What is Structural Integration?
Structural Integration is a form of bodywork that reorganizes the connective tissues, called fascia. Fascia is a collagenous-based, web-like network of connective tissues that surround, support, and penetrate all of the muscles, bones, nerves, and organs.
The traditional 10-session series of Structural Integration systematically aims to mobilize and rebalance these tissues thus potentially resolving discomfort, reducing compensations, and alleviating pain.
Together, we will work to explore patterns of human movement and increase breath and somatic awareness.
The Ten Session Series & Intentions
Sessions 1-3: Superficial Fascia
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Session one begins the process of shifting both the shoulder and pelvic girdles into horizontal alignment. We begin to open the thoracic area and rib cage, so it may expand with the breath.
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Session two brings more balance and stability to the lower portion of the body creating a solid base for the entire body. We begin to find balance between the feet and ankles. We also begin to ease rotation and support flexibility in the back.
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Session three focuses on untwisting the body’s entire outer layer or “jumpsuit” while continuing to balance and re-position the shoulder and pelvic girdles.
Sessions 4-7: Deep Fascia
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Session four begins the process of movement to transfer through the deep fascial layers of the body. This session focuses on the structural balance and transfer of motion through the inner legs, pelvic floor, and back.
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Session five begins releasing the deep holding patterns within the intrinsic layers of the pelvis, abdomen and thorax. We increase mobility of the respiratory diaphragm and movement through the inner torso and pelvis.
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Session six eases remaining imbalances or rotations between the legs, pelvis, sacrum and spine. As these structural relationships change, long-term movement patterns and spinal imbalances can be addressed.
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Session seven is the culmination of the "core sessions". We give attention to aligning the head and neck to the body’s vertical center, the mobility of the cranial bones and the balance between the cranial base and vault.
Session 8-10: Balancing Superficial & Deep Fascia
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Sessions eight + nine focus on the balanced relationship between the body’s superficial and deep layers. The job of balancing the entire body while supporting the integrity of motion through the core is divided equally between these two sessions.
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Session ten completes the overall balancing of the body’s inner and outer layers, the "final fitting". Specific attention is given to aligning and creating balance between the horizontal planes of the body in relationship to the core.
The History of Structural Integration
Dr. Ida P. Rolf earned her PhD in biochemistry in 1920 and worked as a research scientist for Rockefeller Institute for 13 years. As a lifelong practitioner and instructor of yoga, she combined her scientific background and experiential knowledge to gradually develop a system of bodywork which she termed Structural Integration (SI). SI evolved into a series of 10 separate sessions designed to bring the entire body into balance and vertical alignment.
“Rolfing” as Dr. Rolf’s 10 sessions treatment protocol came to be called gained popularity in the late 1960s with the growth of the human potential psychology movement. In 1976, three years before Dr. Rolf's death, the terms “Rolfing'' and “Rolfer” became the service marks of the Rolf Institute in Boulder Colorado. Practitioners of Dr. Rolf’s work who are not affiliated with the Boulder school continue to utilize the term Structural Integration to describe her work.
Since Dr. Rolf’s death, many senior instructors and practitioners have established SI Programs that utilize different techniques and names but still remain true to Dr. Rolf’s basic intention and the 10 sessions protocol.
