The Difference You Can See for Yourself
Private Membership Association — Services Available Exclusively to Members
The Difference You Can See for Yourself
Private Membership Association — Services Available Exclusively to Members
Who We Are
The Art of Spine is a Private Membership Association — a community of people who share an interest in lasting structural improvement and the posture changes that come with it. Our members come from all walks of life, connected by a common experience: conventional approaches weren’t getting them where they needed to go.
What brings us together is Advanced BioStructural Correction (ABC) — a method of improving your wellness that produces visible, measurable results. The most immediate example: posture improvement you can see and feel, often from the very first session. Members join the association to have access to ABC and to be part of a community that understands the value of real, lasting structural change.
Whether you’ve been searching for answers for years or you’re just beginning to notice your posture changing, you’re welcome here. The Art of Spine exists because a small group of people in Yelm discovered something that worked — and wanted to make it available to others.
Our Approach
ABC is a method of improving your wellness through structural correction. It corrects bones that are out of place in a direction the body cannot self-correct — not by strengthening muscles or training you to stand differently, but by physically correcting what is pulling your structure out of alignment. The intended result is posture that becomes more upright without conscious muscular effort. Many members notice visible changes early in the process, often from the very first session.
Here is the structural reality that makes ABC necessary:
This can happen in countless ways over the course of a lifetime — a fall, an impact, the wear and tear of daily life. When a vertebra is displaced forward and the body has no way to correct it, the body does the next best thing: it compensates. It twists, tilts, and tightens around the problem, doing whatever it takes to keep you upright and stable against gravity. Over time, these compensations stack on top of each other, layer by layer, pulling your posture further out of alignment.
ABC identifies and corrects only the bones that are displaced in a direction the body cannot correct on its own. This is what sets it apart. The bones that your body can move by itself are left alone — even if they appear to be out of place. Those bones are out of position for a reason. They are part of your body’s compensation pattern — its best solution to a problem it cannot resolve on its own. When compensations are shifted around without addressing the underlying cause, you may get short-term changes — but the posture tends to revert. Worse, if the body can’t recreate its original compensation pattern, it is forced to create a new one that is often inferior to what it had before. ABC is designed to address what the method identifies as the underlying structural pattern, with the goal of supporting longer-lasting posture improvement.
Once the bones the body cannot self-correct are put back into place, the compensations are no longer needed. The body begins to release them naturally. This process is called unwinding — and it’s why many people see a visible change in their posture after their very first session. Individual experiences vary.
Your First Visit as a Member
Your first visit takes about an hour to an hour and a half. Here’s how it goes:
We’ll start with a conversation — you’ll tell me what brought you in, and I’ll walk you through what ABC is and how it works. Then we’ll take a before photo so you can see your current posture. From there, I’ll guide you through your first correction, explaining what I’m doing along the way.
Once we’re done, we’ll take an after photo — and you’ll be able to see the change in your posture for yourself. Results vary by individual.
After your session, your body continues working. The unwinding process takes up to 48 hours as your spine shifts and your body begins releasing old compensation patterns. Once that process settles, you’re ready for your next correction.
Every session follows the same protocol — not because every session is the same, but because the method is consistent. Each time, different bones will show up depending on where your body is in its unwinding process. Session by session, layer by layer, your body continues its unwinding process.
Member Experiences
Member stories are shared as personal experiences only. Individual experiences vary, and these stories do not represent a promise, guarantee, or expected outcome for any other member.
I began ABC after trying a lot of different approaches with nothing to show for it. I’d been through literally everything out there, but ABC has been the only approach where I’ve actually wanted to keep going back. I continue because the changes I see in my posture carry over from one session to the next. I still have a long way to go, but I can see the difference in my posture and alignment each week, month, etc. that goes by. I respect how Tilo approaches this work. He is educated on what sets ABC apart and why — and it becomes evident in his practice. If you’re looking for something different from what hasn’t worked before, I’d recommend trying ABC, or even just an informational session with Tilo so you can see how it’d apply to your body. The best part is — it’s affordable, so I can actually keep going! I’m picky and selective, so I wouldn’t be saying any of this if I wasn’t confident in this approach.
I have found Tilo Madsen to be a highly qualified and competent practitioner. In my 30 years of searching for answers, no one has been as thorough as Tilo. With each appointment, he methodically evaluates, corrects, rechecks, and fine-tunes. I leave each session confident that every detail has been given careful attention.
