Just sit down and stand up. If you do it right, it’s a “mitzvah.”
Canadian researchers have reported excellent results with an easy-to-learn, non-strenuous procedure that they call the Mitzvah Exercise (from the Hebrew word meaning “a good deed that brings good to the doer”). In a study at the Faculty of Medicine of Dalhousie University in Halifax, twenty-five adults performed the exercise an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. On the basis of a brief trial, their breathing capacity increased, chest girth expanded, and they looked, felt, and measured taller.
Poor posture – chin thrust forward, spine curved, shoulders rounded – causes a good deal of grief. Many Americans have chronic back and neck pains, often disabling sprains or strains. Many sufferers find it difficult to exercise, even though they know they should. The Mitzvah Exercise requires little physical effort, no supervision, and no fancy equipment, and you can do it for as long or short as you like, working up gradually.
The exercise was developed by M. Chohen-Nehemia, director for fifteen years of the Canadian Center for the Alexander Technique in Toronto. He based it on elements of the Alexander method, which is widely used for reducing tension in spinal and other muscles, straightening spinal curvature, and lifting the rib cage. And he also has observed the Bedouins of the Sinai desert (who sit tall in the saddle).
Here’s how to do it:
• Stand with back of legs close to a chair or, preferably, a stool, feet wide apart and toes pointed slightly outward.
• Let head and neck fall and curl gently toward chest.
• Let knees bend in a line over toes. Reach down toward the floor with hands between feet, sitting down at the same time and keeping the head and neck curled down all the while. Pause and count two seconds. (Less time at first if you feel dizzy.) Don’t force your hands to touch the floor. Eventually they will.
• Raise body to sit straight, chest and head facing straight ahead, hands hanging down at the sides. Breathe deeply for ten seconds. (Don’t tuck the chin).
• Let head, neck, chest, and back fall and curl down in line with the spine. Don’t lean forward or backward. Pause five seconds.
• Reach down toward the floor with hands between feet, keeping head and neck curled down, and pause for a second or two.
• With knees in line over the feet, push the heels against the floor, keeping the wrist on the back half of the foot. Raise body to stand up straight with chest and head lifted to look straight ahead, straightening the body, head, and knees all at the same time. Make sure the action is synchronized. Pause ten seconds. Walk around for a minute or two.
Feel good? You look good. Try it again. Just be sure to keep the head and neck curled down and the knees in line over the feet all the way down and up from the chair when practicing the exercise.
Robin Westen is ThirdAge’s Health expert. She writes about health for national magazines. Check for her daily updates.
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Read more: http://www.thirdage.com/alternative-integrative-health/posture-exercises#ixzz18EW79uMs
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