What is Good Posture?: A Nervous System Approach
by Hyon Joo Hong, Osteopathic Manual Therapist (non-physician)
When you think of posture, what comes to mind?
For many, it’s about alignment - shoulders back, chest open, chin tucked, back straight. But what if posture wasn’t about holding yourself up a certain way…what if it was a living expression of your nervous system, your internal state, the history of yourself, and beyond?
This blog invites you to shift from surface-level corrections to a more integrated understanding of posture, one that’s shaped by your nervous system and your lived experience. If you find yourself wondering “what is posture?” or “what is good posture?” and want to improve yours, you’ll find the information you need here. Read on.
What is Posture? Understanding Good Posture Beyond Alignment
Posture is how your body positions itself in relation to gravity - how it holds and supports you in space.
Though most people treat posture like a mechanical issue, if you think about it, posture is an expression of your dynamic state. It’s not static. It’s constantly shaped by your inner and outer environment.
It reflects how your body responds and adapts over time and is a living representation of your nervous system, lived experience, and accumulated patterns - rather than something to be controlled or altered from the outside.
Why Reframing Posture is Important
It’s critical to do some reframing when it comes to posture. Why? Because posture - and the way we move - are shaped by more than just biomechanics.
It also reflects your allostatic load - the cumulative wear and tear on your body and nervous system from the demands of life. Over time, this load shapes how your body holds itself in space. Tension patterns, bracing, or collapse aren’t just “bad habits” - they’re intelligent adaptations. They show what your body has learned to live and survive.
Therefore, working with posture means engaging in a personal journey of body inquiry where you explore who you are and how you navigate the world - not just how you stand in a mechanical or literal sense.
So, what is good posture, and how do you fix posture issues? “Good posture” emerges when the body finds balance from within. It doesn’t do so through force.
I invite you to:
Reframe posture as a living expression of your inner state, rather than trying to figure out how to “fix” posture from the outside
Build new sensory-motor experiences that invite change from within through awareness, not just effort
Understand that how you hold your body is a reflection of your nervous system and accumulated allostatic load over time. This includes more than just your own experiences. There’s a deeper story here, shaped by generational and cultural imprints and ancestral memory.
How to Improve Posture Through Sensory-Motor Practices
If I ask you to feel the space behind your neck or between your shoulder blades, can you sense these areas? What might you need to do to bring them into awareness?
While you’re sitting, notice if there’s a difference between the weight of your left and right sit bones. You may want to place your hands underneath them to enhance your perception.
How about bringing your attention to the inner space of your abdomen - not the muscles themselves, but the space beneath the surface. Begin to gently shift or spiral your pelvis and your lower back, as if the movement is initiated from that inner space - soft, slow, and responsive.
You could also invite a corner of the room into your awareness and reach your fingertips toward it. Can you sense the connection between that distant point through your fingertips and arm, all the way into the center of your chest?
These small shifts help you build awareness, reshape perception, and allow your nervous system (and your whole being) to be reorganized from within.
Here’s what these practices can support:
Proprioceptive expansion: guiding new movement patterns through spatial awareness
A blend of interoception and exteroception: sensing inward while relating outward
Right hemisphere activation: engaging spatial, intuitive, non-verbal perception
Embodied relational awareness: “I move my finger” vs. “movement arises in relationship to space around my fingers”
A softer, more integrated nervous system state: less straining, more wholeness and adaptability in posture
Building strong muscles and bones has its place, but to create meaningful and lasting change, the body also needs the right inputs and the internal capacity to receive and integrate them.
How Touch and Movement Help You Reorganize Your Posture from Within
As a non-physician osteopathic manual therapist and former Pilates teacher, I love the synergy that touch and movement bring together. They’re not separate modalities - they’re two ways of accessing the same deep intelligence in the body.
In osteopathic manual therapy (OMT), we use intentional, receptive touch to access the body’s patterns - whether obvious or subtle. Through touch, we help the system regulate, restore, and integrate. Clients are mostly in a receptive mode, which allows for passive integration. “Passive”, here, doesn’t mean the client is doing nothing - it means their system is receiving, processing, and responding from a deeper place beyond conscious effort.
Movement practices like Pilates offer new sensory-motor experiences that restore agency, build awareness, and support regulation. Here, clients are actively participating in the process - building perception, refining control, and sensing movement in real time. It’s a dynamic process.
Together, these two approaches engage the nervous system from both ends - receptive and expressive. They support posture not as something to “fix,” externally, but as something to reorganize from within. This is neuroplasticity in action: learning, unlearning, and re-patterning how your body relates to gravity, space, and itself.
Evaluate Your Posture - Body, Mind, and Beyond
If you're curious about what your posture is really saying, or if you're seeking a more integrated way to work with your body and nervous system, I invite you to try osteopathic manual therapy.
We also collaborate with wonderful local movement teachers and somatic psychotherapists in the Bay Area to support your process in a way that feels aligned, accessible, and personal.
There are countless modalities, teachers, and styles out there for a reason - because every body is different. The key is finding what resonates with you and meets you where you are on your journey.
Frequently Asked Questions: What is Good Posture?
How long does it take to see results in posture improvement?
The timeline for improvement varies by the individual. Change depends on consistent practice, nervous system adaptation, and addressing both movement and internal awareness rather than merely strengthening your muscles.
Are posture issues influenced by emotional or psychological factors?
Absolutely. Your posture directly reflects your inner state and accumulated life experiences, including stress, emotional patterns, and past trauma.
Can posture improvement prevent pain or injuries?
Yes. Improving your posture through nervous system integration and movement awareness can reduce strain, enhance functional movement, and support overall body health.