Changes developed over decades don’t resolve overnight. But after consistent visits with Tilo twice a week, the changes in my posture have been real and noticeable. For the first time in many years, I feel like I’m actually moving in the right direction.
I’m sincerely grateful for the experience and the consistency of the process. His office also provides a welcoming and engaging environment, making each visit a positive experience.
I have been seeing conventional body workers for over 40 years and in the last few years, once per week. Though they helped temporarily, I never felt like I was on a path to lasting change. A friend advised me that she tried ABC with excellent results and no longer goes to conventional bodywork. Eager as I was to find something that worked, I decided to give it a try. On my first visit, Tilo explained the process and how it differed from conventional approaches and it all made remarkable sense. After my first correction, I noticed a tremendous change for the better. I have been continuing weekly visits and continue to improve. It gives me great hope that I may actually be seeing lasting progress. Something I have not felt in a long time. Thank you Tilo and the man who created ABC. Thank God that I reasoned, ‘What do I have to lose’?
When my father died, he was probably 2 inches shorter from slumping over so much. I didn’t want to end up the same way — and that brought me to ABC. I have not been disappointed. ABC has definitely improved my posture and stature. Tilo is amazing! He exudes a quiet confidence, has a wonderful disarming sense of humor and is extremely kind and gentle. I have explored many bodywork modalities and it always seems to boil down to the individual practitioner. Tilo has the magic. I’m currently training for a half marathon — and I’ve never stood taller.
I came to ABC through recommendations from friends. At the time I had been seeing a conventional practitioner weekly and was looking for a change. It was time, and ABC appeared! I started out receiving corrections once every two weeks and then realized the corrections were helping, but spaced too far apart. I moved to once per week. The slow unwinding of the spine is happening and I am so much more comfortable in my body. My posture has improved immensely, and I am generally more flexible in my body as well. Now whenever I remember to check my posture, I find I am already standing in alignment. That is big for me! I am grateful for your work, Tilo! Thank you.
What I appreciate most about ABC is that it helped me achieve lasting structural change in my neck and upper body, whereas other methods only provided temporary results. The meningeal release process was key to this. I also appreciate that ABC has facilitated a more upright posture for me, which gives me confidence that I won’t become hunched over as I age.
Results
More members, more results — each photo shows the change after just the first correction.
Join the Association
The Art of Spine is a Private Membership Association (PMA). Our community is built around a shared interest in lasting structural correction and the posture improvement that comes with it. Membership is open to anyone who resonates with our approach. To join, simply sign the membership agreement at your first visit. All services are provided exclusively to members and are not available to the general public.
Includes your lifetime PMA membership ($40) and your first structural correction session ($40). Your membership begins when you sign the agreement at the office.
One-time membership fee — yours for life
Each structural correction session for existing members. Consistent sessions support your body’s ongoing unwinding process and continued posture improvement.
Available to all members of the association
How It Started
After fourteen years of construction work — hard physical work that was taking a toll on my body — I could see my posture deteriorating and I was losing mobility. At 43, for someone who relied on his body to make a living, it was a frightening place to be.
Conventional bodywork was helping me for a little bit, but I kept feeling stuck — like I could never get beyond a certain point. Then we stumbled across ABC on YouTube. We researched it, and the more we learned, the more it made sense. Eventually, we found a certified ABC practitioner in Seattle — Dirk Farrell. I could see the difference in my posture from the very first session.
We started talking to people about what we were experiencing, and interest grew. The problem was that Dirk was an hour and a half away. Eventually, we invited him into our community here in Yelm to educate us about ABC — and fortunately for us, he agreed. Many people loved it and wanted more. For quite a while, Dirk would make the trip to Yelm, and we were always there to facilitate.
That’s how we grew into this. After about two years, my wife and I decided to learn ABC ourselves. Dirk wouldn’t be around forever, and we’d heard that many couples train together so they can support each other at home. Fortunately, Dirk was one of only a dozen ABC instructors in the entire country. After Dirk retired, I continued my education directly with the developer of ABC himself, Jesse Jutkowitz.
Today I am a Certified Advanced ABC Practitioner. My posture is better now than it has been since I was a teenager — and I can see it in every photo. All of this — the community, the interest, the shared experience — is what led to forming The Art of Spine as a Private Membership Association for like-minded people who want access to lasting structural correction.
Common Questions
No. While both ABC and chiropractic work with the spine, they are fundamentally different approaches. ABC is not a chiropractic technique, and Tilo is not a chiropractor. ABC is a structural correction method that corrects bones the body cannot self-correct, rather than targeting individual areas of concern. The visible result is improved posture with no muscular effort. The Art of Spine operates as a Private Membership Association, not a healthcare practice.
