how me what you think good posture looks like," says theater department performer in residence Eugenia Wacker-Hoeflin. She’s a petite woman with boundless energy and the bright smile of an entertainer.

It’s near the end of a long day; I’m tired and still trying to digest the dinner I ate with one hand while driving to this interview. My knee hurts from running up the stairs in my extremely fashionable platform flip-flops. And I have a crick in my neck from holding the phone between my ear and shoulder and typing at the same time. But Wacker-Hoeflin beams at me while Jeff Ives and Betsy Keller, both professors in exercise and sport sciences, nod encouragingly.

Eugenia Wacker-Hoeflin, Jeff Ives, and Betsy keller know the importance of physical well-being to the learning process — and to everything else.

Good posture? I remember a third-grade teacher who made me balance a textbook on my head, so I stiffen my neck, thrust back my shoulders, suck in my stomach, take a deep breath, and hold it.

Keller and Ives knit their eyebrows, looking pained.

"Oh, dear," says Wacker-Hoeflin. She gently places one hand on my back, the other on my collarbone. "When I came here," she says, "I saw people in my ballet classes, from all walks of life, with manners of movement that I felt should be addressed they started dancing."

Firmly, she pushes in and down on my chest until my head shifts into a more comfortable position in relation to my neck. Suddenly I can breathe, and my brain seems clearer. I feel my pulse calming as Wacker-Hoeflin talks. "And," she continues, "I thought, how can I help these students with problematic movement patterns?"

First, she spent some time sampling mind-body techniques, such as Feldenkrais and tai chi, which she found worked well. During this period she went to a two-day workshop on the Alexander technique, where she learned ways of releasing habitual muscle tension, especially in the neck and spine. This tension can lead to physical problems including neck, shoulder, and back pain, restricted breathing, exhaustion, slowed circulation, and limitations in performing a work task or sport, such as tennis elbow or carpal tunnel syndrome.

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Photos by George Sapio