Structure and energy: You can't change either without affecting the other. Like the other aspects of your self and your life, they're inseparable and interactive.
Your body is the densest layer of your energy field, interpenetrated by and continuous with the others. We can measure electrical and magnetic energy in the body; these days we don't see anything strange about that, or about using pacemakers, or applying electrical shock to restart a stopped heart. In the 19th century, that was Frankenstein country; in the 21st, it's commonplace.
I work with fascia/connective tissue because it's a potent instrument for change. It shapes the body. It's richly innervated. It conducts electricity. It converts pressure or warmth to electrical energy, which it transmits throughout the body. It may be the pathway through which acupuncture creates change. And I knew at least one yoga teacher who believed that psychic energy traveled through the fascia.
As body structure normalizes, the fascia relaxes into more orderly, coherent patterns, so it's easier to read horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines of physical force. It's also easier to see the loops, spirals, ovals, moebius strips and other patterns of fascial order.
Patricia Fincher | Certified Structural Integrator, Tri-Cities, WA (509) 551-9002
What's so different about Structural Integration?
When I'm trying to describe Structural Integration (SI), people often comment, "Oh yeah, like chiropractic/physical therapy/massage." Even clients and people I know well often surprise me by saying things like, "Wouldn't it be easier with a higher table?" or "I just got some organic coconut oil wholesale; would you like some for work?"
Well...no, because SI is unique in these ways:
It is the only modality which relates the body to gravity. That's what it's all about---helping the person use gravity for support, rather than fighting it.
Structural Integration is not an empty phrase. In order to relate well to the gravitational field, body parts and systems have to operate in harmony with one another---to be integrated. Then they can also integrate with the gravitational field.
To integrate with gravity, the human body needs verticality. We do our best to organize the body around a vertical line. Looking at the side, a straight line should pass through the ankle, knee, hip joint, tip of the shoulder, and ear.
In order to do that, we work not directly with muscles or bones, but rather with the fascia or connective tissue which gives the body its shape. Dr. Rolf called it "the organ of form". To me, muscles and bones are landmarks, not targets.
To change the shape of the fascia, you need to hold it, not glide over it. So oil and other lubricants are decidedly inappropriate.
To work effectively without damaging my own body, I use a low table. Mine is actually a little higher than average, about knee-high on me. If I used a higher table, it would be like trying to play a piano with the keyboard at head height; I would cripple myself. The table is also wide, so that I can sit beside the client when that position is helpful.
SI is a system, not a technique. The primary technique most practitioners use is myofascial release, but myofascial release is not SI. Myofascial release and other techniques are also used in many other forms of bodywork, which are not integrative.
For optimal effect, the client must participate. This is not something the practitioner does to or for the client; it something they do together. When the work goes well, the client gets freer lighter and more upright with every session, ending with what feels like a new, younger body.
When I'm trying to describe Structural Integration (SI), people often comment, "Oh yeah, like chiropractic/physical therapy/massage." Even clients and people I know well often surprise me by saying things like, "Wouldn't it be easier with a higher table?" or "I just got some organic coconut oil wholesale; would you like some for work?"
Well...no, because SI is unique in these ways:
It is the only modality which relates the body to gravity. That's what it's all about---helping the person use gravity for support, rather than fighting it.
Structural Integration is not an empty phrase. In order to relate well to the gravitational field, body parts and systems have to operate in harmony with one another---to be integrated. Then they can also integrate with the gravitational field.
To integrate with gravity, the human body needs verticality. We do our best to organize the body around a vertical line. Looking at the side, a straight line should pass through the ankle, knee, hip joint, tip of the shoulder, and ear.
In order to do that, we work not directly with muscles or bones, but rather with the fascia or connective tissue which gives the body its shape. Dr. Rolf called it "the organ of form". To me, muscles and bones are landmarks, not targets.
To change the shape of the fascia, you need to hold it, not glide over it. So oil and other lubricants are decidedly inappropriate.
To work effectively without damaging my own body, I use a low table. Mine is actually a little higher than average, about knee-high on me. If I used a higher table, it would be like trying to play a piano with the keyboard at head height; I would cripple myself. The table is also wide, so that I can sit beside the client when that position is helpful.
SI is a system, not a technique. The primary technique most practitioners use is myofascial release, but myofascial release is not SI. Myofascial release and other techniques are also used in many other forms of bodywork, which are not integrative.
For optimal effect, the client must participate. This is not something the practitioner does to or for the client; it something they do together. When the work goes well, the client gets freer lighter and more upright with every session, ending with what feels like a new, younger body.
Transformation
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| Before session 1 After session 10 |
"Body and mind are as two sides of the same coin, and so the results of working with the body reach into the emotional, behavioral, even spiritual life of the individual....
"[Structural Integration] does not 'cure' symptoms. The goal...is a more resilient, higher-energy system. The organism then is itself better able to defend against illness and overcome stress... [The aim] is to establish balance in gravity... Bodies have a natural liking for uprightness, comfort, and ease. Insofar as they can experience it, they try to live in a place of balance. In this place, the energy of gravity can flow with (not counter to) the energy of the individual."
---Ida Rolf Talks about Rolfing and Physical Reality
Rosemary Feitis, Editor
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