Most people can see a visible change in their posture from the very first session — that’s what the before and after photos are for. The deeper unwinding process is gradual, though. Your body accumulated its compensations over years, and it takes time to work through them. Consistency is key to continued posture improvement.
This depends on where you are in the unwinding process. Many members start with weekly sessions and adjust from there. Some people come more frequently at first and space out sessions over time. During periods of active unwinding — especially when your body is working through a bigger layer — more frequent sessions can help support the process. We’ll find a rhythm that works for you.
The Art of Spine is structured as a Private Membership Association (PMA). All services are provided exclusively to members and are not available to the general public. When you visit for the first time, you’ll sign a simple membership agreement at the office — it only takes a moment. Your first visit includes a one-time lifetime membership fee of $40 (included in the $80 first visit). The Art of Spine does not diagnose, treat, or cure any condition. We always encourage members to consult with licensed healthcare providers for medical concerns.
No. X-rays are not needed to perform ABC. While X-rays were essential during the research and development of the method, the protocol itself does not require them. ABC uses hands-on testing to identify which bones need to be corrected at each session to get your body upright and stable again.
Comfortable, non-restrictive clothing works best. Please avoid hoodies and turtlenecks, as the hood and high neckline can get in the way during your session. A simple t-shirt or crew-neck top with pants or leggings is ideal. You’ll remain fully clothed during your session.
Educational Resources
For those who want to understand not just what ABC does, but why it produces lasting structural correction where other approaches don’t, this section goes deeper into the principles behind Advanced BioStructural Correction.
The following section explains ABC from within the ABC structural model. It is provided for member education and does not constitute medical advice or diagnosis.
People often ask whether ABC can help with a specific issue they’re dealing with. The answer is simple: what we do is structural correction. That’s it. We correct your structure, and we do it well.
The spot where someone notices a problem rarely points to the actual structural cause. It is almost always a compensation — the body’s attempt to manage a deeper postural issue somewhere else entirely. Two people can have the same bones displaced and present completely different postural patterns.
This is why the ABC protocol doesn’t change from person to person. The protocol is always the same: check for bones that are mechanically stuck in a direction the body cannot self-correct, and correct them. The goal is better posture. Period.
Every ABC session follows the same structured protocol, working through the entire body systematically. This is one of the things that sets ABC apart: it never focuses on just one area. The body is one synchronized functioning unit, and what happens in one part affects everything else. A displacement in the mid-back can create compensations all the way up into the neck or all the way down into the feet. Correcting only the area that seems to be the problem would miss the actual cause.
The protocol covers the full spine, the pelvis, and even the feet — which contain about a quarter of all the bones in the body. If the feet aren’t working correctly, the rest of the structure has to compensate. This is also why barefoot-style shoes are recommended — shoes with a wide toe box, flat sole, no arch support, and flexible construction that allows the foot to move naturally.
The protocol is the same every time — but the bones that show up are different at each session, because the body is in a different place in its unwinding process. Nothing is skipped, nothing is assumed. The whole body is checked, every time.
Have you ever noticed that as people age, their posture gets worse — and always in the same direction? They bend forward. Walkers are designed for people hunched forward — never backward, never to the side. This isn’t a coincidence. It’s the natural result of a lifetime of vertebrae being pushed forward with no mechanism to pull them back. Poor posture is progressive — and it only goes one way.
Here is why the body can’t self-correct a vertebra that has gone forward: the spinal column above the displaced bone is dependent on the support of the bone below it. When a vertebra goes forward, everything above it follows. The bones above cannot act as a stable base from which muscles could pull the displaced bone backward — because they have moved forward too. The best the body can do is rotate the vertebrae into extension, leaning them backward. This creates the flat spots you often see in people’s spines, but the bone itself remains stuck forward.
ABC uses a different mechanical logic than approaches that apply downward force from the back. Instead, ABC corrects forward displacements from the front — working with the body’s actual mechanical structure to address the one direction the body cannot self-correct.
Your posture didn’t arrive at its current state overnight — your body accumulated compensations layer by layer over years and decades. ABC works through these layers in reverse, almost like peeling back the history of your structural injuries one at a time.
As corrections progress, your body gradually releases old compensation patterns. This process is called unwinding. The body doesn’t unwind in a simple sequence from most recent to oldest injury. Instead, it works on whatever is causing the most mechanical stress at that moment. It may partially unwind one injury, then shift to another that is now causing more stress, then return to the first one later. Layer by layer, the body works through its history.
