Postural Integration (PI) is a process-oriented somatic therapy that employs manipulative bodywork integrated with a variety of other techniques, derived principally from Gestalt therapy, bioenergetics, and Reichian psychotherapy, to facilitate the client’s process of holistic change. It is not directly presented as a psychotherapy but rather as a mode of self-experienced exploration in which the practitioner supports and facilitates the client’s process of change. Thus, PI does not attempt to diagnose or pathologize (except to the extent that character structures are recognized); the desired outcome is the client’s own sense of positive change, greater self-integrity, and an enhanced capacity to feel and express.

Historical Context

PI was developed in the 1970s by Jack Painter, former professor of philosophy at the University of Miami. In the 1960s, with ...

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