June 7, 2022 • 23 mins
We talk to Libby Stevenson, a yoga pro and wellbeing specialist for all stages of womanhood, about how yoga can help your posture and help you feel better too!
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James Crow (00:01):
So hi, everybody.
Its James from Posture Stars.
Thanks for joining us againtoday. And today I'm talking to
Libby Stevenson, who is a yogateacher. Hi there, Libby.
Libby Stevenson (00:10):
Hi, James, thank you for having me.
James Crow (00:13):
Thanks so much for coming on. I've been really
looking forward to speaking toyou. I've seen a lot of your
good stuff on social media,which is very popular with the
public. And I wanted to get togrips with what exactly it is
that you do, and particularly,from my perspective, how you can
help my clients and the peoplewho are listening to this
podcast, so you're working,you're working down in London,
(00:35):
is that right? Libby?
Libby Stevenson (00:36):
Yes, so I live and work in London, but I do a
lot of my work now online,especially since after COVID. A
lot of the yoga classes havegone online. And actually,
that's been a really good thingfor yoga, because a lot of
people have this image that youneed to be a particular age a
particular size, and you need tobe very bendy and it's off
(00:58):
putting if you don't think thatyou fit into those categories,
to go into a yoga studio. Sodoing it online, you can keep
your video off. And actuallythere's been a boom in yoga
online, because people can keeptheir videos off and feel a lot
more comfortable doing yoga. Soyeah, thanks, COVID. Just for
that.
James Crow (01:18):
Yeah, I mean, it's been really positive a lot of,
apart from it being reallynegative. Of course, quite a few
of my clients have switched fromtheir local yoga classes to
online classes and those likethey, they're using their local
yoga teachers, because they'refamiliar with them and happy
with them. But it's reallyopened up in the space of yoga.
So I'm really pleased for you.
Libby Stevenson (01:40):
So I teach yoga now, predominantly online, and
I'm, I'm a yoga teacher, and Ispecialise in yoga for women at
different stages of life. So Iteach to pregnant women,
postnatal women, women who justhad a baby and women going
through the perimenopause,menopause. I'm also head of yoga
for Harley Street at home, whichis an online wellness platform
(02:05):
for women over 40. And this isall within the past four or five
years that I became a yogateacher. And all of this has
happened before that I have adegree in Biomedical
Engineering, which actually sitsreally nicely alongside the yoga
because it gives me a verystrong foundation in anatomy,
(02:25):
physiology, and alignment. So itall kind of meshes quite well
James Crow (02:30):
Okay, well, in that case, I've got this one question
together.
for you to start off with whichyou will be no doubt admirably
prepared to answer as a resultof your your vast
qualifications, which is LibbyStevenson. What is posture?
Libby Stevenson (02:45):
Right! Well, okay, I thought about this
question. And for me, posture isthe way we carry ourselves. So
we carry ourselves based on theway we see ourselves, the way we
think about ourselves, the waywe feel about ourselves. And we
embody those feelings andmindset into our posture, and
our posture can change from dayto day. So for having a good
(03:08):
day, we'll probably be standinga little bit taller, lifting our
chest. And if we're having a badday, then of course, the
opposite, we might be crawlingthe body forward, rounding off
shoulders, dropping the head abit. And then there's a
definition of posture, whichincludes the alignment of the
spine. So purely physicaldefinition of the posture. But I
(03:31):
think these two definitions workwell together, the way we think
and feel about ourselves isreflected in the physical
posture. So for example, if wehave a lack of confidence, or
low self esteem, or a negativeview of life, we embody these
attitudes, and the bodynaturally curls forward. And of
(03:52):
course, you know, the oppositeis also true. And studies show
that if you are having aparticularly bad day or negative
mindset, just by changing yourposture, you can change, you
know, the way you see and feelabout things. So it's an
interesting mind body connectionfor me. Yeah.
James Crow (04:13):
Yeah. So it's a nice holistic way of looking at it.
And more and more people areseeing the body as not just this
functional anatomical roboticthing that moves through space
that there is a connectionbetween our mind and bodies,
folks, which is currently Oh, mygosh, has had nobody considered
this before.
Libby Stevenson (04:31):
Absolutely, like I said, you know, we do
embody those feelings, and we,we carry them in our posture.
You know, it's, it's obviouswhen, when you see someone who's
crawled over, tend to you know,the tendency is to think, Oh,
are they sad? What is wrong withthem, you know, and then when
someone is feeling good aboutthemselves, it's obvious and
they radiate an energy, don'tthey?
James Crow (04:52):
Yeah. And I think that's why some actors are paid
so highly is because they justradiate that energy they they
have good comportment, they canthey hold themselves well, if I
can use that phrase? Yeah, theystack themselves well, yeah,
Libby Stevenson (05:08):
I definitely think the whole mind body
connection, but then, you know,I'm a yoga teacher, so I would
see it that way. I wouldn't justsee it as a physical, you know,
upright spine type of thing.
Because the way we think andfeel is going to affect that. On
a day to day, it can change.
