Alignment Matters: The First Five Years of Katy Says

I recommend this book to every single person. Katy Bowman is a biomechanist who has devoted her career to curating scientific research (she reads roughly 1500 journal articles, across multiple disciplines a year!) and educating the masses in an entertaining way. Her main message is: if you spend the majority of your time with your body in proper alignment (and what you think is proper alignment, probably isn’t), and get consistent movement, then you will minimize your risk in contracting a whole host of modern diseases including: foot, knee, back, hip or neck pain, osteoporosis, heart disease, fertility, pelvic floor disorder, dysmenorrhea, menorrhagia. I have bought a few of her videos, and in doing the exercises and paying attention throughout the day to how I stand and sit, I have significantly improved many issues. I will not go into details because it is a bit TMI that I don’t want to share with the entire internet, but suffice it to say that primarily calf and hamstring stretches relieved symptoms that seemingly had nothing to do with the calf and hamstrings. Starting from the feet and lengthening the proper muscles, allows for proper alignment that fixes problems higher up. The stretches she recommends are just slightly different than anything I have been exposed to (and I have a fairly wide breadth of knowledge and experience in regards to various fitness paradigms, etc). Those differences provide amazingly significant results. This book is a collection of five years of blog posts that have been grouped into related topics. I wasn’t sure if it was necessary to buy the book and spent a few weeks reading her blog [...] first. The book is more organized than the blog which makes reading related ideas easier and ensures that you don’t miss some stuff. Also there IS some content in the book that is not available on the current blog. Get this book, and her other book, read the newer entries on her blog, follow her on Facebook, watch her YouTube channel, listen to her interviews, buy some of her videos. All of it is immensely fascinating, often humorous, and most likely will make your quality of life significantly better now and in the long run. p.s. Amazon lets you buy the hard copy and get the kindle version for $2 which is really cool. I wanted a hard copy to lend to friends and family, but I prefer reading bigger heavier books on the kindle.

I read first Move your DNA and this book gave me deeper understanding of alignment. I have bought every single book written by Katy Bowman as I want to know everything possible about the subject. And I recommend this book to everyone who cares about their own health and the health of their family and friends. In addition to the important information Katy has a great sense of humor and I laughed aloud while reading this book. I am not native in English language but could understand everything in this book because it is so fluently written and scientific terms are explained.

As the cover says, this book is the first five years of Katy's blog: Katy Says. Originally intended for current and former students of Katie's Restorative Exercise program (now called Nutritious Movement), the blog itself doesn't have any linear structure. Katie writes about a wide array of topics in varying depths. One day you could be reading about the movement and structure of the hips, the next about the proper position to sleep in, the third how many muscles are below your ankles, and then again back to the hips for the fourth. Trying to read the blog straight through would be a mess. So, though the editor's kept the individual blog posts unedited, they tried to organize them first by topic and then in a way that gives the rough feeling of a beginning, middle, and end. The information she gives is incredibly valuable. I'm a massage therapist and have learned quite a bit about the body. She shifted my entire way of thinking about exercise, movement, and health. And yet everything she teaches made sense to me in a way where I felt like I should have known about it already. It's the logical conclusion when you step back and think about the body in the right light: not just the newest health trend but about thousands of years of human health. Most of the the problems I have with this book stem from the fact that it was a blog that was never intended to be a book. A lot of the information is repeated over and over again, and some of it not treated with the kind of depth it deserves. Katie is well read and highly educated. She backs up some of her points with different studies. And picks apart other studies that seem to disagree with her. And yet many topics are glazed over. Either her students know stuff that the general audience doesn't, or she just decided she wasn't going to write that long of a blog post that day. Still, the information at hand wins out. This book is certainly worth reading for what you will learn. She just released a new book called Move Your DNA. I'm hoping it will be the book (sans blog) that I was wanting to read.

No one has ever accused me of being an exercise junkie, but when I found the author's blog, www.katysays.com , my paradigm shifted--not to one of exercise but to one of movement and realizing that the ways that are easiest for me to work into my life (walking, bodyweight-bearing activities, carrying, squatting) also happen to be the very best and what my body desperately needs. Once I learned that not moving is depriving parts my body of blood, lymph, and electrical flow, and that my alignment affects everything from my shoulder pain to my chances of hernia and organ prolapse, I realized I both must and CAN do this. Alignment Matters contains some blog posts that are still online, but many others that aren't, and it's great to have them organized by theme and highlight-able. The book does preserve the chatty nature of the blog and none of the content is edited out, but I love this because, as knowledgeable as she is, Katy always lets you know she's working all this into a life with kids and work, like most of us. She sometimes gets sick too. She has to do laundry too. And just when you think she's off on a total tangent, she makes you see she was on point the whole time and briliantly and hilariously brings it home. If you're someone who needs to know not only what to do, but what's going on in your body to get motivated--or you're just fascinated by the ins and outs, this book is an eye-opener.

