Posture Expert Alison Heller-Ono

Mobile phone use is a top culprit for neck pain 💯

💫 You can see in the first pic the phone screen dragging me in. Literally. Our eyes lead our posture down and into the screen, drawing our heads down with it as they go. And this posture over time leads to what's called "text neck", the jutting forward and down of our heads on our necks. And look at my rounded shoulders.... Ouch! 😖 My neck definitely didn't like me sitting in this position.

If you want to beat it, you've got to learn a different way of looking at your phone. It's simple to do but hard to remember! 👇

💫 As you can see in the second pic, I have simply brought the phone up to me, instead of me going down to the phone. 'Dock' the phone to you instead of the other way round. Much more comfy and no more neck pain! 🙌

Give it a go today! 🙂👍
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#textneck #neckpain #posture #posturetips #posturecoach #alexandertechnique #alexandertechniqueteacher #posturepain #wellbeing #mindfulness ...

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🌟 1000 Followers! 🌟 Yay! 🥳

Thanks so much to everyone for following me so far! It's put a big grin on my cheeky face 😀

Keep your eyes peeled for my giveaway tomorrow 👀 One lucky person can win a Laptop Ergo Kit from Standivarius! 🙌
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#followersofinstagram #1000followers #posture #posturematters #posturecoach #followergiveaway ...

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Some of you may never have heard of sit-bones! 🤷‍♂️ I know I hadn't before becoming a Alexander Technique teacher.

Sitting on your sit-bones means comfortable sitting without the effort of sitting up straight (eek, strain!) or the collapse of a lethargic slump (snore!)💤

Sit-bones are bones in your butt for sitting on, just like you have feet for standing on!

How do I find my sit-bones I hear you say? Easy! to find them have a go at putting both hands, palm up, under your backside, and feel around for the two round bones. They’re in there, I promise! 💯

When you have found them, try mega-slumping and notice that they disappear behind your hands, and try sitting up far too straight so that they disappear away in front of your hands.

You can tell, somewhere in the middle is good support for a relaxed neutral spine, letting your sit bones rest into your chair, leaving your spine nice and long, and your head balancing freely on top of that nice long comfortable spine 🙂 👍

This is great for desk workers who have to spend long periods sitting down 👩‍💻

💫 If you need help with this a Alexander Technique teacher can guide you and show you lots more ways to become more aware of your posture! 🙂
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#sitbones #sittingposture #ergonomics #deskworkers #workingfromhome #howtosit #posture #backpain #backpaintips #posturecoach #alexandertechnique #alexandertechniqueteacher #wellbeing #mindfulness ...

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Oof! Would you just look at that bad ironing! 😁 NO, I don't mean the shirt, I mean the posture!

It's all too easy to lock those knees and to curve the spine over to get your ironing done. But it won't do you any favors! 💯

Look, there on the left, the knees are locked tight and the upper back is doing the bending. Ouch! 😖

Much better to unlock those knees and let the legs bend, to bring you lower to the ironing board 👍

This also really helps you get into the flow of ironing, swaying this way and that as the silver shiny platter slides slickly over the silky shirt (having a mindful moment there!)🧘‍♂️

💫 Unlocking your knees is also a great idea when you're over the kitchen sink, or when you're cleaning your teeth.

In the Alexander Technique we call this simple move the 'monkey' 🐒 But you could call it anything you want. Just be sure to leave that neck nice and long, don't pull it back down into the shoulders as you monkey around.

And in case you're wondering, I still did a terrible job of ironing the shirt. But at least my back wasn't tired afterwards 😄👍

💫 For lots more posture tips, see link in bio
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#posture #ironingposture #posturetips #backpain #themonkey #standingposture #alexandertechnique #alexandertechniqueteacher #mindfulness #wellbeing #dailyhabits ...

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Have had a fantastic time teaching Alexander Technique to some fabulous pianists at Chetham's International Piano Summer School in Manchester, UK 😀

Thanks very much for having me again! Think this may be the 8th year I have taught at the summer school 🌞 If this sounds like your kind of thing, come and see us next summer!