James Crow (05:27):
Yeah, of course, it can now, and you need to listen
to that as well. Sometimes ifyou, I like to run and some
days, I'll get ready to and I'llget out the door. And I think
well hang on a minute, my body'ssaying don't run, my fitness
watch is saying, now you've gotto go and run five kilometres
and my body say Not today. Andnow I'm at an age where I listen
to that as well, thankfully, andI'll go off and do some stretch,
(05:47):
stretching and look after myselfa bit better. I have a second
question that I'm going to I'mgoing to sneak into question
one, which is what is posture?
This question I've neveractually asked before, is, what
is yoga?
Libby Stevenson (06:01):
Right? Okay, what it is, is a number of
things, actually, we tend tothink of yoga in the West as
movement, exercise. But it'sit's so much more than that.
It's breathing. It is movement,but it can also be stillness,
either stillness and oppose, orstillness and meditation. And
(06:23):
then it's a whole way of life.
So there's these things calledthe Yamas, and the new Yamas,
which are ways of living, so youcould adopt them as a lifestyle.
And then there's also thephilosophical aspect to yoga,
which is all about letting go.
Non attachment. So there's awhole philosophical aspect to
(06:44):
it, and it's not a religion.
It's, it's, it's more a way oflife, if you choose it to be.
It's, it's all of that combined.
And for me, yoga, yes, has nowbecome a way of life. Because I
find the more you do yoga, andthis was something that I was
(07:05):
taught my teacher training, andI didn't believe it. But the
more you do yoga, the more thethings you don't need start to
fall away. And it's interesting.
And it's not just things likelimiting alcohol, and less
sugar, that kind of a thing. Butit's also people and things that
are happening in your life thatyou do you know what it does
yoga is awareness, whether it'sbreathing, meditation, movement,
(07:28):
philosophy, philosophy, on life,it's about awareness, and you
start becoming aware of the goodand the not so good in your
life. And it starts shaping theway you live. And I know we're
getting out there a bit. Butover time, this is what happens.
And it's it certainly has mademe more aware. And it's an
(07:50):
interesting, it's an interestingdynamic that happens to your
mind and body. It really is. Andit's, it's something that
happens, that doesn't happen inother forms of exercise. Because
other forms of exercise are allgo, go go. Whereas in yoga,
whether you're breathing ormeditating, or just in a pose,
there's that moment ofstillness. And there's an
(08:12):
awareness of not just thethoughts popping up in your
head, but also what's happeningin the body. And then that
translate to outside of yourbody and noticing things around
you, the people that you'resurrounding yourself with how
you eat how you live. It's areally interesting dynamic. So I
(08:33):
recommend it to everyone to doyoga, and to learn more about
themselves, and also about theworld around them. Yeah. Meeting
view.
James Crow (08:48):
Sounds quite useful in business quite a lot of the,
when I work with people, I workin postural awareness, we, we
urge a form of detachment,really of self awareness in
relation to the environment. Andsome of my clients or CEO types
tell me that that's had apositive effect on their
business. And it sounds likeyoga has some similar
(09:10):
consequences for businesspeople.
Libby Stevenson (09:14):
For everyone, it taught me to recognise
signals in my body when I wasbecoming stressed, which is
really important. So if you'rein a situation that is
stressful, or you know, lifethrows things at you, the fact
that you are aware of thesignals from your body telling
you I'm getting stressed, youcan you can jump in with the
(09:34):
breathing technique, calmyourself down, and then approach
the situation in a moreappropriate way. That doesn't
mean you don't yell or whateverif it's not appropriate, but
it's the ability to get that bitof space. So that instead of
action reaction, and then youknow, thinking, oh my goodness,
why did I say that? Why did I dothat and regretting that. You
(09:57):
have that moment of stepping inassessing the situation, and
then responding moreappropriately, or perhaps not
responding at all in thatmoment. So it's, it's
fascinating. And it's also mademe more resilient. Because with
awareness, you because it's alittle bit hard to explain, but
(10:18):
with awareness also comesresilience. And I've noticed
this from other people sayingthe same thing. And now yes,
there are things that bother me.
But I don't let them linger aslong as I used to, I guess,
because it's the wholephilosophy and yoga that the way
things are right now willchange, Nothing stays the same.
So whatever is happening today,doesn't necessarily mean it'll
(10:42):
be like that forever. And so youlearn to move on. Yeah, you
learn resilience, you learn tomove on. And I know, it sounds
all very positive and uplifting,but it's it really, you know,
they have the studies on yogaand how it helps with stress and
anxiety and all that. And that'sthe reason why, because there's
all of these factors that comeinto it. And I think what it is,
(11:03):
is that yoga plays upon thenervous system in a way that
other forms of exercise, don't.
And it really gets to yournervous system, and therefore
changes not only the way youthink, but you know, the way
your nervous system is reactingto things in your environment,
(11:24):
because you're becoming moreaware of them. So it's a
fascinating, you know, area ofmovement. And I don't call it
exercise, I call it movement,because yoga is so much more
than just movements.
James Crow (11:38):
Yeah and not a religion.
