THE GOAL

The goal of ​Structural Integration is to help you find a more efficient, smooth and easier way to live in your body. Using the idea that the body naturally wants to organize itself in the most efficient way posible, Structural Integration uses soft tissue manipulation (fascia), movement education and the principle of gravity to align your body in its most functional position. If your body can move and balance from the core, you will find greater freedom of movement, effiecient energy use, new sensations when interacting with your environment, and an increased awareness of the body you live in. 

 

PRINCIPLES OF STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION 

 

• Gravity. 

The first principle is that the body lives in a world where it is constantly under the physical effects of gravity. The various segments of the body must be more or less aligned one on top of the other, or else the external muscles begin to labor to maintain the upright posture. Pelvis, abdomen, chest and head balance easily when their centers of gravity are in a line, so that the upright balance can come from deep muscles of the body. Given the world today where we are commonly seated at a desk, hunched over a computer or stuck in one position for long periods of time you can imagine how the effects of gravity work on these body positions. 

 

• The Fascial Network

Structural Integration is a type of bodywork that focuses on the connective tissue, or fascia, of the body. Fascia surrounds muscles, blood vessels, organs, and nerves, it is basically everywhere in the body. To give you a simple idea of what it may be like think of a tight fitting wetsuit just under your skin. But that this wetsuit also envelopes the muscles and organs and bones too. It is this wetsuit or fascial network that gives our body shape, resiliency and adaptation to our environment. The thing is our bodies wetsuit can become stretched, pulled or fitted awkwardly due to many factors like accidents, postural habits or our line of work. To give an example, imagine someone grabbed a bunch of your wetsuit around the front of you body. Your wetsuit would stretch and get tighter at the back and perhaps put strain on your neck and spine. This is what your fascial network does in order to compensate for postural positions.

 The good thing is Fascia is adaptable and willing to change. Structural Integration uses hands on contact to influence fascial layers to help organize the body in a more efficient way. As the practioner contacts these layers of tissue a sensory motor connection is made in the brain of the person receiving. This can educate the individual as to different ways of using this part of the body, letting go of tension here, and allowing it to move with ease. 

 

• Treat the whole body

The body is connected and one continuous organism. We are not put together like a car or bicycle with different parts. We all started out as one cell and transformed and developed into what we are today. All parts of the body are linked through the fascial web and therefore pain in one area may be related to strain in a completely different area. This means that chronic pain in your shoulder or back is not always treated directly by working on that part. In a car it would be a matter of replacing it with a new one. However our body is amazing in self healing itself if only it is given a chance. If you are able to balance the whole body and structure then strains and pains tend to take care of themselves. 

 

 

 

Structural Integration typically follows ten sessions each of which has a different focus in the body. Over the ten sessions the whole body is treated. This is crucial in aligning the body.