Stay tuned for some posture tips for pianists in future posts! 💯
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#piano #pianists #pianoschool #music #musician #pianoposture #pianistsofinstagram #posture #sittingbones #alexandertechnique #alexandertechniqueteacher ...

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Here are my 4 key reasons for poor posture 👇

💫 1. Trying too hard and being too tense 😖 The tenser we get the more we pull down into ourselves with our tight muscles

💫 2. Being too relaxed. Conversely, slumping and flopping around isn't going to help our posture either!

💫 3. Being focussed too much outside ourselves. Our attention can focus on many things at once - but you can be aware of your posture whilst you get stuff done. Think about golfers - they're obsessive about that! ⛳

💫 4. Being focussed too much inside ourselves. can you feel your right foot?🦶 Notice how your attention 'went down' to your foot. Your eyes 👀 probably glanced down there too. Our eyes and heads follow our attention (imagine a learner driver leaning forward to concentrate on the road), and that can pull our posture down a bit too

Good posture is freeing, open and upright. See if you can be self-aware while you look out into the world, and be expansive without effort. Give it a go! 🙂👍
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#posture #poorposture #posturehelp #postureawareness #goodposture #mindfulness #golf #golfersposture #alexandertechnique #alexandertechniqueteacher ...

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Day off work day....woohoo! 🙌 @altymarket. Prosecco lunch ( just the one!) 🥂 Cheers!
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#dayoff #altymarket #foodie #proseccolunch ...

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Hope everyone had a good bank holiday weekend and had a good rest and recharge! 🌞

When you are back to it today, take a moment to think how you are standing at your desk or if you are sitting could you try switching to standing for some of your tasks? Alternating between sitting and standing is really good for your posture 💯 Give it a go! 🙂

So how can you stand effortlessly with less pain, less tension and less fatigue? 🤷‍♀️

💫 While standing at your desk, think of sending the support from your pelvis down into the floor. At the same time allowing your head to float upwards away from your pelvis so you are a bit like a two-headed arrow from the pelvis upwards and the pelvis downwards.

The benefits are it helps you to stand upright with less effort so it's less tiring. It also helps you to avoid tension and aches and pain in your back 👌

Alexander Technique teachers can teach you how to stand effortlessly and lots more! 🙌 See link in bio for my Alexander Technique zoom lessons 💫
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#standingposture #backpain #workingfromhome #alexandertechnique #alexandertechniqueteacher #lesspain #posture #posturetips #wellbeing #mindfulness #workingfromhomepain #deskposture ...

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Sometimes you just have to put out a quick email or two on your your laptop, or make a shopping order 👩‍💻

Grab that laptop and head for the sofa, for sure, but also take a moment to set yourself up!

You can see from the pictures here that even the better posture isn't ideal - but hey, it's a million times better than the alternative, which includes a craning neck with forward head posture, compromised breathing and digestion, and bad arm and wrist positions, all at the very least! 👎

All I did here was to grab a couple of cushions and put them behind my back, and the cushioned laptop tray helps a lot too 🙂👍

Because we all know, that a one-minute email never quite stops there, and before you know it you've spent half an hour in a bad position, just because the email seemed more important than your health. Ouch! 😖

For lots more posture tips and online posture courses, see link in bio 💫
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#posture #wellbeing #neckpain #backpain #rsi #sittingposture #ergonomics #posturecourses #posturetips #alexandertechnique #alexandertechniqueteacher ...

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Our voice is affected by our state and poise, and the Alexander Technique helps you to improve this in many ways.

You Learn how your posture has a massive effect on your vocal quality 🗣

The Alexander Technique is very popular among singers and actors as it helps improve your Voice, Presentation Skills, Acting and Appearance! How cool is that 💯🙌

Here are some of the benefits 👇

💫 It helps you to stop tightening your neck, over-tightening your back, or slumping. You can stand tall and look your best with open shoulders and a beautiful long neck🧍‍♀️

💫 It helps stop that habit of pulling your head back that ruins the quality of your voice.

