Structural Integration

The 10-Series of Structural Integration is Dr. Ida P. Rolf’s gift to humankind. Her work was forged from her relationships with some of the most brilliant somatic philosophers and practitioners of her time, including Buckminster Fuller, Wilhelm Reich, Moshe Feldenkrais, Fritz Perls, John Bennett, and Paramahansa Yogananda, as well as countless osteopaths and kinesiologists. They were her friends, sometimes friendly rivals, and they pushed each other toward the Human Potential Movement, which proposed that we can positively influence the evolution of our species, Homo Sapiens. These ideas are only now being unpacked in the form of epigenetics, integral anatomy, biohacking, body therapies, and modern approaches to somatic psychology including Gestalt Relational Process, Internal Family Systems, EMDR, and Somatic Experiencing, among others. Her 10-Series was meant to be a living, breathing roadmap for the improvement of the human condition, and the process has benefited greatly from the thousands of talented practitioners, scientists, medical professionals, thinkers, and somatic and movement leaders who have honored and advanced her work since then.  Each session is unique, building on those previous, in a layered approach to the human body, psyche, and spirit.  And while the specific goals of each session apply to everyone, how they are achieved is unique to each client.  This is the magic of the formula – grounded in a tried and true, scientific process, yet flexible enough to honor each individual’s needs and draw upon the strengths of the practitioner.

Feldenkrais

Moshe Feldenkrais was an engineer-physicist, researcher in neurophysiology, and was the first European black belt in Judo and a pioneer of somatic education, clarifying the importance of body image as the basis of behavior. A chronic knee injury led him to apply his knowledge of physics, body mechanics, neurology, learning theory and psychology to a new understanding of human function and maturation. His investigations resulted in the formulation of a unique synthesis of science and aesthetics, known as the Feldenkrais Method. 

The Feldenkrais Method (FM) is an educational model that uses mindfulness and movement to explore self image, function, and well-being as a way of understanding and sometimes dismantling habits, improving function, and being more present and gentle with yourself. 

There are two types of Feldenkrais work – group work in Awareness Through Movement (ATM) classes and one-on-one work called Functional Integration (FI). Awareness Through Movement classes involve each person being guided from scanning sensations and quieting down the self, and then moving through gentle, specific, and developmental movement patterns so each student can study the organization of their structure outside of the context of habitual, emotional, and otherwise compulsive ways of holding and moving the musculature of the body (also known as personality). In this process of exploration we practice attending to how ambition and our cultural predilection to perform at a high level frequently take us out of a range of ease, safety, and possibility. 

Working in a setting where each student is very much in charge of what movement they choose gives each student ownership of their own experience, learning, and improvement. Functional Integration has the same goals and motivations as the ATM classwork but with the addition of touch, and more focused attention from a practitioner. In FI we work on a table and use gentle touch through the bones to help remind the innervated musculature when it is doing work it does not need to do, or when it could help support easeful movement by spreading work through more of the structure. While it may sound like all of the work described above is about the body, it is more about coming to understand and feel who we are through an exploration of the way that we move. 

TensegrityU uses FM as a support for students to train in a felt sense of the anatomy and function that each session of the ten series addresses. It also provides another way of thinking about touch and compliments and enriches our thinking and feeling and understanding of what it means to be integrated humans.

Gestalt

“Change comes about from full acceptance of what is, rather than a striving to be different.” – Dick Price

The focus of Gestalt work is what is happening now (process) rather than on what is being discussed (content), emphasizing what is being thought and felt in the moment. Gestalt practice is the act of coming to present-centered awareness, noticing my experience here and the now.

The intention of this practice is to be able to respond to what is happening in my life, rather than simply react to it. When I’m present, I’m grounded and centered. I recognize that I can choose how to respond to the situations, people and events that I’m presented with. 

The word, Gestalt, means both whole (as being more than the sum of its parts), and the pattern. This approach draws on both of these meanings, and sees people as an integral part of their environments, both affecting and affected by people and events surrounding them. 

We use Gestalt Relational Process in our TensegrityU programs to help practitioners develop relational process skill to become present with ourselves and our clients.