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Benefits

Monday, December 7th, 2009

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“People say they have ‘strength’ and I want to hear ‘balance’. Strength that has effort in it is not what you need; you need strength that is the result of ease.”

– Ida P. Rolf, Ph.D.

Benefits

Structural Integration is a very personal process. Each of us is our own person, so we will all have our own individual reactions, benefits, and responses to the work.

However, people often comment on the following as a result of the process:

  • appearing taller and slimmer (some actually gain anywhere from 1/4″ to over 1 inch in height)
  • increased and/or refined athletic performance
  • reduced discomfort and pain
  • better posture and stability, greater flexibility and range of motion
  • a feeling of lightness and fluidity, better balance
  • increased breathing capacity, energy, and awareness
  • feeling more open, centered, and connected… an overall sense of well being
  • greater self-confidence

While Structural Integration is primarily concerned with physical changes in the body, it affects the whole person. We are made up of emotions, attitudes, belief systems and behavior patterns as well as the physical being. All are related. Align the physical structure and it will open up the individual’s potential. Clients often report positive changes, stating less stress, greater self-confidence and improved ability to handle life’s changes. (Guild for Structural Integration)

S.I. is not designed to treat specific symptoms. It has, however, been known to help with the following conditions / situations:

  • Chronic Pain / Tension
  • Recovery from Surgery/Injury and even avoidance of Surgery
  • Headaches, including Migraines
  • Back pain, knee pain, hip pain
  • Scoliosis, Spinal Lordosis and Kyphosis
  • Whiplash
  • TMJ problems
  • Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
  • Plantar Fasciitis
  • Tennis Elbow
  • Frozen Shoulder syndrome
  • Foot problems (Pronation, Supination, Flat feet)
  • Fibromyalgia

And has been known to provide greater ease with the following:

  • Childhood Development
  • Trauma Resolution
  • Mental/Emotional Wellness
  • Overall Physical/Spiritual Health
  • Life Transitions

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How It Works

Monday, December 7th, 2009

“It is gravity that is the tool, it is gravity that is the therapist. All we are doing is directing the flow of gravity by virtue of organizing the body as though it were an electric wire so that gravity can flow through it.”

– Ida P. Rolf, Ph.D.

How it Works

The body is not a unit; it is an aggregate of units-head, thorax, pelvis, legs, etc.-and it is this total sum of units as which we must interpret as a single unit. Those parts may function well or less well, depending on how the units are put together as a whole body.

The body operates on energy, with energy, by energy: creating its own energy and receiving energy from the outside. A body is an individual energy machine. When you add the parts together of that machine appropriately or inappropriately, energy is either added or subtracted from the whole of the machine.

When some of those parts are not functioning properly (ex: wrist, back, neck, ankle hip, jaw) the entire body or person as a whole begins to suffer, like the sprained ankle example discussed in the “About S.I.” section.

Although it is not the goal of the work, Structural Integration tends to “fix” these maladies. By the end of the 10 Series or shortly after, it is not uncommon for a lower back that has hurt for years to miraculously be free of pain or for someone who cannot run because of a chronic ankle pain to be able to run on a regular basis again. People tend to have more energy. They feel better.

Human beings can change. One does that by changing the structure which in turn changes the function, because structure determines function to a great degree. But it does not just stop there.

Once the structure is aligned, the body can then function greater as a whole with full expansional balance. This is where the core of the work is. We make space and differentiate, so that we can lengthen and organize, all in order to integrate on a higher level and expand exponentially.

And if we in turn move from this place of expansion, from the torso out through the new balanced joints we have achieved during the process, we are changing and almost “tricking” gravity…from being the source of declination of time and age to being the source of energy and proliferation.

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Basic 10 Series

Monday, December 7th, 2009

The Ten Series

The process of integrating the whole body typically involves a series of ten sessions. While benefits can be achieved with a few sessions, the full series is recommended in order to achieve complete and lasting results.

1-3 “The Initial Sessions”

These first three sessions are known as the more “superficial” sessions. We are generally greeting the person and going over their personal history and related stories, getting to know their body and how it will respond to the work, and opening and making space so that we can go deeper into the core.

4-7 “The Core Sessions”

These hours are known as the “deeper” sessions, and are important in that they aim at establishing inside/outside balance of the legs and organize the major sections of the torso in their proper relationships so that a dynamic vertical polarity can take place. This creates what we refer to as the “upper” and “lower” pole. These core sessions could not take place successfully if the previous work had not been done properly.

