“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.