Stand up for a second.
Seriously. If you’re able to, stand up right now. Don’t “fix” anything. Don’t stand up straight on purpose. Just stand the way you stand when you’re not thinking about it.
Now close your eyes for ten seconds. Feel your feet on the floor. Where is your weight? Is it more on your heels or your toes? More on your left foot or your right? Is one foot turned out more than the other?
Open your eyes. Look down at your feet. Are they parallel? Are they the same distance apart?
You just started reading your body.
What body reading is
In structural integration, before I ever put my hands on someone, I read their body. I look at them standing, from the front, the back, and both sides. I watch them walk. I ask them to do a few simple movements. And from this observation, I can tell a lot about which fascial lines are restricted, where the primary restrictions are, and what’s compensating for what.
This isn’t magic. It’s pattern recognition, informed by the Anatomy Trains framework. Once you understand what the lines do and what restriction in each line looks like, reading the body becomes surprisingly learnable.
I want to teach you some of the basics. Not to make you a practitioner, but to give you what I’d call body literacy. The ability to look at your own body (and others’) with more informed eyes.
The standing assessment
Stand in front of a full-length mirror in minimal clothing. Or have someone take a photo of you from the front, the back, and both sides. What you’re looking for is departures from symmetry and from neutral alignment.
Here’s what to look at, organized by line.
Front and back: The Superficial Front and Back Lines
From the side. Look at the relationship between your ear, shoulder, hip, knee, and ankle. In a neutral body, these landmarks stack roughly vertically. If your ear is forward of your shoulder, that’s a Superficial Back Line restriction pulling your head forward (and/or a Superficial Front Line shortening in the chest and neck).
Pelvic tilt. From the side, look at your belt line. Is it level, tilted forward (anterior pelvic tilt), or tilted backward (posterior pelvic tilt)? Anterior tilt often indicates a short SFL in the lower body (quads and hip flexors). Posterior tilt often indicates a short SBL in the lower body (hamstrings and calves).
Ribcage position. Are your ribs flaring forward at the bottom? That’s often an SFL restriction through the abdominal and sternal fascia. Are your ribs compressed and pulled downward? That might be SFL and Deep Front Line restriction.
Knee position. Are your knees hyperextended (pushed back past neutral)? That’s frequently an SBL pattern, with the calves and hamstrings pulling the knee into extension.
Left and right: The Lateral Line
From the front or back. Look at your hips. Is one higher than the other? Look at your waistline on both sides. Is one shorter? Look at your shoulders. Is one higher or more dropped?
A higher hip on one side usually indicates a short Lateral Line on that side. The waistline on the short side will be compressed.
Head tilt. Does your head tilt to one side? The head often tilts toward the short Lateral Line side (though not always, as the head may tilt opposite to compensate).
Rib cage shift. Does your rib cage shift to one side relative to your pelvis? This is a lateral shift, and it’s a Lateral Line (and sometimes Spiral Line) pattern.
Rotation: The Spiral Line
From the front. Look at your shoulders. Is one more forward than the other? Look at your hands hanging by your sides. Does one rest more toward the front of your thigh while the other rests to the side?
Look at your feet. Is one foot turned out more than the other? Asymmetrical foot rotation often reflects a Spiral Line asymmetry higher up.
Rib cage rotation. This is subtle but visible. Does your rib cage appear to be rotated slightly, with one side more forward? Compare the prominence of your ribs on both sides from the front.
The deep patterns: The Deep Front Line
The DFL is harder to assess visually because it’s deep. But there are clues.
Arch height. Are your arches collapsed or overly rigid? The DFL runs through the deep foot structures and supports the arch.
Breathing pattern. Watch yourself breathe in the mirror. Do your lower ribs expand laterally? Or does your chest just rise and fall? Minimal lower rib expansion suggests DFL and/or SFL restriction through the diaphragm region.
Jaw position. Is your jaw clenched? Can you see the masseter muscles bulging at the angle of your jaw? Jaw tension is often a DFL pattern.
The walking assessment
Standing posture tells you about static line balance. Walking tells you how the lines function dynamically. This is where things get really interesting.
Walk back and forth across a room. Better yet, have someone film you walking toward and away from the camera. Here’s what to look for.
Arm swing. Do both arms swing equally? A restricted arm swing on one side often points to Functional Line or Arm Line restriction. Minimal arm swing overall suggests general trunk restriction.
Hip drop. Watch your pelvis as you walk. When you stand on one leg (which you do with every step), does the opposite hip drop? A hip drop indicates that the Lateral Line on the stance side can’t stabilize the pelvis adequately.
Foot rotation. Do both feet point straight ahead, or does one turn out more? Asymmetrical foot rotation during gait is often a Spiral Line expression.
Trunk rotation. Does your trunk rotate smoothly and evenly with each step? Or does it look stiff, like a block? Minimal trunk rotation suggests restricted Spiral and Functional Lines. Asymmetrical rotation (more rotation to one side than the other) suggests a Spiral Line imbalance.
Heel strike pattern. Where does your foot hit the ground? Outside of the heel and rolling inward is normal. Hitting flat or on the inside suggests arch and DFL issues.
