Liza Egbogah Liza Egbogah

Breakfast Television : A Quick Routine to Improve Your Posture

Body + Posture expert Dr. Liza Egbogah shares an easy routine of exercises that you can do to improve your posture, mobility and core strength.

Here are the 5 exercises:

  1. Thoracic extension with side bend

  2. Pec stretch with back bend

  3. Arm windmills

  4. Side leg lifts

  5. Hip figure 8s

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Liza Egbogah Liza Egbogah

A Postural Approach to Mental Health

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For psychological immunity and emotional resiliency - our body and breath must be balanced. This is why posture is an important component of mental health. Read the latest issue of Marquee magazine to learn more

https://marqueemagazine.ca/

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Liza Egbogah Liza Egbogah

A Routine From A Posture Expert To Reduce Stress and Support Immunity

With poor posture our lungs do not have as much room to expand - making it difficult to breath properly and making us more susceptible to respiratory illness. It can also increase feelings of anxiety and stress which can in turn affect our immune response. Here is a routine to improve your posture, open your lungs, boost immunity and help you relax.

With poor posture our lungs do not have as much room to expand - making it difficult to breath properly and making us more susceptible to respiratory illness. It can also increase feelings of anxiety and stress which can in turn affect our immune response.  Here is a routine to improve your posture, open your lungs, support immunity and help you relax.

forward-fold

Wide-Legged Standing Forward Bend

How to do: Stand with your feet about double shoulder width apart. Interlace your fingers behind your back, and straighten your arms. Fold forward, lifting your arms up toward the ceiling. You should feel a nice stretch in your chest. When you feel a good stretch -take a nice deep breath in and as you exhale try and go deeper into the posture.

What it does: This yoga pose helps to open up the chest which will improve your posture and give you more room for inhalation. It also brings blood flow to your head which helps to activate the parasympathetic nervous system which is the rest and relax portion of your nervous system. So not only is this pose great for your respiratory system, it can help relieve stress.

child-pose

Side Child’s Pose

How to do: Start on all fours with your hands and knees on the ground and lower your hips onto your heels and press back with straight arms in front of you. Walk your hands to the right until you feel a good stretch along your left torso. Gently breathe into your left side ribs to loosen and stretch the side torso. Hold for 5 deep breath cycles. Try and imagine space increasing between your ribs with each breath. Repeat  on the other side.

What it does: With too much time spent sitting and stress, the area around our ribcage tends to become compressed. This compression means that that we are not able to breathe as deeply which can lower our immune response. With this pose the ribcage is opened, the torso lengthened and it allows us to take proper deep breaths - which will help boost our immunity and relieve stress. It also feels great and you can literally feel the tension melting away in this pose.

bow-pose


Bow Pose

How to do: Start by lying on your belly, with your arms relaxed alongside your body, palms facing upwards, your legs extended straight back behind you and your forehead resting down on your mat. Bend your knees, bringing your heels in toward your buttocks. Reach your hands back and take a hold of your outer ankles.  Begin to kick back into your feet and try and press your shins towards the back of the room. Keeping your knees hip width apart —lift your heels higher away from your buttocks and draw the tops of your shoulders away from your ears.Keep your chin parallel to the ground and look directly ahead of you.Remain in the pose for 5 deep breaths, then gently release your legs on the exhale and rest on your mat for several breaths with your arms alongside your body.

What it does: Bow pose opens up and stretches the front of the body, including the chest and shoulders, while strengthening the muscles of the back. Backbends like bow pose are great for improving your posture as they counteract slouching forward. They are also stimulating and energizing and help to combat stress and fatigue.

camel-pose

Camel Pose

How to do: Begin on your knees with your legs and feet hip width apart. Place your hands behind you as if they were in the back pocket of your pants. Engage your core and press your hips and thighs forward. Lift your chest and reach back holding your heels with your hands. Try and look behind you and take five deep breaths. Slowly bring your hands back to your glutes and then exhale and lift your torso up.


What it does: Camel pose is another great backbend which is beneficial for your spinal mobility and your posture. It opens up your chest, stretches your shoulders and abdominal wall. By doing this it increases circulation throughout the front of your body which may be helpful in boosting your immunity. 



Studies have shown that yoga has a significant effect in modulating stress which in turn improves an individuals immune response. Poor posture has also been shown to increase the levels of the stress hormone cortisol which has negative effects on our immune response. By reducing stress and improving our posture with this yoga routine not only will you feel better but you may be able to boost your immunity in the process.













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Liza Egbogah Liza Egbogah

Improve your posture and the way you breathe

Learn about the negative effects poor posture can have on breathing and the negatives effects that incorrect breathing can have on your posture. Also learn great exercises you can use to improve your posture and ability to breathe properly.
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Liza Egbogah Liza Egbogah

Daytime YR: My 5 posture fixes for a flatter stomach

1. Elongate your core by standing up as straight as possible. This will give you the appearance of a longer torso and a flatter stomach. This is also a great way to decompress your spine and engage your core. Imagine a string attached to your head pulling you up.

2. Suck in your stomach. Not only will this move instantly make your stomach look flatter,  but you will also be giving your abs a workout. Your deep core muscles are activated by sucking in your stomach and the longer you suck in, the more toned your core will be. Just remember not to hold your breath while you are sucking in your stomach.

3. Tilt your pelvis back. Tight hip flexor muscles caused by too much sitting can cause your stomach to stick out. This is because when these muscles are contracted they tilt your pelvis forward. In order to flatten your stomach, you want to to tilt your pelvis back. To practice this, lie on the floor and put your hand behind the small of your back. Tilt your pelvis back so that you are squishing your hand into the ground. Hold this for 5 seconds. This is a pelvic tilt. After you have done this lying on the ground, try doing it standing. This little exercise will help bring in your stomach and engage core and pelvic muscles.

4. Back bends. Bending backwards is a great way to stretch tight hip flexors that may be causing your stomach to protrude. Your core muscles really have to engage to prevent you from falling backwards while doing a back bend. This is a great exercise to do every time you get up from sitting. When you are first starting out place your hands behind your hips for added support. As you feel more comfortable with this exercise you can bring your arms overhead while you bend backwards.

5. Side bends. In yoga, this is considered one of the best waist trimming postures. It stretches and tones your abdominal muscles, while at the same time giving your some serious flattening. This great exercise can be done throughout the day.

In addition to the 5 posture fixes, I would recommend regular cardiovascular exercise to help burn belly fat and to decrease bloating. And of course you want to watch what you eat ;)

The video segment should be up in a couple of weeks so you can see how these moves are done!

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