necessary to ever flex my spine and I do a lot of the opposite. 

It was a huge kick in the butt to realize that my posture, that I thought was seamless... kind of sucked. So, how did she propose I fix this?

Mountain Pose.
Aka "Tadasana"

You might recogize this pose as the "beginning posture" to set up proper alignment. Although most think that this is a relatively inactive posture of where we are simply standing, let me tell you that it is NOT! {Tadasana's asana column} via Yoga Journal explains the many crazy things that are actually going on in this pose - though you may not be able to see it from the outside, your motor neurons should be having a party on the inside.

However, these are just general guidelines. If you want to define your PERFECT mountain pose, you must first identify your postural imbalances. A chiropractor, physiotherapist, kinesiologist, massage therapist, or yoga instructor can more than likely assess you.

Once you do so, stand in front of a mirror, and use this reference to align yourself properly with your new found knowledge from a specialist. Keep in mind that when you first do this, it will feel very, very awkward because your brain has been telling you this whole time that your asymmetrical posture was in fact symmetrical. (inaccurate proprioception) But by using this mirror reference and consciously aligning yourself up properly, you can now teach your body where it actually is in space, and what symmetrical actually feels like. Do this for at least a minute several times a day and of course integrate into your yoga practice!

I think that it is so important to be nit picky about a thing like posture because it is literally how your hold your body for almost 2/3rds of your life. So be mindful, and instead of being so gung ho on hitting tittibhasana, step back, and work on getting your tadasana pristine.

Sincerely,
Kim