8-10 “The Integration Sessions”

Integration translates as expansional balance in these sessions. Ida thought that only after the first 7 sessions was this type of balance achievable. Here we try to find as much expansional balance in the client’s body available at that particular time: first with one girdle, then the other, and then integrating both the upper and lower parts of the body with a stable torso that constantly counterbalances all four limbs. These sessions involve even more active participation from the client than earlier sessions and very much focus on the source of this movement.

“Essentially in 1-7 you establish a place for a line to live, in 8-10 you help to evoke it in living, breathing, and moving”

– Jeff Linn

After the 10 Series

The process of integration continues long after the last session. The body is assimilating a new way of moving, feeling, being. The increased movement asked of the client throughout the series allows the client the opportunity to take ownership of these changes and incorporate them in an enduring and specifically meaningful way to his or herself. A new awareness, perhaps a new sense of presence within the body, has been born. The more the client allows this awareness to encompass daily life, the more engrained and lasting the changes will be.

Clients might want to explore further work by returning for post-ten “tune-ups” or Advanced Work. It is recommended that clients wait several months before receiving more sessions after the initial 10 Series, so that the mind and body have time to process and integrate the transformations.

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About S.I.

Monday, December 7th, 2009

“We can’t change the gravitational field; what we can do is to change the way the parts of the body fit together into a whole which can transmit the gravitational field through that body in such a way that it enhances its energy field”

– Ida P. Rolf, Ph.D.

About Structural Integration

The Rolf Method of Structural Integration (S.I.), commonly known as “Rolfing” is a way of restructuring the body towards alignment for better organization and function. If physical structure is improved, function is improved. This includes all kinds of functions, psychological as well as motor. The goal is to create harmony for the physical body in gravity. We do this through means of manually manipulating fascia, which is a tissue that is elastic, stable, and moldable, and which accounts for a considerable proportion of the body’s outward form.

Fascia

Fascia is the “packing material” of the body; it is an ordered elastic web that starts just beneath the skin and ensheathes and positions the various elements of the body in layers-muscles, bones, nerves, organs, etc. It is what Dr. Rolf calls the “organ of structure”: its ability to retain a shape and yet be malleable is what makes physical change possible.

Healthy connective tissue has a pliable, elastic quality, which allows muscles, tendons and ligaments to move freely and with ease. Unhealthy connective tissue tends to be short, thick, twisted, prone to injury and less resilient.
Fascia absorbs the forces of gravity as well as the impact of physical injury, accidents, illnesses and emotional stress. Even the cumulative tensions of daily living (such as repetitive movements or sitting for long periods of time) can create restrictive, habitual holding patterns in the connective tissue. Over time, these experiences become embedded in the body; they are recorded in the myofascial system like memory and can contribute to unhealthy tissue, limited joint mobility and impaired muscle potential.

“I am dealing with problems in the body where there is never just one cause. The body process is not linear, it is circular; always it is circular. One thing goes awry, and its effects go on and on and on and on. A body is a web, connecting everything with everything else.”

– Ida P. Rolf, Ph.D.

Balance in Gravity

The body can change the make-up of fascia throughout life. Some changes seem almost permanent, like a sprained ankle that heals but with a slight thickening and twisting, where the twist might even go up into the knee. Because we move as a unit, each restriction will soon modify the whole.

The sprain “spreads” so it becomes less acute and we can get on with doing and being. In order to achieve stability and ward off stress, fascial tissue will shorten, thicken, and attach itself to neighboring structures. The resulting movement is no longer economical; we use too much energy for the simple business of living and shortchange ourselves of creative energy. We can liken this sprained ankle predicament to many other pains, discomforts, patterns, and stresses in our body.

Structural Integration reverses this process by contacting sensitive mechanoreceptors in the fascia, which cause change in the body’s autonomic nervous system, or the self-regulating systems(which are mostly subconscious). This neurobiological explanation has surpassed the Gel-Sol ideas of the first decades of the work, which inferred that the more pressure was applied, the greater the change.

Balance is the primary goal of the work. The goal to establishing balance is within the realm of gravity. Our bodies want to be comfortable, they have a natural liking for uprightness and ease. Insofar as they experience it, bodies try to live in a place of balance…we as Structural Integrators simply help them find an appropriate and optimal place to start from. Once this place is found, the energy of gravity can flow with, and not against, the energy of the individual. We then have more energy, more resiliency, and perform better when we come from this place.

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