science

Postural Integration

Postural Integration is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Postural Integration rather than just read about it. In short: Postural Integration is a type of bodywork purporting to draw on "energy" and allow access to the past. It was devised in the late 1960s by Jack Painter (1933–2010) in California, US, after exploration in the fields of humanistic psychology and the human potential movement.

Key takeaways

Postural Integration belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Postural Integration to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Postural Integration from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Postural Integration is a type of bodywork purporting to draw on "energy" and allow access to the past. It was devised in the late 1960s by Jack Painter (1933–2010) in California, US, after exploration in the fields of humanistic psychology and the human potential movement.

Definition According to Quackwatch, Postural Integration is "a form of bodywork that is an alleged access to the past and a purported means of: (a) releasing and integrating 'energy', and (b) finding a 'light, joyful balance' with 'mother earth'".

Background During his time as Professor of Philosophy at the University of Miami, Painter became interested in working with the body and personally explored many different approaches – massage, acupuncture, Zen, yoga, the work of Ida Rolf and her Rolfing method, Gestalt therapy developed by Fritz Perls, and the theories of Wilhelm Reich in the form of Vegetotherapy. By the seventies he was calling his form of holistic bodymind bodywork 'Postural Integration'. In the eighties and nineties Painter then went on to develop two further methods, Energetic Integration and Pelvic-Heart Integration.

In practise In the course of a twelve-session series modeled loosely on Rolfing Structural Integration, the Postural Integration process integrates Gestalt therapy with bodywork, as well as breath work, fine energy work and elements from the Five Phases system. The initial seven sessions address specific body areas and focus on releasing defensive armoring habits, characterized as "letting go of the old self". During sessions, spontaneous emotional expression is encouraged. Additional tools include drama therapy, attention to body language and self-awareness. Since Postural Integration works simultaneously with the physical, mental and emotional aspects of the whole person, it contains elements of both psychotherapy and bodywork, some practitioners qualified in psychotherapy focus more on the therapy aspect while others use it primarily as a form of bodywork with psychotherapy-based awareness and insights. Postural Integration is taught and practised mainly in Europe, and also in the US, Mexico and South Africa. Postural Integration trainings are organized by the International Council of PsychoCorporal (Bodymind) Integration Trainers (ICPIT). In the 1990s Psychotherapeutic Postural Integrational (PPI) developed in Strasbourg, France out of Postural Integration with the inclusion of Jungian psychology and Gestalt therapy, the institute accredited by the European Association for Body Psychotherapy as qualifying their students in this method as ECP practitioners of psychotherapy.

See also Alternative medicine Posture (psychology) Somatic psychology

Notes

External links The International Council of PsychoCorporal (Bodymind) Integration Trainers (ICPIT)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Postural Integration

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Postural Integration claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Postural Integration before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Postural Integration ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Postural Integration

In research: Postural Integration appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Postural Integration in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Postural Integration is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Body psychotherapy, Manual therapy, Somatics, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Postural Integration outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Postural Integration in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Postural Integration means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Postural Integration out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Postural Integration in simple terms?

Why does Postural Integration matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Postural Integration?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Postural Integration.