💫 It helps by releasing tension in the body, allowing the voice to become fuller and freer. Freer ribs make for a full, resonant voice.

💫 It helps reduce nerves and helps you remain poised, cool and confident – ditch the stage fright! 🙌

💫 And it helps you find those bad habits that are spoiling your performance, then helps you to get rid of them.

You can only dump a bad habit once you’re aware of it! Learning the Alexander Technique for singing or to improve your voice can be fun! 🙌

For Alexander Technique in-person sessions and Zoom sessions, see link in bio 💫
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#alexandertechnique #alexandertechniqueteacher #alexandertechniqueforactors #alexandertechniqueforsinging #singers #actors #posturebenefits #presentationskills #posture #poise #posturematters #posturemonth ...

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Self reminder! Make time for rest days 🌞

It was really nice yesterday to take some time out and go for a countryside walk, it's good for you physically and mentally 💯

I even got chance to have a nice lie-down on a pebbly beach 🙂
This is what us Alexander Technique teachers call lying down in a semi-supine position. All you need are some books (or in my case, a shoe! 😂) to rest your head on. Your knees up in the air, and your feet flat on the floor for 10-15 minutes. This will help free your neck muscles and take pressure off your spine 👌

Give it a go! It's a great one to do at the end of a busy working day too to de-stress and rest your back 👍
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#restdays #takeabreak #alexandertechnique #posturecoach #alexandertechniqueteacher #semisupine #backpain #neckpain #wellbeing #posture ...

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Can you spot the difference between the two pics? 🤷‍♂️

A few simple changes is all it takes to go from tiring posture to effortless posture! 🙌

The changes I made from the first pic to second are 👇

💫 1. I changed my sitting position from perching on the edge of my chair to sitting at the back of my seat. We all have something called sit-bones, you can find your sit bones by putting your hands under your butt and feeling for the round bones. They're in there, I promise! Let your sit-bones rest into the seat as you sit at the back of the chair. Sitting this way will help support your back and stop niggling aches and pain!

💫 2. In the first pic my chair was too low! See how it left my arms pressing on the sharp edge of the desk? Ouch! 😖 Aim to have your hips at the same height as or slightly above your knees, and your elbows at the same height as your keyboard. You can always use a cushion to raise yourself up if you don't have an adjustable chair.

Sitting too low also meant I was having to look up to see the screen, resulting in uncomfortable forward head posture. In the 2nd pic you can see my screen is at eye level and I have a nice open, upright back and neck! Use an adjustable riser like the one shown here from Kensington, an adjustable monitor arm, or for free, some cook books are a handy quick fix to raise your monitor up👍

💫 3. Back in the first pic, you can see I am having to reach forward to get to my mouse and keyboard! Bring your keyboard and mouse to you! 10cm from the front of the desk is a good distance away, you shouldn't have to reach too far.

And finally, see how the armrests are adjusted to provide good support - most armrests are easily adjusted.

Could you take a moment to get yourself set up better? 💫 🙂
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#workingfromhome #ergonomics #wfh #workstation #ergonomicsetup #workingfromhomewellbeing #desksetup #backpain #neckpain #workingfromhomepain #posturematters #posturemonth #alexandertechnique #wellbeing ...

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💫 Daily Reminder 💫

Is your laptop causing you pain?

Do you find yourself cramming down to see the screen?

It's all a question of height! 💥

💫 My Top Tip is to bring your laptop screen to eye level or just below eye level 👀 So you don't have to cram down in order to see it. 💥 It's definitely worth considering a wireless keyboard and mouse to achieve this!

Look how much comfier I look in the second picture!! 🙂💯

You could use a laptop stand to raise your laptop or even a stack of books. I find cook books are perfect for the job 👌

The benefits from raising your laptop are 👇

💫 No more forward head posture from cramming down to see the screen.

💫 You are now sitting nice and neutrally upright at your desk or table 👨‍💻 Much more comfy for your back and neck!

💫 It's also going to keep you breathing easier, you're going to feel less stressed because you're not compressed and short of breath 💨

💫 You're going to feel less pain and less tired because your neck and back are nice and open.