Libby Stevenson (11:40):
No, it's not a religion. No, no, but it's
interesting how a lot of peoplethink that because it's coming
from India, and but it's not areligion, and you can just use
it as a form of movement shouldyou want to. But it's certainly
not a religion, like I said,it's most of philosophy on life,
(12:01):
and you don't have to adopt, youknow, adopt that if you don't
want to.
James Crow (12:05):
So at it's most pure it's functional. With regards to
posture, people use yoga toimprove their posture. And just
just coming back to thatquestion, two, is how do how do
you help people with theirposture? If I came to you and
said, Hey, Libby, I've gotterrible posture, you go, what
(12:27):
can you do?
Well, there is a pose calledMountain pose that can help with
that. But yoga in general, allthe poses, regardless of what
pose you're in, they involve thewhole body, they're holistic, so
the whole body gets involved. Soeven though you're not mountain
posing, you're in another posein stillness. In order to be in
(12:50):
that pose, you need to engageevery part of the body, from the
arms, to the core, to the, tothe back to the legs, they all
have to work together. And bydoing so, you are strengthening
those parts of the body thathelp with posture without really
thinking about, I have to getmy, my posture, you know,
(13:10):
aligned. So it does itautomatically, just by being in
the pose, even if you're goingfrom one pose to the other in
yoga, you know, the, themovements are slow in with the
breath. So you always have timeto align and assess where you
are in space in terms of that,in terms of that pose. So yes,
there is a pose in particular,that can help with posture
(13:31):
called Mountain Pose, and it's astanding pose. And I actually
recommend that to people to justdo that throughout their day, as
often as they want to just torealign that spine, because
you're bringing the shouldersback and down, you're lifting
the chest or realigning thespine, you know, the hips, et
cetera, et cetera. And it doeshelp with posture. But should,
(13:51):
you know, should you not bestanding and want to realign
your posture throughout yourday, let's say you do a lot of
sitting. Then I just recommendto bring in your hands behind
your back, of course, your backis away from the back of the
chair, have your arms behindyour back, interlace the
fingers, and pull the hands downtowards the seat of the chair
(14:11):
and that automatically bringsthe shoulders back, lifts the
chest and automatically realignsthe spine, and to take it even
further than with the handsbehind the back fingers until
they can lift the arms a bit toget more of an opening in the
chest. And you know, both ofthese, what they do is they
(14:31):
don't just realign the spine andhelp with posture, but they
uncurl the body from beingcrawled over a computer or from
scrolling, or in my case fromageing, you know, they
counteract all the effectsincluding ageing, and it's
something we need to be awareof. We're all going to age, we
all age. So we need to be awareof the fact that one of the
(14:54):
natural tendencies of the bodywith ageing is to crawl forward.
So we need to constantly befighting against that, because
we don't want to be that oldperson hunched over, do we, so
you know, throughout the day todo Mountain Pose or arms behind
the back and just crawling theshoulders is what we need to do
(15:16):
so that we can counteract allthe effects from sitting
scrolling, and a chain.
So these are, these are simplemoves, it kind of bypasses the
whole of what we were talkingabout earlier about the self
awareness that, that act ofdetachment from immediate
response to stimulus, whetherthat's external, or internal.
(15:40):
And these are things that youcan do in about five seconds
time aren't they
Libby Stevenson (15:44):
Yes, and throughout your day. And like I
said, you don't even have to getup from your chair, if you don't
want to put the arms behind yourback. But it is good to stand up
occasionally, because that willhelp. But also, you know,
noticing our posture throughoutour day, whether we're standing
or sitting, but that's hard todo. Sometimes, especially if you
have a bad posture, you know, sobringing the arms behind your
back, even in a standingposition, automatically lifts
(16:07):
the chest brings the shouldersback, and you feel the
difference to you feel thedifference. So those are my
suggestions, either mountainpose, if you know what that is.
And if you don't, then whetheryou're standing or sitting, the
arms behind your back can helpto just uncurl the shoulders,
which then will realign thespine.
James Crow (16:30):
Let's let's talk a bit about awareness. Because in
my other role, I'm an AlexanderTechnique teacher. And what I do
is I teach people to be aware ofthemselves in activity, as
opposed to doing an activity andthen forgetting about themselves
and getting on with the nextactivity. So how useful is yoga
for increasing that awareness ofoneself in day to day activity?
Libby Stevenson (16:55):
Well, as we, as I said earlier, that's what yoga
is all about. It's all aboutawareness. Because whether
you're meditating, or breathing,or in a pose, or moving from one
pose to the other, there's thisconstant, where is my body and
space are they properly aligned?
You know, what thoughts aregoing through my head? The
there's, it's, it's all aboutawareness. Absolutely. And I
(17:17):
notice it now, so when I'msitting, I do notice, how am I
sitting, you know, I mean,hunched over and all that, but
that, you know, yoga takes time,that awareness to build up and
become automatic takes time. Andit's over time that you start
noticing, oh, I'm sittinghunched over, or I haven't stood
(17:39):
up for a while, or whatever itis. It does take time. But it
also brings about awareness inother areas, like hunger, you
know, then you start noticing,oh, you know, I'm not going to
eat now. Because I'm not hungry.
