Your pain and discomfort keep coming back
because all the things you've tried
never fixed the real problem.
Most people swing between slouching (A)
and over-correcting (B) their whole lives —
never remembering what all healthy babies discover
on their own— that there's a natural middle way (C) that,
more often than not, fixes what's hurting.
Who knew that natural skeletal alignment
lies at the heart of so many people's pain?
You've tried everything: massage, acupuncture,
fascial therapy, yoga, strength training.
And yes, you do feel better—for a while.
But the pain always comes back.
Here's why:
You're managing symptoms, not addressing the likely cause . . .
structural misalignment.
Think of it this way:
The discomfort you feel in tight muscles or a painful nerve
often exist because they are affected by bones that are misaligned.
Try building a house . . .
with the structural framing not aligned along the vertical axis.
If houses felt what humans feel, the doors, windows, and walls
— even plumbing and electrical systems —would all be suffering!
Your body already knows how to do this!
There's a simple path you can follow to re-establish
the lost alignment you once discovered as a baby.
It's not hard to learn this! It can be fun and enlightening to get to know your body at a bone-deep level. You simply learn a handful of simple steps to follow and, almost immediately, as you apply them to yourself, you'll notice changes taking place. Improvement accelerates as progress builds upon itself, especially when you commit to paying attention to yourself as a living, breathing body that lives by Nature's rules . . . as often as you can remember. There's no finite destination to be reached, just a here-and-now path to follow that will serve you for the rest of your life!
The earlier you begin on this path, the more readily the transformation happens — although it's rarely too late to feel meaningful improvement. I've watched people in their 70s and 80s make significant progress.
It seems so obvious.
Why doesn't everyone already know this?
It's a head scratcher, to be sure. Maybe we ignore the key role of the skeleton because we don't the pain of misalignment in our bones; we feel the pain from compressed nerves or nerve endings in contorted muscles and fascia that are affected when our bones are misaligned.
Besides, what else could there be to learn about our skeleton that we don't already know? Something that's game-changing, actually.
Here's what we've missed: While everyone agrees the skeleton's job is to be the framework of support for the body, we've overlooked HOW this framework must be arranged along the axis of gravity—so that the skeleton functions as one complete, integrated architectural structure that conforms to natural laws of physics. This is every bit as essential to overall human wellbeing as solidly vertical framing is to a house—or a skyscraper.
Everything in our world, including the human body, is governed by laws of physics—such as gravity and verticality.
When muscles ache or injure easily, it's usually because their natural elasticity has been disrupted. Natural skeletal alignment provides the precise framework upon which all our body's systems and their intricate parts rely—musculoskeletal, circulatory, respiratory, nervous system, digestion, and more—to maintain homeostasis and good health.
Imagine what a game-changer it would be if:
— All doctors and health professionals learned about natural skeletal alignment during medical training.
— All physical therapists and fitness trainers understood how natural alignment maintains innate muscle elasticity.
— Parents, teachers, and sports coaches knew that poor postural habits developed at a young age can derail a child's health for their whole life, unless put back on track.
I've been traveling this path—practicing and teaching these principles—for the past 32 years.
34 years old
SAD DOG PHASE
A sad dog tucks its tail and rounds its back as it collapses.
Regular stiffness and pain was already a part of me when I was in my teens. By my early 30s, I struggled with chronic TMJ syndrome and bouts of back pain after lifting something heavy or a long day of gardening. On occasion, back pain kept me in bed for a few days. What I remember most vividly during this period was the relief I discovered when I first began doing yoga with Lilias Folan, who led yoga sessions on PBS TV. Stretching away tension, and discovering aerobics classes at the YWCA were key factors in giving me the quick relief I needed, but these always had to be repeated again soon after.
43 years old
TENSE DOG PHASE
A tense dog lifts its chest and holds itself up with tension.
A decade later, I was now a massage therapist and was certified to teach yoga. Yoga was still considered a bit woowoo back then, and I opened the first yoga studio in Hilo (on the Big Island of Hawai`i). I had not yet realized that I had to stretch regularly to relieve the familiar stiffness that always returned if I didn't keep stretching. Yoga, itself, was not the problem, but HOW I was doing it. It came as a big surprise later to discover that aligning my bones and giving up stretching altogether had led me to be far more naturally flexible than when I stretched. True story!
