What is Structural Integration?
Structural Integration, or SI, is a modality of transformative, hands-on bodywork that can help improve your overall well-being. This integrative, full-body approach was created by Dr. Ida P. Rolf, a medical researcher, biochemist and mystic born in 1896.
Dr. Rolf developed her work with the intention to restore the body’s natural organization and balance through slow, sustained manipulation of the connective tissue system (fascia).
She saw the layers of fascial tissue in the body as ‘the organ of structure, the organ that holds the body appropriately in the three-dimensional world.’
Soundness of structure, like a house, is determined by its relationship to gravity. A house with a solid foundation and a plumb frame, can withstand the test of time and ultimately, the never ending pull of gravity.
Gravity is a constant force on the human body, too.
The human structure requires a balanced base of support and the ability to invite new length that will counteract the earth’s constant downward pull. We respond to this force, often through some form of compensation for the ways in which we are not in alignment with gravity. Over time, our body creates a posture (or pattern) to cope with strain and internal tension. This pattern is retained in the connective tissue, which is constantly negotiating between movement and stillness in relationship to gravity.
The way we sit, stand and move through the world are often greatly impacted by this held pattern in our tissue.
Luckily, a body’s relationship to gravity can shift and the plastic medium of its tissue has the ability to release strain and be reorganized into a new postural pattern. Dr. Rolf discovered a very unique way of accomplishing this, by guiding the body through a series of work she titled the 10-series.
These ten separate yet corresponding sessions form a cohesive body of work, striving to reorganize the body around a central vertical line between earth and sky.
Together, as client and practitioner, we hold space for stuck patterns to transform, creating lasting change in the tissue by slowly building a new structural integrity that is balanced in the gravitational field.
This work is not a quick fix solution (though changes can often be felt quickly). Think of it rather as a sustainable method to embodiment that invites the client’s participation and continued building of awareness to create change in the human structure.
As strain patterns let go in the tissue, more space is created throughout the entire body. The body lengthens, pain disappears, mobility and balance improve and coordination becomes effortless.
Clients often reclaim connection, not only to their breath, but their entire being.