You know, I'm not hungry, so I'mnot going to eat. So it
translates out into all aspectsof your life, this concept of
(18:03):
awareness. It's not just aboutposture awareness, it's about
where are you in the space atthis moment? You know, are you
sitting standing, you know,talking to people, whatever it
may be.
James Crow (18:16):
This is more than kinesthetic awareness and
proprioceptive awareness, isn'tit? It's awareness of cognitive
awareness of you and yourresponses. So you're observing
yourself at a meta level?
Libby Stevenson (18:27):
Yes, exactly. I certainly do. But you know, like
I said, this does take time.
It's not like you do a yogaclass. And then oh, this is
wonderful. I'm aware now. No, ittakes
James Crow (18:38):
What you mean I can't do one hour yoga class and
suddenly become self aware.
Libby Stevenson (18:44):
No, no, about strengthening those parts of the
brain. You know, it's aboutstrengthening the decision
making part of the brain andquieting the reptilian part of
the brain being instnictual,instinctual part of the brain
that is all about fight flightaction reaction. And so when you
do yoga, the part of the brainthat stronger is the decision
(19:06):
making part of the brain butlike any form of exercise, you
need to do it regularly andconsistently in order to build
up that muscle up the brain.
James Crow (19:17):
I got ya. Okay, so question three, which is, which
is again, back to that simpletopic of posture, rather than
our grander metaphysicaldiscussions? Is is if you could
recommend Now, one thing for ourlisteners to do right now that
would help them what what wouldit be?
Libby Stevenson (19:37):
Well, like I said, they're probably, I assume
they're sitting down listeningto this, but even if they're
standing, they can do this. Andit's all about just wherever you
are. If you are sitting, bringyour back away from the back of
the chair. And if you'restanding, that's great. Just
bring your arms behind your backand interlace the fingers behind
your back. Pull them down ifyou're standing towards the
(19:59):
floor. or if you're sittingtowards the seat of the chair,
and just notice how the chest isopen, starting with that. And
that might be enough for you,depending on how crawled forward
your body is. But if you wantmore of a stretch, then you can
start lifting the arms behindyou just ever so slightly, a
(20:19):
couple of centimetres to open upthose collarbones even further.
And so we're stretching themuscles in the chest, and
uncrawling the body. So that ismy tip. It's not even yoga. It's
just a movement that I dothroughout my day, whether
standing or sitting, and it justfeels great. And when we do
(20:40):
that, because we're opening upthe chest and the collarbones,
we breathe better. And when webreathe better, because now the
lungs have more space, we canthink more clearly. So there you
go, you're boosting your brainpower too
James Crow (20:54):
win win. So wherever you are listeners, unless you're
driving a vehicle or operatingheavy machinery, or performing
brain surgery, don't do it then,but you might want to give it a
little go, it's the sort ofthing you could do on public
transport, probably withoutanyone else noticing.
Libby Stevenson (21:11):
Yeah, and you know what, sometimes if you're
in a, if you're in publictransport, just bringing the
shoulders back and down,automatically lifts the chest.
James Crow (21:19):
Seriously Libby, all the time and when I'm on public
transport, I'm working onmyself. It's such a golden
opportunity to work on yourself.
And you know, how am I sitting?
What am I thinking? How am Ibreathing? It's Golden, all
those times, folks, when you'rein the supermarket, and you're
in the back of the queue, andyou're gonna have to stand there
for 11 minutes. Yes. Work onyourself
Libby Stevenson (21:39):
Do mountain pose. Yes. Or at a bus stop.
Absolutely, yes. Yeah. So yogamountain pose, and no one will
really know you're doing it.
James Crow (21:50):
This is great, isn't it? No one knows. you're
bettering yourself. I love it.
So Libby, that's beenfascinating, not only in terms
of the postural aspects, butalso in terms of, of the
cognitive benefits of yoga aswell. And I'm sure some of my
clients will be delighted tohear more from you. Where would
they find you?
Libby Stevenson (22:07):
Well, I'm mainly on Instagram. I really
like that platform, so i'm onthere a lot. And my handle is
libbystevenson.wellbeing I dohave a website. But I have
contact details on both myInstagram and on my website. And
my website iswww.libbystevensonwellbeing.com
(22:27):
Yeah, so they can, they canconnect with me there. And if
they don't have Instagram, myInstagram is on my website. And
on the website, I have lots ofarticles that I've been featured
in or that I've written, youknow, so that they can see a
little bit more about me and youknow, how I think of yoga in
(22:47):
terms of everyday life and howit can help people.
James Crow (22:51):
There you have it folks, that's how to get hold of
Libby Stevenson with a V not aPH. She'll be able to help you
on your journey for selfdiscovery, exploration and, and
expanded breathing. That's awhole other area, isn't it as a
whole I know we're gonna do aseries on breathing actually. So
I really look forward to that.
Maybe we can pick up on that andtalk about breathing as well.
(23:13):
There's there's more to posturethan just standing up right
folks?
Libby Stevenson (23:18):
Breathing better is another positive.
Yeah.
James Crow (23:22):
Thank you so much, everybody for coming on and
listening to us. This is Jamesfrom Posture Stars with Libby
Stevenson. I wish you a good dayand go off and do some of those
exercises. And all of you satdown, get out of that chair now.
