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5 Exercises to Help Your Posture Feel Better

Stand taller with just a few minutes a day

Most posture advice makes it sound like the answer is to pull your shoulders back and sit perfectly straight from morning to night. Nobody does that, and staying rigid in one “correct” position is not much of an improvement. A better goal is to give the upper back, chest, neck, and shoulders more ways to move. These five exercises start gently and build from there, so you can stop wherever your body has had enough for the day.

1. Cat-Cow

Start on your hands and knees with your wrists under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. As you inhale, let your chest move forward and your spine gently arch. As you exhale, press the floor away and round your back. Move through six to eight slow rounds without trying to create the biggest possible shape. Cat-Cow is a good first step because it gets the whole spine moving before you ask one particular area to stretch or work harder.

2. Open-Book Rotation

Lie on your side with your knees bent and your arms reaching forward, one hand stacked over the other. Keep your knees together as you sweep the top arm open and let your chest rotate toward the other side. Follow the moving hand with your eyes, pause where the stretch feels comfortable, and return. Repeat five or six times on each side. This is especially satisfying after hours spent facing forward at a desk, in a car, or on a phone.

3. Sphinx Pose

Lie on your stomach and place your forearms on the floor with your elbows under or slightly in front of your shoulders. Press gently through the forearms as you lift your chest, keeping the back of your neck long and your shoulders away from your ears. Stay for three to five slow breaths, then lower down. Sphinx is a small backbend, but that is exactly why it works well here. It gives the chest and front of the body more room without asking for a huge amount of flexibility.

4. Locust Pose

Stay on your stomach with your arms alongside your body and your palms facing down or inward. On an inhale, lift your chest, shoulders, and arms a few inches from the floor while reaching your fingertips toward your feet. Keep your gaze down so the neck stays long. Hold for two or three breaths, lower, and repeat three to five times. This is where the sequence moves beyond mobility and asks the upper-back muscles to help support the space you have created. Research suggests that combining chest opening with upper-back strengthening is more useful for rounded shoulders than stretching alone. [1]

5. Upper-Back Extension With a Yoga Block, Foam Roller, or Yoga Wheel

Finish with a supported upper-back opening using whichever prop feels best. For a more stationary option, place a yoga block on its lowest setting lengthwise beneath the upper back and use another block or cushion to support your head if needed. With a foam roller, place it crosswise beneath the upper back, support your head with your hands, and gently let your chest open over it. You can move the roller to two or three spots between the shoulder blades. If those options already feel comfortable and familiar, a yoga wheel offers a larger and more continuous backbend. The wheel is the progression, not the starting point.

Massage can help the upper back, chest, neck, and shoulders feel less guarded, and these exercises give those areas a few more options between appointments. Stop if anything feels sharp, pinching, dizzy, or unsteady.