64 & 79 years old
HAPPY DOG PHASE
A happy dog wags its tail because its spine is straight and relaxed.
My life changed forever in 1994 when I met Jean Couch, who channeled the work of the late Noelle Perez-Christiaens of Paris. Noelle laid out principles of natural alignment based upon observations of how people with aligned spines moved with great ease. After my children were out on their own, I traveled solo for a year, seeking out people who modeled natural alignment. I've written books about this, taught classes over many years, and created an online course that presents an easy skeleton-centered approach to finding the way back "home" that now reaches people all over the world!
If learning this at age 47 worked so well for me,
imagine what's possible for you!
I'll be turning 80 on my next birthday! 🥳 😱
Had I not been so lucky to learn basic principles of natural alignment after a long history of discomfort, I'm certain I would not be enjoying the benefits of mechanical strength, easy mobility, and the good supply of vitality I enjoy today.
So far, I don't struggle with getting up and down from the floor/ground, and I believe that this, along with my ability to squat easily, comes from the way I bend down (like a toddler bends!), how I get up from a chair, or carry two hefty duffel bags as I deliver and pick up my grandson and his pal from their sublime forest preschool. In other words: all the ways I inhabit my body every day that reinforce our innate human design. It certainly doesn't come from stretching or working out, which I haven't done in years. 😉
A Quick Aside:
I'm naturally slight – this is my inherited body type – although natural alignment has nothing to do with one's size or shape. I've worked with people of every body type imaginable, and the principles work the same for everyone. Your skeleton only cares that it's organized to let gravitational forces flow through it efficiently. Easy mobility, real strength, and lasting vitality are available to every body.
Aging would feel
so different for me now . . .
if I had not learned how to transform myself—first from chronic structural collapse, then from being "overly upright," to finally, having a simple roadmap for how to align my bones in the course of my daily life. This path continuously reinforces natural elasticity in my muscles, allowing me to enjoy freedom from unnecessary tension and dysfunctional movement. I've watched first-hand as hundreds of others have enjoyed similar results.
Turn up volume to hear soundtrack and Click above to replay video
"Kathleen's work, to me, has been personally transformative.
I am a family physician treating my share of patients with back and neck pain, osteoporosis, and dysfunctional labor . . .
Kathleen Porter's observation of peoples around the world who retain their natural alignment, relaxation, and movement is a clear window into
the healing of the chronic pain syndromes of our culture."
Leah Morton, M.D.
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Before you can re-learn how to move naturally . . .
You'll need to understand
WHAT natural alignment IS
— from toddlers who move with perfect ease to adults who’ve never lost their natural grace.
This isn't a how-to guide —
it's a paradigm shift.
First, you need to SEE it to believe it.
These 12 richly illustrated pages show you why learning this could be the one thing that finally brings you lasting relief.
It's not hard to learn how to BE
a happy, healthy skeleton
(rather than just having one).
Your skeleton provides support for the one and only "house" you'll inhabit every day of your life!
Pain-Free Living with
Natural Alignment
is a richly illustrated, step-by-step video course that guides you along the path of rediscovery that reveals the forgotten blueprint for solidly strong, easily flexible, pain-free living that resides within you. You'll learn how to sit, stand, bend, walk, lift, carry, reach, lie down to rest or sleep . . . and then apply these basics to how: you work at a computer, lift a heavy box, play sports, hike up a mountain, rake leaves — anything and everything you do in your daily life.
Ready to re-discover what your body's been waiting for you to remember?
"Excellent!! The biomechanics of the course, coupled with her passion and grace, made this the best!"
John Metcalf, M.D., PhD.
"Destined to change the way we think about and inhabit our bodies."
Christiane Northrup, M.D.
Yarmouth, ME
"It works every time.
The only thing hard about this is remembering to do it all the time, but then familiar old aches return to remind me to pay attention."
Bill Underwood
Beaverton, OR
"After years of practicing yoga, I was still in pain.
I have been feeling enormous relief from my chronic pain."
Nancy Cavenaugh
New York, NY
"I cried when I realized that I could feel better.
After two back surgeries, I was still in almost constant pain. I thought I was fated to be this way forever. I didn’t see much point in doing this because nothing else I had tried did much good, but my husband insisted after he talked with Kathleen.
Kathleen showed me I could straighten my spine and take pressure off areas of pain. Everybody needs to know about this. It is vital information!"
Tracy Maddox
Portland, OR