Goodbye.
Libby Stevenson (23:34):
Thank you all
So hi, everybody.
Its James from Posture Stars.
Thanks for joining us againtoday. And today I'm talking to
Libby Stevenson, who is a yogateacher. Hi there, Libby.
Libby Stevenson (00:10):
Hi, James, thank you for having me.
James Crow (00:13):
Thanks so much for coming on. I've been really
looking forward to speaking toyou. I've seen a lot of your
good stuff on social media,which is very popular with the
public. And I wanted to get togrips with what exactly it is
that you do, and particularly,from my perspective, how you can
help my clients and the peoplewho are listening to this
podcast, so you're working,you're working down in London,
(00:35):
is that right? Libby?
Libby Stevenson (00:36):
Yes, so I live and work in London, but I do a
lot of my work now online,especially since after COVID. A
lot of the yoga classes havegone online. And actually,
that's been a really good thingfor yoga, because a lot of
people have this image that youneed to be a particular age a
particular size, and you need tobe very bendy and it's off
(00:58):
putting if you don't think thatyou fit into those categories,
to go into a yoga studio. Sodoing it online, you can keep
your video off. And actuallythere's been a boom in yoga
online, because people can keeptheir videos off and feel a lot
more comfortable doing yoga. Soyeah, thanks, COVID. Just for
that.
James Crow (01:18):
Yeah, I mean, it's been really positive a lot of,
apart from it being reallynegative. Of course, quite a few
of my clients have switched fromtheir local yoga classes to
online classes and those likethey, they're using their local
yoga teachers, because they'refamiliar with them and happy
with them. But it's reallyopened up in the space of yoga.
So I'm really pleased for you.
Libby Stevenson (01:40):
So I teach yoga now, predominantly online, and
I'm, I'm a yoga teacher, and Ispecialise in yoga for women at
different stages of life. So Iteach to pregnant women,
postnatal women, women who justhad a baby and women going
through the perimenopause,menopause. I'm also head of yoga
for Harley Street at home, whichis an online wellness platform
(02:05):
for women over 40. And this isall within the past four or five
years that I became a yogateacher. And all of this has
happened before that I have adegree in Biomedical
Engineering, which actually sitsreally nicely alongside the yoga
because it gives me a verystrong foundation in anatomy,
(02:25):
physiology, and alignment. So itall kind of meshes quite well
James Crow (02:30):
Okay, well, in that case, I've got this one question
together.
for you to start off with whichyou will be no doubt admirably
prepared to answer as a resultof your your vast
qualifications, which is LibbyStevenson. What is posture?
Libby Stevenson (02:45):
Right! Well, okay, I thought about this
question. And for me, posture isthe way we carry ourselves. So
we carry ourselves based on theway we see ourselves, the way we
think about ourselves, the waywe feel about ourselves. And we
embody those feelings andmindset into our posture, and
our posture can change from dayto day. So for having a good
(03:08):
day, we'll probably be standinga little bit taller, lifting our
chest. And if we're having a badday, then of course, the
opposite, we might be crawlingthe body forward, rounding off
shoulders, dropping the head abit. And then there's a
definition of posture, whichincludes the alignment of the
spine. So purely physicaldefinition of the posture. But I
(03:31):
think these two definitions workwell together, the way we think
and feel about ourselves isreflected in the physical
posture. So for example, if wehave a lack of confidence, or
low self esteem, or a negativeview of life, we embody these
attitudes, and the bodynaturally curls forward. And of
(03:52):
course, you know, the oppositeis also true. And studies show
that if you are having aparticularly bad day or negative
mindset, just by changing yourposture, you can change, you
know, the way you see and feelabout things. So it's an
interesting mind body connectionfor me. Yeah.
James Crow (04:13):
Yeah. So it's a nice holistic way of looking at it.
And more and more people areseeing the body as not just this
functional anatomical roboticthing that moves through space
that there is a connectionbetween our mind and bodies,
folks, which is currently Oh, mygosh, has had nobody considered
this before.
Libby Stevenson (04:31):
Absolutely, like I said, you know, we do
embody those feelings, and we,we carry them in our posture.
You know, it's, it's obviouswhen, when you see someone who's
crawled over, tend to you know,the tendency is to think, Oh,
are they sad? What is wrong withthem, you know, and then when
someone is feeling good aboutthemselves, it's obvious and
they radiate an energy, don'tthey?
James Crow (04:52):
Yeah. And I think that's why some actors are paid
so highly is because they justradiate that energy they they
have good comportment, they canthey hold themselves well, if I
can use that phrase? Yeah, theystack themselves well, yeah,
Libby Stevenson (05:08):
I definitely think the whole mind body
connection, but then, you know,I'm a yoga teacher, so I would
see it that way. I wouldn't justsee it as a physical, you know,
upright spine type of thing.
Because the way we think andfeel is going to affect that. On
a day to day, it can change.
