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If youth is wasted on the young, then height is wasted on the young and tall.
BALANCING ACTFrom left: Angelina Kendall wears Alaïa. Clyde and Bagtazo hats. Chu Wong wears Dior. J.R. Malpere and Gigi Burris Millinery hats.Fashion Editor:Alex Harrington.
I can recall with total clarity my disappointment in my sixth-grade class portrait.
I had experienced a growth spurt that summer.
I had picked out my outfit that day with care.
FOUR TOPFrom left: Jill Kortleve wears an H&M top and Marc Jacobs pants. Awar Odhiang in Loewe. Kendall wears Alaïa. Wong in Dior.
From then on, I had only contempt for my height.
My solution was tohunch.
This was the late 90s in Northern California.
Eventually, I grew out of it.
I discovered thatmy heightwas something of an asset.
I started a career, got married, had kids.
Motherhood finally allowed me to feel a purpose with my physical self that wasnt tied to vanity.
The only problem was that I had completely obliterated myposture.
Years of rounded shoulders had taken its toll.
Two pregnancies had stretched out my core.
The decades spent working in front of a computer hadnt helped either.
I wanted to investigate what it would take to course-correct.
After all, there are benefits to standing straighter.
Studies point out that people with clinical depression tend to hunch more than those who dont.
Besides, I had reason to be optimistic.
FOUR TOPFrom left: Jill Kortleve wears an H&M top and Marc Jacobs pants.
Awar Odhiang in Loewe.
Imagine youre wearing a beautiful necklace.
Wouldnt you want it to glitter in the light?
Its even worse for mothers like myself who arebreastfeeding, picking up small children, and pushing a stroller.
Now, of course, the phone is the worst culprit, she adds.
I stare guiltily at mine.
The human head weighs, on average, about 10 to 12 pounds.
Many of us are increasinglyworking from home, which is also having a devastating effect on posture.
Imagine youre wearing a beautiful necklace.
Wouldnt you want it to glitter in the light?
Afterward, I ask Jaffe to assess my posture.
Not too bad, she says politely, gently pulling my shoulders back.
Then she assigns me homework: to look at the posture of other New Yorkers around me.
Seeing bad posture might make me correct mine.
After all, awareness is key to fixing a nasty slouch.
offers a friend when I reveal it to her.
Still, I find it remarkably effective.
She thinks its helpful to remember that good posture comes from more than just the shoulders.
Dont feel yourself just lifting from your ribs, she tells me.
When you feel a little bit supported in the hips, its much more powerful.
Flexibility is important too.
I also meet up with New York Citybased yoga instructorAshley Dorr at Souk,a yoga studio in Chelsea.
But the real benefit of yoga is the way it connects the mind with the body, Dorr explains.
Most everyone I speak to is keen to remind me that no two spines are alike.
Some simply curve more than others.
In the window, I caught my reflection and paused.
It was a start.
In this story: hair, Shingo Shibata; makeup, Kanako Takase using Addiction Tokyo.
