What is Structural Integration?

Structural Integration is a type of myofascial bodywork. It is received over multiple appointments to progressively unwind fascia that has become sticky and adhered throughout the body.

Each appointment focuses on a different area of the body, and is tailored to the client’s specific postural patterns.

Working in this way brings awareness, and freedom of movement to the areas that are stuck together, allowing our body to be more adaptable as we move throughout our day.

Structural Integration can be received in 3 or 12 appointments.

The 12 Series is the hallmark of Structural Integration. The appointments are designed to progressively address the myofascia from the superficial layers down to the deepest layers.

It is most successful when each appointment is received about 1 week apart.

This approach helps the body to accept the work as it explores its new found freedom.

One really neat thing about structural integration is that the body continues to change for up to a year after the 12 series is completed.

For this reason it is recommended to wait six to twelve months before receiving more structural bodywork to

allow the body to continue absorbing and integrating the work.

When you come in for a structural integration appointment, there are a few things that will be different from a massage that you may be used to.

You will stay partially clothed for the appointment.

So it is important to bring a pair of shorts/ underwear / a bra/ sports bra / swimsuit that you are comfortable being viewed in for the appointment.

The appointment will begin with a thorough intake and bodyreading.

For the bodyreading, I will take a look at you in standing, and make notes about your specific postural patterns.

We will also do a few movement assessments and check the positioning of your bones.

This is done so the session can be tailored to your specific postural patterns.

There is no lotion or oil used with myofascial work, only wax or water as needed. It is also important not to wear lotion on the day of an appointment. This is important for myofascial work to be effective.

As I apply the myofascial techniques, I will ask you to do small movements. This helps to strengthen the neural connection to the tissues being worked on, as well to get the tissue moving beneath the pressure.

The techniques employed in structural integration seek to bring more slide and glide between the layers of myofascia throughout our body.

Structural integration seeks to create palintonicity throughout the body and around each joint.

Palintonicity is a balance of tone in the myofascia surrounding our joints.

If we can balance the tension around the joint, it will have a better alignment across allowing the fascia to have better elastic rebound and force transmission.

This allows the body to move more efficiently with less wasted energy.

What is Fascia?

Fascia is a remarkable system with multiple functions.

It envelops and supports all of the muscles, organs, bones, nerves and cardiovasculature in our bodies.

It helps to absorb and distribute forces as they travel through our body with each step.

It is also a repair system, laying down scar tissue when we injure ourselves, and building up in areas that need extra support.

Fascia is also a sensory organ, highly innervated with multiple types of sensory nerves that tell the brain where we are in space, what the temperature is and if something is causing us pain.

When fascia is sticky or adhered, this sensory feedback is reduced, as well as its shock absorbing qualities. This happens naturally over time from inefficient movement patterns, overuse, and injuries.

Does Structural Integration hurt?

When working with the myofascia we are also working with the nervous system. Fascia and muscles are highly responsive to the state of our nervous system.

The intention is to help the nervous system feel safe as we work with the fascia. If we experience pain that causes us to clench it can cause the nervous system to guard, which is counter productive to our goals.

While structural integration focuses on the most stuck areas of myofascia, that can be sensationful and may bring feelings of discomfort as areas are released, it is counter productive for the client to be bracing and/or feeling pain is being inflicted.

Communication is important to understand how the work is being received and which areas are significant for you.

I always do my best to check in with my clients and ensure the techniques are not beyond their comfort level. Pain is not required for the work to be effective and can be counter productive. Your honest feedback is always helpful and appreciated.

That being said, the intention of structural integration is not to be relaxing, it is to create change that lasts.

The areas that structural integration focuses on are typically sensationful, and some of the appointments are more sensationful depending on which areas are significant for you.

Structural integration is not an appointment you can show up to and fall asleep. It does require input on your part and some of the appointments are more demanding.

Structural Integration may not be for everyone.

There may be certain circumstances that require you to wait until a better time to receive Structural Integration.

