Awareness Oriented Introceptive Structural Integration/ : The 10 Sessions
Structural Integration (also known as Rolfing) is a somatic technique where manual manipulation, movement education and the clients own awareness help to re-pattern the body by shifting one'r introceptive experience of being. The basis of this practice is the belief that a misalignment of myofascial tissues and nervous system patterning, resulting from injury, emotional/mental pain, and/or physical traumas, may have a detrimental effect on a person's energy, self-image, muscular joint efficiency, mental and emotional perceptions, posture, pain level, organ functions, and general health. When one's internal experience of being is colored by pain, stiffness, inflammation etc, the body has to labor to stay upright in gravity, a force we are constantly within. Structural bodywork is intended to re-pattern and integrate the body's form in relationship to gravity. The ten session series is Non-symptom specific, helping to support general balance, openness, and easefulness in the body.
Structural Integration is usually performed in a 10-12 session series. The series systematically moves through all areas of the body opening superficial and deeper layers of fascia in an organized recipe by interfacing with the clients nervous system, and awareness simultaneously. This work is know for getting people out of chronic pain, tension and holding patterns. Finally, movement education is a part of the Structural Integration series as well. Throughout the 10 Sessions I will help you become aware of your habitual and inhibiting movement patterns and ways in which you can achieve more fluidity and grace in your movement. This education will help you maintain the work during and after the 10 sessions are complete.
The 10 Sessions of Structural Integration is an intelligent way to realign the body's structure and movement patterns.
What to Expect in the Sessions:
During a typical therapy session the practitioner may use slow, mindful stokes along with stretching movements to open and help re-pattern the body's various internal relationships and habits. The clients is encouraged to stay aware and participate actively throughout each session, and may also be asked to move as pressure is applied, as well as sit, stand or walk during a session.
Sometimes, as the tissue and nervous system begin to harmonize, clients experience the release of emotions, memories or traumas that have been stored in the various layers of the body's systems, muscular, nervous, respiratory, emotional, digestive, mental etc. Such releases can create the opportunity for self-reflection or even a resolution surrounding the issues, held beliefs, and the stagnation they present. When the psychosomatic bindings are recognized, processed and released healing can happen on an even deeper level, and there can be stepping towards, into and within this greater Truth of Being. The physical is only the gross layer of the subtle thoughts and energies that compose the matter of the body that is being touched. As one awarefully accesses the thoughts, beliefs, conditioning, and life-happenings that are stored in the matter, there is, in that moment, the ability to also see beyond the story and feel into the experience of pure being without conditions.
In order to find space and ease in one's home, one must clean out the dusty corners, sweep the stairs, and purge the closets. Let's say, Im your assistant, and we work together to clean your house; body, heart and mind. Through my touch and your engaged awareness, we aim to listen to and open the edges around the body and mind's bindings, potentially resulting in a renewed sense of awareness and being. We ride the waves together, so to speak...
“We know that life began in the oceans. Over many eons, organic compounds derived from the seawater developed into proteins. Some of these proteins formed a watery membrane that allowed evolving life forms to be contained and sustainable. This membrane was a primitive form of connective tissue. Collections of primitive cells gradually developed separate functions and, hundreds of millions of years later, evolved into primordial sea creatures. These Creatures moved easily through water, but spiraling, wavelike motions were not suitable for like on land. It took eons more for their soft, fluid bodies to evolve more solid tissues like bone and ligaments that let them move on land, where the effects of gravity are more strongly felt.
Human bodies are an incarnation of life’s transition from water to land. Our skin and connective tissues form containers for the saltwater that still infuses all our tissues and cells. Our bones make us operational on land, able to walk and gesticulate, work and play. However, within our container of skin we are essentially aquatic.
Because most people unconsciously conceive of their bodies as solid, it can be surprising to know that our bodies’ composition is approximately 70 percent water. Understanding this can give us a new perspective on transforming our posture because it makes it clear that our bodies are not dense and immutable.” -Mary Bond, The New Rules of Posture