James Crow (05:27):
Yeah, of course, it can now, and you need to listen
to that as well. Sometimes ifyou, I like to run and some
days, I'll get ready to and I'llget out the door. And I think
well hang on a minute, my body'ssaying don't run, my fitness
watch is saying, now you've gotto go and run five kilometres
and my body say Not today. Andnow I'm at an age where I listen
to that as well, thankfully, andI'll go off and do some stretch,
(05:47):
stretching and look after myselfa bit better. I have a second
question that I'm going to I'mgoing to sneak into question
one, which is what is posture?
This question I've neveractually asked before, is, what
is yoga?
Libby Stevenson (06:01):
Right? Okay, what it is, is a number of
things, actually, we tend tothink of yoga in the West as
movement, exercise. But it'sit's so much more than that.
It's breathing. It is movement,but it can also be stillness,
either stillness and oppose, orstillness and meditation. And
(06:23):
then it's a whole way of life.
So there's these things calledthe Yamas, and the new Yamas,
which are ways of living, so youcould adopt them as a lifestyle.
And then there's also thephilosophical aspect to yoga,
which is all about letting go.
Non attachment. So there's awhole philosophical aspect to
(06:44):
it, and it's not a religion.
It's, it's, it's more a way oflife, if you choose it to be.
It's, it's all of that combined.
And for me, yoga, yes, has nowbecome a way of life. Because I
find the more you do yoga, andthis was something that I was
(07:05):
taught my teacher training, andI didn't believe it. But the
more you do yoga, the more thethings you don't need start to
fall away. And it's interesting.
And it's not just things likelimiting alcohol, and less
sugar, that kind of a thing. Butit's also people and things that
are happening in your life thatyou do you know what it does
yoga is awareness, whether it'sbreathing, meditation, movement,
(07:28):
philosophy, philosophy, on life,it's about awareness, and you
start becoming aware of the goodand the not so good in your
life. And it starts shaping theway you live. And I know we're
getting out there a bit. Butover time, this is what happens.
And it's it certainly has mademe more aware. And it's an
(07:50):
interesting, it's an interestingdynamic that happens to your
mind and body. It really is. Andit's, it's something that
happens, that doesn't happen inother forms of exercise. Because
other forms of exercise are allgo, go go. Whereas in yoga,
whether you're breathing ormeditating, or just in a pose,
there's that moment ofstillness. And there's an
(08:12):
awareness of not just thethoughts popping up in your
head, but also what's happeningin the body. And then that
translate to outside of yourbody and noticing things around
you, the people that you'resurrounding yourself with how
you eat how you live. It's areally interesting dynamic. So I
(08:33):
recommend it to everyone to doyoga, and to learn more about
themselves, and also about theworld around them. Yeah. Meeting
view.
James Crow (08:48):
Sounds quite useful in business quite a lot of the,
when I work with people, I workin postural awareness, we, we
urge a form of detachment,really of self awareness in
relation to the environment. Andsome of my clients or CEO types
tell me that that's had apositive effect on their
business. And it sounds likeyoga has some similar
(09:10):
consequences for businesspeople.
Libby Stevenson (09:14):
For everyone, it taught me to recognise
signals in my body when I wasbecoming stressed, which is
really important. So if you'rein a situation that is
stressful, or you know, lifethrows things at you, the fact
that you are aware of thesignals from your body telling
you I'm getting stressed, youcan you can jump in with the
(09:34):
breathing technique, calmyourself down, and then approach
the situation in a moreappropriate way. That doesn't
mean you don't yell or whateverif it's not appropriate, but
it's the ability to get that bitof space. So that instead of
action reaction, and then youknow, thinking, oh my goodness,
why did I say that? Why did I dothat and regretting that. You
(09:57):
have that moment of stepping inassessing the situation, and
then responding moreappropriately, or perhaps not
responding at all in thatmoment. So it's, it's
fascinating. And it's also mademe more resilient. Because with
awareness, you because it's alittle bit hard to explain, but
(10:18):
with awareness also comesresilience. And I've noticed
this from other people sayingthe same thing. And now yes,
there are things that bother me.
But I don't let them linger aslong as I used to, I guess,
because it's the wholephilosophy and yoga that the way
things are right now willchange, Nothing stays the same.
So whatever is happening today,doesn't necessarily mean it'll
(10:42):
be like that forever. And so youlearn to move on. Yeah, you
learn resilience, you learn tomove on. And I know, it sounds
all very positive and uplifting,but it's it really, you know,
they have the studies on yogaand how it helps with stress and
anxiety and all that. And that'sthe reason why, because there's
all of these factors that comeinto it. And I think what it is,
(11:03):
is that yoga plays upon thenervous system in a way that
other forms of exercise, don't.
And it really gets to yournervous system, and therefore
changes not only the way youthink, but you know, the way
your nervous system is reactingto things in your environment,
(11:24):
because you're becoming moreaware of them. So it's a
fascinating, you know, area ofmovement. And I don't call it
exercise, I call it movement,because yoga is so much more
than just movements.
James Crow (11:38):
Yeah and not a religion.
Libby Stevenson (11:40):
No, it's not a religion. No, no, but it's
interesting how a lot of peoplethink that because it's coming
from India, and but it's not areligion, and you can just use
it as a form of movement shouldyou want to. But it's certainly
not a religion, like I said,it's most of philosophy on life,
(12:01):
and you don't have to adopt, youknow, adopt that if you don't
want to.
