proper posture

My last post touched on the importance of posture in dance. It reminded me of the importance of posture in swimming. Which reminded me of the importance of posture in life.

There may exist debate on whether or not we as a human species ever walked hunched over, but there is no debate today regarding the proper way to stand erect. With the advent of computers and desk-bound careers, many of us spend the bulk of our days with our spines curved out and our heads forward. Dad was always onto me to keep my shoulders back. Later on my swim coach, knowing all the benefits of posture and how it can help in swimming, specifically taught the team on the correct way to stand.

If it is not essential for excellence in your sport, why bother?

improved health (elaboration coming in a future post)

• the appearance of confidence (sure, it might just look that way, but it's a start)
• beauty (yes, you look much better with good posture!)

Steps to improved posture:

1. lift your shoulders to your ears and then roll them back and down
2. lower your shoulders from the base of the shoulder blades
3. lift your chest
4. roll your pelvis forward and tuck your tailbone in
5. stretch your spine tall
6. look in the mirror to see how much better you look

Uncomfortable yet? No doubt, but with practice it will be natural and beautiful. (For those swimmers out there, these steps work for streamlining too, just lift your arms to squeeze the back of your head, one hand over the other, squeeze your legs together, and point your toes.)

Tip #3: Good posture! Keep your spine in line for health and appearances. Looking confident and attractive can help you get respect in the business world and invitations to dinner in the social world. And it's so simple! You probably usually work much harder for this.

learning from the dancers, Derek and Brooke

There was an excellent example of the use of imagery on Dancing with the Stars last night. Derek (the professional dancer) was having trouble getting his partner, Brooke (the gorgeous model star and mother of 4 kids), to stand up tall with her shoulders down and her chest slightly swayed away from him. It's the proper posture for the dance, but she naturally, like many of us, rolls her shoulders forward and lets her spine curve outward. Derek had her carry one of her babies in a front mount sling (what are those called? I'm not a mom yet, so not up on the lingo) in order to get a feel for the correct posture. Brooke has lots of experience carrying her children this way, and she immediately achieved the right position. Then - and here is the imagery part - she says she imagines carrying her baby while dancing in order to get it right without actually carrying him.

An important component to this example is that she used an aide that was applicable to her (it made sense) and she paid close attention to how her body felt doing it right. This made it easier to translate that to her imagining.

If you are attempting imagery for the first time, start with simple aides as Brooke did. Many coaches use props in sports for drills. These props can be imagined after they are removed. You may also imagine aides that could never really exist. One of my favorites as a swimmer is to imagine a fishing line from the top of my head to the wall and it reeling me in faster and faster. This makes sense to me. I bet it doesn't make sense to a lot of you. No, I am not a fishergal, but it's immediately and naturally applicable nonetheless. What works for you?

If you are attempting imagery for the first time in your sport, spend some time finding out how it feels to play first. Use all your senses. What does the environment look like? What does it smell like? taste like? What do you hear? What does your foot in the shoes or on the blocks, your hand on the racket, your head in the helmet feel like? What does the contraction and extension of your arm feel like? This last question taps into the kinesthetic sense, a tough one to describe, but it's the general physical feeling, torque, twist, movement of your body through the actions you are imagining. Once you are more aware of all this while you are active, you will be able to more easily incorporate this into your imagery.

Brooke was able to actually use an aide and do the skill right with it before using imagery. This is the easiest way proceed as a beginner. But you may imagine an aide you cannot actually use, such as fishing line from your head (that'd hurt if it were real!). And you may imagine doing skills right you have never done right before. Getting it right in your head can help you more quickly do it right physically.

Kudos to Derek as a creative teacher and to Brooke for excellent use of imagery!

Public Speaking

Mark Zeigler, my undergrad FSU professor for public speaking, advised us not to give the audience power. I discovered what he meant last night as I prepared to speak to the entire freshmen class of athletes at FSU. In my head, I had imagined the freshmen athletes as having more power than they do. It was not too long ago that I, too, was a freshman athlete at this same division one sport powerhouse, and I admit that thinking about that made me feel important (and all the support and perks certainly helped fuel that viewpoint). But as I looked out on the crowd I realized that these were 19 and 20 year olds; they looked so young, so apppropriately "fresh." And I was not nervous anymore.

I spoke with John Lata, the Athletic Coordinator, and he said he is shy, so he puts on a tie to "scare people away" (actually, it's required wearing, and this effect is just a bonus) and then just puts himself out there. His job requires a lot of public speaking. He said it gets to the point that you look out into a crowd of 200 and think "these are just a bunch of kids; listen." Of course we have respect for each and every one of the athletes, and if you talk to John Lata individually, this is immediately evident. Thinking this way is simply a matter of recognizing we have something important to impart and they are not as powerful as we are apt to make them.

This lesson is important, I think, even if the crowd is learned individuals older than I am. I have worked with older adults in a counseling capacity. I ought to be able to speak to a group as well. It's all about remembering that I have something important, and they may be able to benefit from it.

Tip #2: Do not give others more power than they have. Maybe it's a crowd of people in a public speaking situation. Maybe it's your opponent on the field or in the pool. Maybe it's the bully in the classroom. Whoever it is, remember they are people with the same human foils as you have.

(However, even all the reframing in the world won't quite rid of all the nerves! It's about coping with nerves. And that's something that can be learned from sports.)

Off the starting blocks...

Today I am making my first post. It's kind of exciting!



This evening I will present the benefits of imagery to the entire freshman class of athletes (and that includes cheerleaders...I've heard they enjoy the workshop most!) Sometimes I wonder why I sign up for these things, but staying in your comfort zone never yields improvement, so I will use imagery myself to calm those nerves before speaking. No, I'm not refering to imagining them all naked; I will imagine myself being calm and doing well. More on imagery later.



So tip #1: Get out of your comfort zone. Whether this means pushing past "practice pace" and attempting to hold a faster repeat or it means trying something new with your pre-performance routine or it means raising your hand to contribute to discussion in class, just do it. If you always prepare the same way, you will always perform the same way. In sports and in life, we need to push ourselves, make ourselves just a little bit uncomfortable, to improve.