Give it a go! 🙂

💫 Need help setting your workstation up, see link in bio or dm me 👍
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#ergonomics #workingfromhome #wfh #desksetup #kitchentable #laptops #laptopstand #workingfromhometips #ergonomictips #remoteergonomicassessments #workstation #alexandertechnique ...

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It's taken years to get your posture, years! 💯 You can improve your posture in an instant (you could do that now, by changing how you're sat 👩‍💻 or standing🧍‍♂️). But that won't stick.

🌟 Postural improvement has three main requirements - your Body, your Brain, and your Space

🌟 These three factors are what has built you up, into what you are today. You look like your posture, and, guess what, your posture looks like you.

🌟 It's generally easy to spot someone who's police, or army, or a teacher. It's in the way they move and hold themselves 👮‍♀️

🌟 But what are you? Are you a sofa-slumper? A text-necker? Are you too uptight? Or maybe a little the other way? Whatever type of person you are, it shows!

🌟 Stopping thinking like a slumper will, over time, stop you acting like a slumper, which will change who you are, so you stop looking, stop presenting, like a slumper.

Body, Brain, Space. This broadcast was brought to you by 'brain'. Thanks brain! 🧠 🙌

💫 To find out more about my Body, Brain and Space method check out my website posturestars.com 😀👍
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#posture #postureawareness #posturematters #posturecoach #mindfulness #posturemindfulness #alexandertechnique ...

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If you aren't that familiar with the Alexander Technique, you may be wondering what type of people benefit the most from having sessions 🤷‍♀️

Over the years I’d say I’ve worked most with GP’s, nurses and teachers, maybe just because their jobs are so hard. They spend so much of their time caring for other people, and in the meantime forget to care for themselves.

I get a lot of desk-workers with neck, back, shoulder and arm pain 👨‍💻 that's because they are trying so hard at their job they end up forgetting to keep themselves healthy and comfortable.

Some actors and musicians who want to look and perform better🕺for the same reason their performance overuled their wellbeing.

Meditators and Mindfulness practitioners and teachers who want to be more in touch with themselves 🙏

Mum’s come along with their kids, so their child can learn how to have good posture and get them set up well for the future 👩‍👦

When you do the maths it looks something like this 👇 This is why people come to see me.

PAIN FROM WORK – 40%
RETIRED AND WANT TO MAKE THE MOST OF LIFE – 20%
IMAGE, POSTURE, VOICE AND APPEARANCE – 20%
MEDITATORS AND MINDFULNESS – 10%
KIDS AND TEENS – 10%

💫 This is why I love my job so much I get to work with people from all different professions and walks of life and get to help them become the best version of themselves 🙌 🙂
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#alexandertechnique #alexandertechniqueteacher #posturecoach #teacher #kidsposture #workingfromhome #meditation #Mindfulness #wellbeing ...

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Isn't it crazy how we get lost in our screen? 💁‍♂️If you're old enough to remember, our TV's sat in the corner of the room, a small screen, and you'd see the screen as well as the room around it. But nowadays TV's are much bigger (and arguably more interesting!) and it's normal to lose ourselves in the screen. And computers 👨‍💻and phones 📱 are just the same 💯

🌟 Getting lost in the screen means we lose awareness of our posture, the minutes, hours and days tick past, and it all starts to hurt 😖

🌟 It's possible to manage your posture and look at a screen. Just us talking about this now is enough to bring some of your attention to your posture as you read.

🌟 Try giving all your attention to the screen right now, and see how it literally pulls your 👉 attention towards it. How about putting your attention to the crown of your head? 🙆‍♀️ See how the screen has less of a 'drag' when you do this.

🌟 I like to play around with how much attention I pay to the screen, and how much I pay to myself. 20% you, 80% screen is fine, and it's a big difference from ignoring your body all day.

🌟 Give it a go! Let me know how you get on 👇
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#posture #postureawareness #posturematters #posturecoach #mindfulness #posturemindfulness #screentime #deviceuse #neckpain #backpain #alexandertechnique #alexandertechniqueteacher ...

