Ballerina Finishing School Series: Posture

Stand up straight! You've heard it before...... But why should you bother?

Physiologically speaking, good posture is essential for proper breathing, keeps your spine happy and core engaged. But let's talk about what is more tangible: looking good!

If you stand up straight you will be forever young (poor posture significantly ages you), you will appear leaner and more confident, which is attractive in any situation. Whether you are at a work function, meeting a new people, or out on a first date projecting confidence and presence are key!

The strength classes at MaZi really focus on developing an intuitive posture. All the technical things you work on in class will become second nature and you WILL start carrying yourself differently. We recommend any of the Ballerina Bum classes & Intro to Ballet.


Some of our favorite posture enhancing exercises to do while out and about are:

-Towel-arch stretch: Grab a medium-sized towel and hold both ends, starting a bit wider than shoulder width. Hold the towel out in front of you with your arms outstretched. Now gently swing the the towel over your head going a bit wider if you need to in order to take it all the way behind you creating an arch and bringing it back and forth from back to front. Keep breathing, try to lengthen your neck and open your chest. Try doing this about 10 times each way and you will really feel the stretch throughout your upper body creating length.

- Discreet standing abs: Anytime you are standing or sitting, think about opening your chest, drawing your shoulders into your back, lengthening your neck from the back and pulling your abs in and up. Play around with the counter activation in your muscles and think of continuously spiraling upwards from your core. If you do this correctly, your abs will start get achy as when you do an ab series and you will instantly start breathing better. Better breathing is underrated, but you will find that when you breathe properly you release tension, feel more alert & it's helps your metabolism (oxygen is THE key in burning calories as it converts them into energy).

-Zi