Debbi Smith, from left, and Cary Stanfill along with Vance Bonner, and Cindi Eielson, do an exercise called hideous leg with partner, during a Better Poster class at Bonner’s home studio in Bend recently.

When we first learn to walk as infants, we tend to stand up, lock our knees, stick out our behinds and lurch forward.

“That sets the stage for bad posture the rest of our lives,” said Vance Bonner of Bend. “Locking your knees causes all sorts of problems,” Bonner said. “It can take a while to unlearn that.”

Bonner has been teaching her own method of better posture for more than 50 years and is still working with clients.

She calls it the Bonner system of Structural Reprogramming, or The Vance Stance, for short. Participants learn a new way of standing, walking, stretching and moving that may help address underlying conditions such as scoliosis, bunions, sciatic pain and back pain.

‘I can do better’

Bonner, now 74, who holds a doctorate in health sciences from Columbia Pacific University, was living in New York in her early 20s when she said divine intervention struck.

She was attending a parks and rec ballet class and as she watched the professional dancers and ballerinas’ posture and listened to them complain of aches and pains, Bonner made the connection between looking like they were literally out of step with their bodies and feeling pain.

“They were just standing the wrong way. I thought, ‘I could teach better than that.’”

And with this realization, the idea for the Bonner System of Structural Reprograming was hatched.

“I made up the entire program, because it made sense to me,” she said. She soon was teaching classes at the Westside Swim and Health Club in New York City.

That first class was just the beginning of what would lead to more than 50 years of developing and teaching exercises for strength, flexibility and balanced alignment across the country. Her desire to shape and evolve the system lead her out of New York, to Idaho, Utah, Southern California, and finally, to Bend.

“I reject the premise that we are supposed to fall apart,” said Bonner. “You should be able to do what you love until you die,” she told The Bulletin in an earlier article in 2014.

She became a consultant to the stars of her day, such as author Arianna Huffington, trumpeter and band director Herb Alpert, singer Judy Collins, the Alvin Ailey dance troupe and a whole host of athletes.

Precursor to today’s exercises

At the time, it was radically different from any other body exercises available. Yoga and pilates were in their infancies if present at all at the time.

“My work teaches people to stand in gravity in a very different and special way.

The Vance Stance “allows you to work with gravity, instead of against it,” she said. “For many sessions, I just looked at people and told them how to straighten it out.”

The program is a set of exercises and poses meant to shape the body’s posture in an effort to eliminate chronic pain and reverse the effects of premature aging. The idea of structural reprogramming is not meant to contradict other movements, such as yoga, but provide the missing piece to changing the body.

Her book, “The Vance Stance,” has become a valuable resource for those interested in alternative cures for pain. It was published by Workman Publishing in 1993.

“I’m just happy for those who found me,” said Bonner. “I’m lucky for the groups in each city.”

By 1995, Bonner realized she was spending too much energy trying to inform the public about structural reprograming, she told The Bulletin. It began to occur to her that she had gotten away from doing what she really loved: teaching. So, she began to focus on seminars and teacher trainings.

She published The Vance Stance in 1993, a 180-page how-to guide with 34 exercises for strength, flexibility and alignment.

Then, she visited Bend in 1996. And, like many before her, Bonner fell in love with Central Oregon and decided to move here.

“I was sitting outside eating and watching the people of my ilk,” explained Bonner. “They were people I wanted to know. So, at 46 years old, I packed up and moved here.”

Then, she decided to give her book to Central Oregon Community College and was asked to teach a community education class. She still has students from those days she continues to work with.

“I am so grateful to the small cadre of students who joined me here in 1996,” she said. “Some of them are still with me.”

Celebrating 50 years as a consultant, Vance Bonner is offering an autographed book for free to those who wish to read it.

Call her at 541-330-9070 or email

vancebonner@juno.com