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Stretches are a great way to help open your posture up! 💯

Computer posture tends to be head forward and shoulders forwards. And it's this over time that can cause headaches, neck tension, shoulder pain, problems with the arms, upper back pain, and lower back pain 😖

One of my favourites is the Chair Twist 🙂 If you are sitting down at your desk now, why not give it a go 🤷‍♀️

💫 Please, remember if any exercises are uncomfortable or painful please do not do them. Posture exercises should have a pleasant stretch to them.

💫 This stretch is as simple as twisting around the hand to the back of your chair and enjoying that nice twist through the body. Change round, and we twist round. And we enjoy that nice twist through the body again.

Then while your there, you might as well stretch the hips which can become very tight from sitting. Simply place one ankle on top of your other knee. And then lean forwards. And you'll feel that stretch through the outer leg and into the hips as well. This is a really nice stretch that you could do probably without anyone knowing whilst you're on a team session or a zoom call.

But really the key to having better posture is MOVEMENT🚶‍♂️ It's constant MOVEMENT 💯
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#keepmoving #postureexercises #stretches #posture #chairtwist #computerposture #headaches #necktension #shoulderpain #backpain #workingfromhome #deskstretches #alexandertechnique #alexandertechniqueteacher #posturecoach ...

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My best advice to help keep you fit as you get older, is to get moving! 💯 🚶‍♂️

As a posture pro, I’ve worked with everyone from kids to people in their 90’s. And one things stands out every time when I work with seniors. The people with the best posture, mobility, strength and stamina are the ones who’ve gone out, every single day, for a walk 🌳 🚶‍♀️And I mean: Every. Single. Day!!

Getting out of the chair and onto the pavement has to be my number one tip 👍 Time and again I’ve asked, “so tell me how you’ve managed to keep so well”, and the answer is always that they’ve kept moving 💯

Moving will keep you limber, supple, and flexible. Getting a good stroll in will get you lengthened, upright and mobile more than any gadget or exercise. And it’s good for the soul too, so what’s not to like. As an added bonus, if you can go somewhere with a view, like a lake, river or canal, you’re onto a winner 🏞

So let me stress this again…Go on, get out there and get some air on your face and some blood moving through those veins 💨

You’ll look and feel better for it! 🙂

💫 Check out my blog on Senior posture at - posturestars.com/senior-posture-find-help/
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#keepmoving #seniorposture #howtostayyoung #howtokeepfit #walking #posture #mobility #wellbeing #seniors #alexandertechnique #alexandertechniqueteacher #posturecoach ...

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💫 Feel good Friday 💫

Improved Posture has so many benefits, both physically and for your wellbeing 💙

Here are my top 5 benefits 👇😀

💫1.IMPROVED CONFIDENCE 👉 Great posture works wonders for your confidence. A study where students adopted upright poses were found to be much more likely to entertain positive beliefs about themselves than students who were encouraged to slouch.

💫2. FEELING HAPPIER 👉 Happiness and Posture are closely intertwined. A study found that patients with mild to moderate depression felt more alert and reported less anxiety after changing their posture to keep their back and shoulders upright while sitting.

💫3. LESS PAIN 👉 Having an open, upright body means better balance and less pressure on your joints. Your skeleton is there to support you - let it do it's job!

💫4. LESS STRESS AND ANXIETY 👉As well as helping you feel better physically, better posture means easier breathing. Easier breathing helps you feel calmer and more relaxed 🧘‍♀️
Try this - sit up as straight as you can by tensing, and notice how it restricts your breathing 💨

💫5. LOOKING BETTER 👉 It's easy to spot someone with good, effortless posture, they stand tall, with open shoulders and a long neck and a air of confidence! We spend so much on hair, clothes and makeup and forget just how much posture can help you look better 💯
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#feelgoodfriday #posturebenefits #betterposture #improveposture #posturetips #wellbeing #happiness #lesspain #confidence #stress #anxiety #breathing #posturematters #posturemonth #alexandertechnique #alexandertechniqueposture ...

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