Fixing posture, fixing speech -- any referrals?

[helo]

I'm concluded that I've reached a point in my game where further progress isn't really possible until I do two things: (1) fix my lisp, (2) fix my horribly bad posture.

Can anyone recommend good speech therapists who can fix a lisp? And as far as posture goes, I'm not sure if a personal trainer is the best option, or someone with more medical backgrounds such as a physical therapist.

Ideally, if someone has had one of these problems and has actually gone through the process of fixing it, I'd really like to know what you did and who you hired.

I live in Seattle but I'm willing to travel anywhere in the US if it means I can fix these two issues once and for all. I've truly reached the point of "damn it, I'm gonna fix these at any cost". I really believe it would be life-changing.

Thanks!

Helo

[Orleans]

How bad is your posture? Like are you hunched? If not just consciously mimmick good posture as often as you can. When you find yourself slumping over readjust yourself.

Look at movie stars to mimmick how they hold themselves.

[DarkPrince]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwET_AVjiuU Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBcJ1LNPrlw Part 2
Use these Videos.

One thing to try (it worked for me) sit up/ stand up straight(your back muscles will feel a stretch and would probably hurt and revert back. But keep stretching them.
Also taking up swimming (front crawl HIGHLY recommended Swimming positions/instructions (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.aquasphereusa.com/images/fit_backstroke.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.aquasphereusa.com/fit_styles.html&h=186&w=300&sz=7&hl=en&start=2&tbnid=6eaASfazF6mLtM:&tbnh=72&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dswimming%2Bstyles%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3 Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DX)), this will strengthen your back muscles, as well as tone the rest of your body giving you a nice lean look.

Reason I say swimming is because when you do swim you swim and your body is straight, with the water. Give it time and with practice in and out of the water you will achieve the straight body posture.

Remember, sit up, Chest out, shoulder back, and chin up and practice looking in EVERYONES eyes don't look away, May feel awkward, you may even feel the whole world is looking at you, I say thats good. after a while you will know you deserve to have the world look at you!

Just some tips.. Correct me if I'm wrong

-Prince

[Nasarius]

Style and others have said good things about Alexander Technique (http://www.alexandertechnique.com/). There are instructors all over the country. Don't know what in particular to recommend for speech therapy, but Google quickly turned up a similar situation (http://www.speech-language-therapy.com/faqpart1.html).

[PamC]

I wouldn't worry about a lisp. Truman Capote has one of the strangest voices IMO, and he was Mr. Popularity for his time. Another option is passing it off as an accent... which is always sexy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceceo

[Folk Theory]

running is great on this. just try to keep moderately good posture while running and then after 30 or 40 minutes run your body will kind of stay in a good posture for some hours. if you do this often your body will get used to that posture. the idea here is to strengthen your shoulder and back muscles. right now yours aren't strong enough to keep you in the right position so strengthen them.

~check out what is a good running posture (how to move feet, arms, general posture. remember, running is done with the entire body)
~never forget to stretch after running. stretching back muscles is particularly helpful.

hope this helped,
FT

[Myth]

I recently went for a posture analysis by a chiropractor, it was enlightening to see the photos he took next to the outline of how my skeletal system should look. This is beyond simply "how you carry yourself", it's about the way the muscles are naturally forcing the body, and correcting it manually can cause more problems. Long and the short of it is spend the money, go to a professional and get some work done.

With respect to fitness professionals, most don't know what they're talking about. A friend of mine is an executive wellness coach who studies all the fine subtleties of it and he's frequently very critical of the general fitness facilities and coaches. So the key is finding someone who's really good. For example, anyone who's going to put you on machines is a waste of your money. Anyone who isn't designing a program specifically for you is a waste of money. Anyone who isn't working on your core stabilizers, stretching what's tight and strengthening what's weak (basically one of the key points is muscle balance) is a waste of your money.

[sd007]

check out pete egoscue books. you can do simple stretches each day that realign your body the right way (this also eliminates a lot of the lower back pain and aches people have). "the egoscue method" is a good book to start off with. it shows you how to determine your current posture type (i.e. one shoulder lower than the other, is a hip rotated in/forward, are your feet wedged when you walk or straight, etc.). i highly recommend it.

[theroyalflush]

check out Yoga and or tai chi. You will feel it after your first class.

[sublime]

alexander technique, google it

[Ashe]

getting exercise, not necessarily running or other sports, but things like yoga and lifting weights drastically help with posture, and even confidence.

what is your lifestyle like that allows you to have bad posture? desk job? - sit up in your chair, get a lumbar support if you have to... concentrate on standin gup straight, head held high as pride would have you do...

if you start building muscle (if you havent already) they will help your body naturally stand taller and more confident.

[Confuse]

I have had bad posture my entire life until about a year ago. I had a small hunch in my back that I was born with. It is called swimmers upper hycosis (I know I misspelled that :)) I tried doing massage therapy and I went to a chiropractor. Neither of these helped. The only thing that helped was starting to be aware of my posture 100% of the day. Once I realized it I would try to sit/stand/walk/run/etc. as correct as I could. Also I would never try to force my shoulders and head back to the point of pain. I would just slightly move them back into a better posture and after a while muscles developed and it also turned into a routine and I stopped thinking about good posture I just did it. It took awhile and I still don't have perfect posture 100% of the time however it has improved substantially. Also another thing that helped was Yoga. I didn't feel it was as important as me being aware of my posture but it did help in developing muscle faster. I hope this helps :)

[Hengman]

Check your upper back (Lats, traps, etc.)

Also, make sure your lower back is good.

As for speech, go for SLS. I highly recommend it.

[Stallion7712]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwET_AVjiuU Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBcJ1LNPrlw Part 2
Use these Videos.

One thing to try (it worked for me) sit up/ stand up straight(your back muscles will feel a stretch and would probably hurt and revert back. But keep stretching them.
Also taking up swimming (front crawl HIGHLY recommended Swimming positions/instructions (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.aquasphereusa.com/images/fit_backstroke.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.aquasphereusa.com/fit_styles.html&h=186&w=300&sz=7&hl=en&start=2&tbnid=6eaASfazF6mLtM:&tbnh=72&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dswimming%2Bstyles%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3 Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DX)), this will strengthen your back muscles, as well as tone the rest of your body giving you a nice lean look.

Reason I say swimming is because when you do swim you swim and your body is straight, with the water. Give it time and with practice in and out of the water you will achieve the straight body posture.

Remember, sit up, Chest out, shoulder back, and chin up and practice looking in EVERYONES eyes don't look away, May feel awkward, you may even feel the whole world is looking at you, I say thats good. after a while you will know you deserve to have the world look at you!

Just some tips.. Correct me if I'm wrong

-Prince

One thing you got wrong there is the 'chin up' part. You kind of want to pretend that you have something on the top middle of your head and with your neck muscles, push upwards as if you were trying to force your head against it, and as a result, your neck will be long, and your chin will be facing forward and a little bit downward. I plan on tacking an alexander technique class because Ive heard many good things about it. But in the mean time, if you want to learn what you can do about getting good posture on your own, definetly check out the book '8 steps to a pain free back' by esther gokhale.... http://egwellness.com/products/products.html#