Anatomy Trains Structural Integration Explained by ATSI

Anatomy Trains Structural Integration springs from the pioneering work of Dr Ida P Rolf, as developed, by Thomas Myers. ATSI consists of a multi-session protocol (usually 12) of deep, slow fascial and myofascial manipulation, coupled with movement re- education. ATSI is one of a number of schools that train practitioners in ‘Structural Integration’, Ida Rolf’s name for her own work. Structural Integration is practiced as an old-world craft with a 21st century comprehension of how your body structure works.

The ATSI ‘brand’ of structural integration concentrates on doing deep, lasting, and significant work, with anatomical precision, blended with movement and sensitivity to the unfolding individual experience. The ATSI‘recipe’ for structural integration is based around the “Anatomy Trains Myofascial Meridians”comcept, which are explored in the book written by Thomas Myers, published

by Harcourt Brace (Elsevier) in 2001 and a 2nd edition in 2008.

The design of ATSI is to unwind the strain patterns residing in your body’s locomotor system, restoring it to its natural balance, alignment, length, and ease. Common strain patterns come about from inefficient movement habits, and our body’s response to poorly designed cars, desks, telephones, and airplanes, etc. Individual strain patterns come from imitation when we are young, from the invasions of injury or surgery or birth, and from our body’s response to traumatic episodes. Beginning as a simple gesture of response, movements can become a neuromuscular habit.

The habitual movement forms one’s posture, and the posture requires changes in the structure – the body’s connective tissue ‘fabric’. In other words, a gesture becomes a habit becomes a posture and eventually lodges in our structure.

These changes are rarely for the better – anything that pulls us out of alignment means that gravity works on pulling us into more misalignment or increased tension to counteract the force.

Compensation begets compensation, and more symptoms.

ATSI is designed to unwind this process and reduce structural stress.

The method depends on a unique property of the body’s connective tissue network.

Connective tissue is a remarkably versatile bit of biology. It forms every supportive tissue from the fluid blood to the solid bone, and a host of sheets, straps, and slings in between. The muscular tissue moves us around, but it works through the connective tissue fascia, tendons, and the ligaments at every turn, and it is the connective tissue complex that holds us in the shape we are in. When we are injured or stressed, no matter what the source, there is a neuromuscular response – usually involving some combination of contraction, retraction, immobility, and often rotation.

These patterns put some muscles under strain (where they develop painful trigger points) and also pulls at this fascial fabric, requiring it to shift, thicken, glue itself to surrounding structures, and otherwise compensate for the excess sustained muscular holding.

Especially for chronic and long-held patterns, it is not enough to release the muscular holding, though that is definitely a good start. Freeing and repositioning the fascial fabric, along with re-integrating the movement patterns so that they stay easily in their proper positioning, is the job of ATSI. In this sense, ATSI could be seen as a companion to osteopathic or chiropractic care, but instead of thrusting the bones back into place, we adjust the fascial ‘guy-wires’ so that they stay in place – the new alignment simply becomes part of who you are, not something you have to work at or repeatedly see a practitioner to maintain.

The ATSI “brand” of Structural Integration is different from other comparable trainings such as those offered by the Rolf Institute, Hellerwork, or the Guild for Structural Integration.

ATSI uses a wide “vocabulary” of touch, not just deep work, to evoke lasting and progressive change in body pattern.
ATSI’s method of “bodyreading” (visual analysis) is logical and coherent, unfolding the skill step-by-step.
ATSI’s “recipe” for the unfolding of the sessions is based around the Anatomy Trains Myofascial Meridians.
ATSI proceeds from a deep understanding of “issues in tissues” (the emotional underpinnings of patterns in body carriage and tension), hence our tagline, “Map the pattern, shape the change”.

Basing the sessions around the body’s myofascial continuities ensures that 1) the entire body is covered through the series, 2) clear session strategies allow for individual patterns and preferences, and 3) our work is easily explainable to other health professionals.