Structural Integration

The Rolf Method of Structural Integration (SI) is not Massage.

It is a process that lets your body reorganize.

SI balances and aligns your body with gravity.

Structural Integration Therapy in Spokane, WA

SI literally asks the physical body to change how it is balanced, organized, aligned, and integrated so that it can feel better, move better, be freed of chronic aches and pains, and recover more fully from old accidents and injuries. Bodies that are balanced and aligned look thinner, are more flexible, move fluidly with less effort, have fewer aches and pains, and feel more grounded and centered. Even further, when bodies are better organized with gravity, the mind is calmer, and emotions feel more balanced.

The SI practitioners view of the human body and human being is quite different from the commonly held views in western medicine, science, education, massage, and fitness. SI practitioners look upon symptoms as elements in a whole and dynamic system.

While the commonly held view is to fix symptoms, SI practitioners know that as a whole system changes and aligns with gravity, symptoms often dissolve. When SI practitioners use the word structure, they are not talking only about your physical body. Your body is not the all-of-you. You are also bigger than just your physical body.

You already know the “comfort zone” around you that is the space beyond your skin. You know this because you are reminded of it each time another person gets too close, and you feel anxious or step back.

All of who you are and all of what you perceive is what SI practitioners are talking about when they say “structure.” This is an important concept to realize when you see the words “Structural Integration.” You are not just a physical body, and your physical body is not an adversary which is refusing to help you resolve what bugs you. The all-of-who-you-are is a complex, dynamic, interdependent system, and SI works at this dynamic system level.

The SI points of view may sound unusual at first, but as a client receives the work, the ideas and concepts make sense. They experience it in their bodies, as their nagging discomforts, which had only moderately improved with other approaches – now find a way to resolve.

With Structural Integration, you will find your body making changes, and feeling better, in ways you didn’t think possible. Then everyday can help reinforce and sustain those changes.

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Why do people do Structural Integration?

Some people come to Structural Integration for physical reasons like better posture, improved athletic performance, to regain flexibility, or to release tension patterns. Some have chronic aches and pains that have not responded to other treatments. Others do Structural Integration as part of a program to optimize their well-being. Still others do Structural Integration because they are seeking to unencumber themselves of emotional traumas that are embedded in their bodies.

Emotional and mental stress can become locked in physical structure, and then determine how you get to move. When the body breaks free from its restrictive pattern, the person might recall past memories and the emotions of these memories.

Describe What it Looks Like and what it Feels Like.

If you were only an observer, you would see the SI Practitioner use his/her fingers, knuckles, or elbows to manipulate the connective tissue. It might look like the SI Practitioner was pressing into the skin and pushing the skin in a certain direction, or not moving at all. To the person experiencing the Rolf method of SI, however, it’s not like that at all.

You can feel the SI Practitioner’s pressure sink to different layers of your body. With the SI Practitioner’s slow, steady pressure, you might feel these layers begin to spread or release or move. Sometimes you can feel the tissues getting warmer or tingling, like the pins-and-needles sensation. The inside of the body can feel freer or bigger, like there’s more space inside. Your SI Practitioner might be working with your lower legs or feet while you feel your lower back, shoulder or jaw release their restrictions. At times you might be asked to focus your attention or breath into the connective tissue or a restriction. Your SI Practitioner might ask you to do a precise movement, like slowly bending your knee. You and your SI Practitioner might explore the ways you can sit or stand so your body can support itself (i.e. you don’t have to hold yourself up).

You might feel, when you stand up, that your legs, or feet or arms, are in a more comfortable position. You might feel your shoulders are soft or your back can relax in a way it never has before. You might feel more connected inside your skin, like parts of you are moving in sync rather than struggling against each other. You might come to realize how tight a part of your body was because you now have the looseness and freedom as a comparison.

It’s important to remember: What each person experiences is unique and is influenced by his/her goals, awareness and history. Therefore, there is no way to describe accurately how you will experience your individual sessions.

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