The movement tests
Beyond standing and walking, a few simple movements give good information about line function.
Forward bend
Stand with feet hip-width apart. Slowly bend forward, reaching toward the floor. Don’t force it. Notice several things.
Where do you feel the stretch? The back of the knees, the hamstrings, the low back, the calves? Wherever you feel it most, that’s likely where your Superficial Back Line is most restricted.
How does the movement flow? Does your spine curve evenly like a waterfall, or are there flat spots (areas that don’t flex) and hinge points (one area that does all the flexing)? Flat spots indicate restricted segments of the SBL. Hinge points indicate areas that are compensating for the restricted segments.
Side bend
Stand and lean your trunk to the right, sliding your right hand down the outside of your thigh. Then lean left. Compare the two sides.
Is one side significantly more restricted? That side’s Lateral Line is probably shorter. Is there a specific area that blocks the movement (mid-ribs, waistline, hip)? That’s likely where the primary restriction lives along the line.
Trunk rotation
Stand with your arms crossed over your chest. Rotate your trunk to the right, then to the left. Keep your feet planted.
Is one direction easier? That’s your Spiral Line talking. A significant difference between left and right rotation almost always indicates Spiral Line asymmetry.
Where does the rotation happen? Ideally, it should be distributed throughout the thoracic spine. If all the rotation is happening at one level (usually T12-L1), the rest of the thoracic spine is restricted.
Overhead reach
Stand and reach both arms straight overhead. Look in the mirror or have someone look at you from behind.
Can both arms reach equally high? Is one elbow more bent than the other? Does reaching overhead cause your rib cage to flare or your low back to arch?
Asymmetry in the overhead reach points to Arm Line and Lateral Line restrictions. If your ribs flare, the SFL and DFL are probably restricting your rib cage enough that the only way to get your arms overhead is to extend your lumbar spine.
Squat
Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and lower yourself into a deep squat. If you can’t get there, note where the movement stops.
Do your heels lift? That’s a SBL restriction in the calves. Do your knees dive inward? That could be DFL (adductor) or Lateral Line (peroneal) issues. Does your trunk fold far forward? That’s often a DFL (psoas and deep hip) restriction preventing the hip from flexing while the spine stays upright.
How to put it all together
Here’s the thing about body reading. No single observation tells you very much. It’s the pattern of observations that matters.
If someone has a forward head, an anterior pelvic tilt, and a compressed chest, that’s a Superficial Front Line story. If someone has one hip higher, one waistline shorter, and outer knee pain on the high side, that’s a Lateral Line story. If someone has rotational asymmetry in their trunk, asymmetrical foot rotation, and one shoulder forward, that’s a Spiral Line story.
And in reality, everyone is a combination. Nobody has a pure SFL restriction or a pure Lateral Line issue. The body is a web of overlapping lines, and restriction in one line creates compensation in others.
This is why structural integration is a series, not a single session. It takes systematic work through all the lines, in the right order, to untangle the web. I detailed how the 12-session series maps onto the lines in an earlier post if you want to see that structure.
Developing your eye
Body reading is a skill that develops with practice. You don’t need to be a practitioner to start developing it. Here are some suggestions.
Start with yourself. Take front, back, and side photos in your underwear or workout clothes. Look at them with the checklist above. You’ll be surprised at what you see.
Watch people walk. Not in a creepy way. But in a cafe, at the airport, at the park. Notice arm swing, foot rotation, trunk rotation, head position. After a while, you’ll start seeing patterns everywhere.
Feel, don’t just look. Stand with your eyes closed and notice what you feel. Where is your weight? What areas feel tense? Where do you feel open and where do you feel compressed? Your internal sense of your body (proprioception) is a body reading tool too.
Revisit over time. Take photos periodically. Your patterns change as your body changes, through aging, through injury, through training, through treatment. Seeing the progression helps you understand your body as a dynamic system, not a fixed structure.
What body reading isn’t
I want to be clear about the limits of self-assessment.
Body reading is not diagnosis. Seeing that one hip is higher doesn’t tell you whether it’s a fascial restriction, a skeletal asymmetry, or something else entirely. It gives you useful information, but interpreting that information requires training and context.
Body reading also isn’t meant to make you anxious about your posture. Everyone has asymmetries. Everyone has restrictions. Having a forward head or a lateral tilt is not a pathology. It’s a pattern. It only becomes a clinical concern when it’s contributing to pain, limiting function, or progressing over time.
The purpose of body literacy is awareness, not judgment. Know your patterns. Understand what they mean in terms of fascial line balance. And if they’re causing you trouble, know that they’re addressable.
Your body is speaking
Your body is constantly telling you about its patterns, through posture, through movement, through where you feel tight or restricted or painful. The Anatomy Trains framework gives you a language to understand what it’s saying.
In the final post of this series, I’m going to pull everything together. Every line talking to every other line. Every restriction creating a response somewhere else. Your body as a conversation, not a collection of parts.
And if you’ve been reading these posts and recognizing your own patterns, I’d love to help you address them in person. My structural integration practice here in Santa Cruz is built on exactly this kind of assessment and treatment. Book a session and let me read your body.