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What is Structural Integration?
Structural Integration is the name that Ida Rolf PhD gave to her system of bodywork designed to align the structures of the body with gravity. Her approach, commonly called “Rolfing,” focuses on manipulating the fascial system of the body. Fascia is the organ of shape. It is a continuous, three dimensional collagen matrix which surrounds every bone, muscle, muscle fiber, organ, vessel and nerve. Fascia is the environment which informs our tissues, similar to the paint which surrounds and qualifies every fiber of a paintbrush. It is its elasticity, or lack of such, that maintains the shape of our bodies, and our posture. When strained by trauma, injury or habit this fascia toughens and holds the body in less than optimal postures, ones that are taxing to the vitality and efficiency of the whole system. What is Functional Integration?
Ida Rolf and Moshe Feldenkrais were colleagues and friends. They had an ongoing argument. Dr. Rolf contested that function follows form: "When the body gets working appropriately the force of gravity can flow through. Then, spontaneously the body heals itself." Dr Feldenkrias asserted that form follows function: “So long as what we do here is only about the movement, it is not important. We use the movements only to learn the process of self-organization. You will find that self-organization in social life, in marital life, and in yourself is what is important … not what is done on the floor. Here, we learn to have the means to improve our life.” Feldenkrais® private sessions are known as Functional Integration® (FI) lessons. In Functional Integration, the teacher guides an individual student in movement lessons using gentle, non-invasive touch as the primary means of communication. |
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