James Crow (12:05):
So at it's most pure it's functional. With regards to
posture, people use yoga toimprove their posture. And just
just coming back to thatquestion, two, is how do how do
you help people with theirposture? If I came to you and
said, Hey, Libby, I've gotterrible posture, you go, what
(12:27):
can you do?
Well, there is a pose calledMountain pose that can help with
that. But yoga in general, allthe poses, regardless of what
pose you're in, they involve thewhole body, they're holistic, so
the whole body gets involved. Soeven though you're not mountain
posing, you're in another posein stillness. In order to be in
(12:50):
that pose, you need to engageevery part of the body, from the
arms, to the core, to the, tothe back to the legs, they all
have to work together. And bydoing so, you are strengthening
those parts of the body thathelp with posture without really
thinking about, I have to getmy, my posture, you know,
(13:10):
aligned. So it does itautomatically, just by being in
the pose, even if you're goingfrom one pose to the other in
yoga, you know, the, themovements are slow in with the
breath. So you always have timeto align and assess where you
are in space in terms of that,in terms of that pose. So yes,
there is a pose in particular,that can help with posture
(13:31):
called Mountain Pose, and it's astanding pose. And I actually
recommend that to people to justdo that throughout their day, as
often as they want to just torealign that spine, because
you're bringing the shouldersback and down, you're lifting
the chest or realigning thespine, you know, the hips, et
cetera, et cetera. And it doeshelp with posture. But should,
(13:51):
you know, should you not bestanding and want to realign
your posture throughout yourday, let's say you do a lot of
sitting. Then I just recommendto bring in your hands behind
your back, of course, your backis away from the back of the
chair, have your arms behindyour back, interlace the
fingers, and pull the hands downtowards the seat of the chair
(14:11):
and that automatically bringsthe shoulders back, lifts the
chest and automatically realignsthe spine, and to take it even
further than with the handsbehind the back fingers until
they can lift the arms a bit toget more of an opening in the
chest. And you know, both ofthese, what they do is they
(14:31):
don't just realign the spine andhelp with posture, but they
uncurl the body from beingcrawled over a computer or from
scrolling, or in my case fromageing, you know, they
counteract all the effectsincluding ageing, and it's
something we need to be awareof. We're all going to age, we
all age. So we need to be awareof the fact that one of the
(14:54):
natural tendencies of the bodywith ageing is to crawl forward.
So we need to constantly befighting against that, because
we don't want to be that oldperson hunched over, do we, so
you know, throughout the day todo Mountain Pose or arms behind
the back and just crawling theshoulders is what we need to do
(15:16):
so that we can counteract allthe effects from sitting
scrolling, and a chain.
So these are, these are simplemoves, it kind of bypasses the
whole of what we were talkingabout earlier about the self
awareness that, that act ofdetachment from immediate
response to stimulus, whetherthat's external, or internal.
(15:40):
And these are things that youcan do in about five seconds
time aren't they
Libby Stevenson (15:44):
Yes, and throughout your day. And like I
said, you don't even have to getup from your chair, if you don't
want to put the arms behind yourback. But it is good to stand up
occasionally, because that willhelp. But also, you know,
noticing our posture throughoutour day, whether we're standing
or sitting, but that's hard todo. Sometimes, especially if you
have a bad posture, you know, sobringing the arms behind your
back, even in a standingposition, automatically lifts
(16:07):
the chest brings the shouldersback, and you feel the
difference to you feel thedifference. So those are my
suggestions, either mountainpose, if you know what that is.
And if you don't, then whetheryou're standing or sitting, the
arms behind your back can helpto just uncurl the shoulders,
which then will realign thespine.
James Crow (16:30):
Let's let's talk a bit about awareness. Because in
my other role, I'm an AlexanderTechnique teacher. And what I do
is I teach people to be aware ofthemselves in activity, as
opposed to doing an activity andthen forgetting about themselves
and getting on with the nextactivity. So how useful is yoga
for increasing that awareness ofoneself in day to day activity?
Libby Stevenson (16:55):
Well, as we, as I said earlier, that's what yoga
is all about. It's all aboutawareness. Because whether
you're meditating, or breathing,or in a pose, or moving from one
pose to the other, there's thisconstant, where is my body and
space are they properly aligned?
You know, what thoughts aregoing through my head? The
there's, it's, it's all aboutawareness. Absolutely. And I
(17:17):
notice it now, so when I'msitting, I do notice, how am I
sitting, you know, I mean,hunched over and all that, but
that, you know, yoga takes time,that awareness to build up and
become automatic takes time. Andit's over time that you start
noticing, oh, I'm sittinghunched over, or I haven't stood
(17:39):
up for a while, or whatever itis. It does take time. But it
also brings about awareness inother areas, like hunger, you
know, then you start noticing,oh, you know, I'm not going to
eat now. Because I'm not hungry.
You know, I'm not hungry, so I'mnot going to eat. So it
translates out into all aspectsof your life, this concept of
(18:03):
awareness. It's not just aboutposture awareness, it's about
where are you in the space atthis moment? You know, are you
sitting standing, you know,talking to people, whatever it
may be.