If I could buy this book for every person I know and care about, I would. Unfortunately I don't have money for that, but instead I'll post a link to it so people can perhaps see it and buy it for themselves. It is truly a life changing paradigm shift waiting to happen and I would be in deep trouble if I hadn't found Katy Bowman 4 years back when my first child was a newborn. She is the best source of scientifically based information on how to use your body in a way that won't result in injury and disease over your life time. She may also be the funniest source of such information. Her information is applicable to joint dysfunction (think osteo-arthritis and knee issues), carpal tunnel, TMJ disorder, pelvic floor problems (for men AND women), flat feet, bunions and so much more. Seriously. Buy this book. Read it. Love it. And, of course, implement it! It will change your life.

Applying the concepts in this book have already changed my body for the better. The corns on my feet that a podiatrist told me would always keep coming back and which prevented me from walking barefoot - barely visible, and still soft 6 months after my last corn removal treatment. I can walk barefoot again without pain! This has never happened before, and can only be explained by the fact that I'm standing and walking with better alignment now, so the pressure causing the corns is no longer there. This information is something EVERYONE needs to know for whole body health. It doesn't matter how well you eat, there is no way your body can reach optimal health without at least a basic understanding of the mechanics of movement. I love how Katy makes these scientific principles easy to understand, especially for someone who is more right brained than left, like me.

I went on a road trip and drove for 15 hours straight. I began experiencing horrible pain in my knee and could not walk without the help of a cane. It all but ruined my vacation... while sitting in the Emergency Care waiting room I read an article in one of their magazines by the author of this book. She offered an exercise for knee pain and I tried it. After two weeks of excruciating pain, the pain was gone! It was like magic, following the instructions and doing the exercise one time caused my hip and knee to align properly and the pain vanished. I bought the book and have been successful in releiving back and neck pain as well. I am still working on my shoulder and have not had much luck with it so far. This is a very well written and helpful book and I highly recommend it.

This would be without doubt the most useful, inspiring and informative book I've read about healthy movement! It has shattered a few myths, inspired me to make some significant changes to my movement habits that I was previously unaware of ( feet straight, feet straight if you want to get rid of those threatening, 'hereditary' bunions amongst other things) and helped a non scientist really understand the reasons why habitual movement and lack thereof if such a health problem. Katy writes with humour and clarity and is still able to give concise, accurate explanations of functional movement. I could write an essay, but I won't. Just read it ... :-)

Well this is just a great book and I can't recall exactly how I found it. It might have been referred to within an article about knees pointing inward...anyway, I took a look and ordered it. I'm experiencing loads of alignment problems, tight muscles, imbalances all over the place and finding th wealth of info available too overwhelming. I have a great physio I thought this would be worth a look. It's just fantastic for dipping in and out of or you could start at the beginning and read to the end. It's organised as lots of blog posts arranged into chapters, each post with bite size bits of info, pictures where they are needed, a bit of humour and a really easy read for everyone to understand. You can just get on and put stuff into practice right away. If you want to study a particular body part then things are organised into chapters where you will find lots of 'blog posts' relating to that topic. It's also great just to flick through and read anything that catches your eye as it's very informative, not in the least bit jargony and very entertaining. Plus you learn great body tips so what more could you want.

As a physiotherapist, I practise a lot of the principles she teaches. But her perspectives on why we should move more naturally completely rocked my world. I always strive to return my patients to an improved level of functioning. I have a very goal-oriented approach. However, she made me question whether those functions are appropriate or good for one's health. I see movement and exercise so differently now. As a new mom, it makes me feel good to know I don't need to hit the gym 3-4x a week to stay healthy. I can move with my baby! I will also raise my baby to have much more natural movement. When I started my baby on these natural movement principles, she hit some major milestones immediately! I recommend her other book move your DNS as well

I'm a yoga teacher and this book has changed my practice. I love reading books about the body as I feel that it makes me a better teacher. Plus I have a misaligned hip and SI joint issues after an accident. I feel I'm chasing corrections to my posture around my body as a consequence. I was already aware of correct spinal alignment and that psoas can affect the ability to stand straight and the reasons why we suffer from back ache but this book has brought my attention to a whole host of connected issues. This book has been a revelation. It's incredibly easy to read (very chatty and informal and funny) and she writes in a way that makes sense and the info is very easy to digest and more than anything USE! I'm more aware than ever of how I use my feet. I'm telling people to get out of heels now. Brilliant book. I think I might buy her others too. Love her.

I love everything about Katy Bowman - her knowledge and expertise and her down to earth no fuss and no pretencious approach! I also love that her book although dense with information and practicality are easy to carry along (no pretentious printing that would turn the into expensive coffee table books to brows through ) If you wonder where to start with your body work - start from Katy! and if yo wonder which of her many books first to buy - this one!

A book that I have been searching for years after a 10yrs chronic injury. This book is so educational to anyone wanting to understand their own body I cannot rate it highly enough. After searching & looking for years for answers on your own body alignment & the health benefits it brings & understanding all the symptoms & bad health you've encountered during you alignment collapse. This book educates you on every aspect you could ever want to know on alignment & all the information is in one book!! its like opening up the holy grail of alignment!!