Surprising Tips for Perfect Posture

Beth GreenfieldSenior Writer‎July‎ ‎14‎, ‎2014

Illustration by Getty Images

Poor posture can lead to host of health problems: lousy digestion, constricted breathing, and chronic pain, just to name a few. And while plastering your computer with sticky-note reminders to “Sit up straight!” may make you feel like you’re doing something about it, there are much better ways to slay your slouch — like submitting to one of several holistic, hands-on approaches, all of which can lengthen the body and give you better range of motion. 

“Everyone has their own holding patterns and habits that contribute to poor posture, and being properly educated about how to break them is key,” says Christina Morris, co-owner of Element Natural Healing Arts, a Brooklyn wellness center that offers therapies such as the Alexander Technique, Structural Integration and Feldenkrais. “Hands-on practices allow the person to actually feel where their body ‘should’ be in space and where it currently is. And proper posture is a key element in maintaining a pain-free body.” Behold, a primer on four groovy options:

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                                         Alexander TechniqueWhat it is: Not exactly considered bodywork, this approach (named after Frederick Matthias Alexander, a late nineteenth–century Shakespearean actor who overcame chronic hoarseness with his technique) works to reeducate the body through a series of private lessons, during which the practitioner guides you, through both verbal and manual cues, to recognize habitual patterns. Results include less tension, stress and discomfort.

How it helps posture: “Good posture is being upright and balanced without strain,” Lindsay Newitter, media director for the Ohio-based American Society for the Alexander Technique, tells Yahoo Health. “Teachers of the Alexander Technique are trained to recognize habits causing poor posture that people often don’t recognize in themselves — habits of slumping, stiffening or tightening that often cause discomfort. As these habits are unlearned, sitting, standing and moving become as comfortable and natural as they were when we were young children.”

Find a practitioner: American Society for the Alexander Technique

                                Feldenkrais Method

What it is: An approach to movement originally developed by Moshe Feldenkrais, an early–20^th century Israeli physicist, it’s based on principles of physics, neurology and physiology. There are two complementary elements: Functional Integration, or private sessions, during which the practitioner guides you through gentle movements and manipulations; and group classes, in which you’re led through purposeful motions while lying down, sitting or standing, gaining awareness of yourself in action.

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How it helps posture: Feldenkrais himself had a very dynamic approach to posture, Marek Wyszynski, cofounder of the Feldenkrais Institute in New York, tells Yahoo Health. To achieve the most optimal alignment, he explains, “You have achieved a state from where you can move in any direction without preparation or hesitation.” So if you were a soccer goalie, he explains, and had ideal posture, you’d be able to throw your body to the left or right or forward to catch a goal, without a moment wasted before any direction. “But if you stood on one leg more than another, for example, you would not be there,” he says. “Good posture makes you free.”

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                               Find a practitioner: feldenkrais.com

                                       Structural Integration

What it is: Also known by its “brand” name of Rolfing (for 1920s founder Ida Rolf, a biochemist), SI is a type of bodywork focusing on the wearing effects of gravity on the body. Hands-on practitioners lengthen and realign the body’s fascia, or connective tissue, with a specific method of touch that’s typically performed in a series of ten sessions.

How it helps posture: SI aligns and balances the body by layering, lengthening and reworking the fascia, bringing it to a more optimal structural position — including easier breathing, less pain and effortlessly good posture. “We’re not looking for someone to stand up straight, but to be able to stand and move with ease and efficiency, and better posture is a byproduct of that,” Liz Stewart, a Boulder, Colorado–based practitioner, tells Yahoo Health. Because the practice focuses on each client’s own central vertical axis, she explains, “‘Good posture’ means something different for everyone,” adding that even with someone with scoliosis, for example, can use SI to “feel upright in spite of it.”

Find a practitioner: The International Association of Structural Integrators

                                                 Trager Approach

What it is: Created in the 1920s by a Florida doctor named Milton Trager, this soothing mind-body method has two components — hands-on table sessions, during which a practitioner uses gentle rocking and stretching motions to help your unconscious mind let go of unhealthy holding patterns and create new muscle memory; and “Mentastics,” the take-home maintenance exercises you use to continue the work on your own.

How it helps posture: “Generally what happens is that all the rocking gently breaks up holding patterns, evoking a sense of calm and ease so that the muscles let go,” Ruth Alpert, a Trager (and Alexander Technique) practitioner based in Santa Barbara, CA, tells Yahoo Health. “That relieves the tension that keeps funky alignment in place.” Like with Structural Integration, good posture is a byproduct; and like many of the other modalities here, Trager can help resolve back pain, emotional 

trauma, and stress.

                                    Find a practitioner: Trager.com

All four approaches are strikingly similar, largely because their creators were all contemporaries. So how the heck is anyone supposed to choose? “All have the same intention,” Alpert says, “which is more efficient, less stressful functioning.” And making your decision is just like choosing a class, she explains. Do you like to be massaged? Verbally guided? Challenged physically? Basically, she suggests you ask yourself, “What therapy’s personality speaks to you?” Whichever you choose, your spine will thank you.