During unwinding, you may occasionally re-experience sensations or postural patterns from earlier in your life. You might even experience temporary discomfort as your body works through a deeper layer. This is part of the unwinding process. If you have concerns at any point, we encourage you to consult with your healthcare provider.
The meninges are three tough, elastic layers of connective tissue that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord. They attach firmly to the inside of the skull at the top and to the tailbone (coccyx) at the bottom. Along the spine, the meninges are held in place by loose elastic ligaments that act like bungee cords, keeping the spinal cord suspended within the spinal canal.
When the spine is properly aligned and you are upright, the meninges are in a slack, relaxed state. When you bend or move, they stretch just enough to keep everything stable, and return to slack when you straighten up. But when vertebrae are stuck out of position, the meninges are pulled and stretched abnormally — and that pull is continuous, running the full length of the spine from tailbone to skull. You can imagine this by tucking your shirt tightly into the back of your pants and then bending forward — you feel the pull all the way up your back. That is essentially what happens with the meninges when your spine is misaligned.
Over time, this constant abnormal pull can create adhesions — places where the meningeal tissue gets stuck. ABC incorporates meningeal releases as a critical part of every correction. By releasing these adhesions alongside correcting the bones the body cannot self-correct, ABC addresses both the skeletal and the soft tissue components of poor posture. This two-part approach is what makes ABC a comprehensive structural correction method.
ABC was developed by Dr. Jesse Jutkowitz over decades of research, clinical observation, and biomechanical analysis. Building on earlier work in spinal mechanics, Dr. Jutkowitz identified the fundamental principle that had been missing from structural correction: that bones displaced in directions the body has no muscles to self-correct are the primary cause of progressive postural decline.
Through extensive use of standing and sitting full-spine analysis, Dr. Jutkowitz mapped out exactly which bones in the body can become displaced in directions that cannot be self-corrected, and developed precise protocols to address each one. The result is a structured protocol grounded in biomechanical principles — an approach that had eluded other methods.
Today, ABC is taught and practiced internationally, with practitioners across the Americas, Europe, and beyond. The ABC International Institute continues to develop and refine the method.
ABC practitioners do not make health claims. However, independent peer-reviewed research has found associations between posture, spinal alignment, and several areas of physical and emotional function:
Breathing & Respiratory Function: Research published in the Journal of Physical Therapy Science found that slouched posture significantly reduces lung capacity, forced vital capacity, and peak flow rate compared to upright posture. Upright spinal alignment allows the diaphragm to move freely, supporting fuller, more efficient breathing. (Kang et al., 2019, PMC6348172; Albarrati et al., 2018, PMC6180369)
Mood, Confidence & Mental Wellbeing: A randomized trial in Health Psychology found that upright posture reduced negative mood, increased positive mood, and maintained self-esteem under stress compared to slumped posture. A separate study in the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry found that upright posture improved affect and reduced fatigue in people with depressive symptoms. A meta-analysis of nearly 130 studies confirmed that upright posture reliably increases self-confidence. (Nair et al., 2015, PubMed 25222091; Wilkes et al., 2017, PubMed 27494342)
Balance & Fall Prevention: Research in the European Spine Journal found that good spinal sagittal alignment significantly improves body balance and reduces fall risk in middle-aged and elderly adults. Abnormal posture shifts the center of gravity and contributes to postural instability. (Imagama et al., 2013, PMC3676567; Nishida et al., 2017, PubMed 28126694)
These studies describe the general benefits of improved posture and spinal alignment. They are shared here for educational purposes and do not constitute claims about ABC specifically. We encourage members to explore the research for themselves.
New Here?
The Art of Spine is a Private Membership Association. Joining is simple, but your first visit is a personal experience — so we start with a conversation.
Reach out and we’ll talk about what to expect, answer any questions, and find a time that works for your first visit. New member visits are scheduled personally — not through the online booking system.
Plan for about an hour and a half. We’ll walk you through how ABC works, take a before photo of your posture, complete your first correction, and take an after photo so you can see the difference. You’ll sign the membership agreement at the office — it only takes a moment.
Once you’ve joined, you can book your own sessions anytime through our online scheduler. Your one-time lifetime membership fee of $40 is included in your first visit ($80 total).
Get In Touch
806 E Yelm Ave, Suite 8
Yelm, WA 98597
Tuesday & Thursday: 11 AM – 7 PM
Sunday: 11 AM – 6 PM