James Crow (18:16):
This is more than kinesthetic awareness and
proprioceptive awareness, isn'tit? It's awareness of cognitive
awareness of you and yourresponses. So you're observing
yourself at a meta level?
Libby Stevenson (18:27):
Yes, exactly. I certainly do. But you know, like
I said, this does take time.
It's not like you do a yogaclass. And then oh, this is
wonderful. I'm aware now. No, ittakes
James Crow (18:38):
What you mean I can't do one hour yoga class and
suddenly become self aware.
Libby Stevenson (18:44):
No, no, about strengthening those parts of the
brain. You know, it's aboutstrengthening the decision
making part of the brain andquieting the reptilian part of
the brain being instnictual,instinctual part of the brain
that is all about fight flightaction reaction. And so when you
do yoga, the part of the brainthat stronger is the decision
(19:06):
making part of the brain butlike any form of exercise, you
need to do it regularly andconsistently in order to build
up that muscle up the brain.
James Crow (19:17):
I got ya. Okay, so question three, which is, which
is again, back to that simpletopic of posture, rather than
our grander metaphysicaldiscussions? Is is if you could
recommend Now, one thing for ourlisteners to do right now that
would help them what what wouldit be?
Libby Stevenson (19:37):
Well, like I said, they're probably, I assume
they're sitting down listeningto this, but even if they're
standing, they can do this. Andit's all about just wherever you
are. If you are sitting, bringyour back away from the back of
the chair. And if you'restanding, that's great. Just
bring your arms behind your backand interlace the fingers behind
your back. Pull them down ifyou're standing towards the
(19:59):
floor. or if you're sittingtowards the seat of the chair,
and just notice how the chest isopen, starting with that. And
that might be enough for you,depending on how crawled forward
your body is. But if you wantmore of a stretch, then you can
start lifting the arms behindyou just ever so slightly, a
(20:19):
couple of centimetres to open upthose collarbones even further.
And so we're stretching themuscles in the chest, and
uncrawling the body. So that ismy tip. It's not even yoga. It's
just a movement that I dothroughout my day, whether
standing or sitting, and it justfeels great. And when we do
(20:40):
that, because we're opening upthe chest and the collarbones,
we breathe better. And when webreathe better, because now the
lungs have more space, we canthink more clearly. So there you
go, you're boosting your brainpower too
James Crow (20:54):
win win. So wherever you are listeners, unless you're
driving a vehicle or operatingheavy machinery, or performing
brain surgery, don't do it then,but you might want to give it a
little go, it's the sort ofthing you could do on public
transport, probably withoutanyone else noticing.
Libby Stevenson (21:11):
Yeah, and you know what, sometimes if you're
in a, if you're in publictransport, just bringing the
shoulders back and down,automatically lifts the chest.
James Crow (21:19):
Seriously Libby, all the time and when I'm on public
transport, I'm working onmyself. It's such a golden
opportunity to work on yourself.
And you know, how am I sitting?
What am I thinking? How am Ibreathing? It's Golden, all
those times, folks, when you'rein the supermarket, and you're
in the back of the queue, andyou're gonna have to stand there
for 11 minutes. Yes. Work onyourself
Libby Stevenson (21:39):
Do mountain pose. Yes. Or at a bus stop.
Absolutely, yes. Yeah. So yogamountain pose, and no one will
really know you're doing it.
James Crow (21:50):
This is great, isn't it? No one knows. you're
bettering yourself. I love it.
So Libby, that's beenfascinating, not only in terms
of the postural aspects, butalso in terms of, of the
cognitive benefits of yoga aswell. And I'm sure some of my
clients will be delighted tohear more from you. Where would
they find you?
Libby Stevenson (22:07):
Well, I'm mainly on Instagram. I really
like that platform, so i'm onthere a lot. And my handle is
libbystevenson.wellbeing I dohave a website. But I have
contact details on both myInstagram and on my website. And
my website iswww.libbystevensonwellbeing.com
(22:27):
Yeah, so they can, they canconnect with me there. And if
they don't have Instagram, myInstagram is on my website. And
on the website, I have lots ofarticles that I've been featured
in or that I've written, youknow, so that they can see a
little bit more about me and youknow, how I think of yoga in
(22:47):
terms of everyday life and howit can help people.
James Crow (22:51):
There you have it folks, that's how to get hold of
Libby Stevenson with a V not aPH. She'll be able to help you
on your journey for selfdiscovery, exploration and, and
expanded breathing. That's awhole other area, isn't it as a
whole I know we're gonna do aseries on breathing actually. So
I really look forward to that.
Maybe we can pick up on that andtalk about breathing as well.
(23:13):
There's there's more to posturethan just standing up right
folks?
Libby Stevenson (23:18):
Breathing better is another positive.
Yeah.
James Crow (23:22):
Thank you so much, everybody for coming on and
listening to us. This is Jamesfrom Posture Stars with Libby
Stevenson. I wish you a good dayand go off and do some of those
exercises. And all of you satdown, get out of that chair now.
Goodbye.
Libby Stevenson (23:34):
Thank you all
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