—  ROLFING® STRUCTUAL INTEGRATION  —

     The Secret to the Ultimate State of Health by Becoming *Integrated* Physically & Energetically on all Levels – The truly holistic approach vs. contemporary medicine & many practices!

     By Robert J. Cumming, Certified Advanced Rolfer™, B.A.

This article draws upon the major precepts of Dr. Ida P. Rolf’s own work - the originator of the Rolfing® Structural Integration process and who made the term “fascia” famous since the 1970′s publication of her seminal book, “ROLFING”.  It also draws heavily from the major precepts of Certified Advanced Rolfer™, Thomas W. Myers, who is very well-known within the entire bodywork field & health community for his 2001 publication, “Anatomy Trains: Myofascial Meridians for Manual and Movement Therapists“.

This article will begin your journey through the structural integration process by constructing a framework – or blue print of intention – for the optimal physical state of health you’d like to experience or progress towards.

As you read, absorb, and integrate the material contained in this article, it will give you a transmission-like experience of “structural integration” on the energetic level of consciousness – a state beyond just an ordinary level of intellectual understanding.  This will – literally initiate in seed form – all the optimal physical & energetic changes that will result from your participation in this Rolfing® process, regardless how far you decide to journey & progress upwards in your structural evolution and overall health.

For my current or future clients, the article will enhance your somatic awareness, alertness, and appreciation for the changes you can aspire to physically & energetically, or that perhaps, you’re experiencing yet didn’t fully consciously realize, embody & own.  It can provide a basis for our ongoing conversation & dialogue through your journey while “structurally integrating” the work.

If you are a bodyworker or work in the health-related field, the article will enlarge your perspective and possible practice of what the term “holistic” encompasses on all levels physically & energetically.  The article will broaden one’s awareness of what is happening within their physical and energetic body ~ from receiving *any* kind of bodywork that is truly benefiting them in some way.

What is the ultimate secret behind the Rolfing® Structural Integration process – or behind experiencing the ultimate state of health, free from pain and chronic symptoms, coupled with full functional mobility and maximum potential of strength & energy?  Or, what even is the highest state of consciousness & grounded spirituality?

If you read this *entire article* – all will be revealed -- as you come to a clear understanding and an energetic integration in seed form on a deep, subtle level of your consciousness (and potential reflection into your physical body) about the significance & connection of each one of the following 3 major components:

1) The physical plumb line relationship of the body (Picture 1)

2) The “etheric pole”of the energetic body (Picture 2)

3) The ancient Greek caduceus logos used hypocritically by the current medical establishment (Picture 3)

Better yet, being gifted the opportunity to have a direct, personal, functional moment-to-moment (or movement-to-movement!) experience between these three major factors – you will obtain the ultimate in peak experience & performance, as sought by top athletes (for instance; the entire Minnesota Viking football team gets “Rolfed”), or as simply desired by anyone wanting to experience the best of health, free from chronic symptoms, less prone to any kind of injuries, and functioning at the highest level of strength & mobility.

Or, even better than that – you will be elevated to that “Supreme Goal” of Enlightenment as precisely and clearly defined & delineated in the ancient Sanskrit scriptures of India, or as sought by any true seeker of any path, religious or spiritual.  As I’ve titled it in my own poetical ode to that reality – that “Seamless Connection” between this life and the next!

This article is a testament to why I’ve had so many amazing experiences in my Advanced Rolfing® Structural Integration practice, the absolutely amazing experiences of my clients, and the amazing state of body awareness & higher state of consciousness of my clients I’ve had come in over, especially the last 5 years.

With the upswing in consciousness of the world, more & more people are evolving into a greater state of health & functioning at an unprecedented level.  Individuals – more than ever before – are ascending to higher levels of consciousness.  In my practice, we’re grounding those higher states of consciousness & awareness into a fully organized & functional body, simultaneously, corresponding with an optimal state of somatic body awareness for the best of health on all levels.

In my Structural Integration practice I always assess movement of the body’s structure before & after every session – particularly how the legs are tracking (straight, or not) & how that movement is landing down on the feet and translating up through the pelvis and into the contralateral movement of the spine.  Also: how is the shoulder girdle, neck & head moving in relationship to the movement of the spine?

The health field is fraught with medical professionals, body workers, trainers, writers, etc., who all espouse different methods for approaching the way the human structure and/or physiology should be healed of a variety of injuries, illnesses, and weaknesses, or should be strengthened in certain ways to obtain better activation of areas in the body that are not functioning as desired.

So many of these approaches only work with isolated parts, joints, vertebrae, or muscles, etc., of the body – as Thomas W. Myers pointed out in his book “Anatomy Trains” and Dr. Ida P. Rolf herself elaborated about for over 50 years throughout her writings & in her teachings to the greater health community; particularly to Chiropractic & Osteopathic Doctors.

Thomas Myers:

“Almost everyone in Pilates, yoga, and training worlds [also Physical Therapy, Chiropractic, Massage Therapy, etc.] will think of short or adhered fascia: “What is too short, too long, too strong, and too weak?”  But they do not think in terms of the interrelationships of fascial planes.  It is not a question of which muscle is too short or which muscle is over active or which muscle is not active enough – it is that the fascial planes have gone out of relationship with each other.

 

How do I treat injuries?  How can I get injuries to heal faster?  How can I prevent injuries from happening?  Actually, most injuries are fascial injuries: there are very few muscle injuries – most injuries are in the fascial system.

Injury treatment is where, perhaps, knowledge of fascia as a system is the most applicable.”

 

 

Dr. Ida P. Rolf’s main point to the Chiropractic and Osteopathic professions she collaborated with and instructed to for over 50 years:

“We say that the bony spine is a secondary index; the spine is where it is by virtue of where the soft tissues [fascial system] are.”

 

Pic 1: Physical Body With Plumb Line Alignment (through ear, to shoulder, to hip, to knee, to ankle.)

The connective tissue “fascial system” is the primary medium of change that is mobilized during the Rolfing® Structural Integration process in order to raise your health & functioning so that you’ll have an ongoing experience of freedom from pain, restrictions, and a greater experience of overall strength & mobility.

I was just reading an article about plantar fasciitis that embellished upon all the interrelationships of the body; particularly in this case, the relationship of the feet to all those muscles above in lower leg, upper leg & pelvis.   A main point of this article is that the larger muscles attaching into the pelvis will be directly affecting the ability of the feet to move in all 4 directions, as well as, arching up or down. This may very well be the case – however, the ROM of the entire spine & all above will also make an impact into how the weight of the body is dropping down through to the feet and into the ground.

Pic 2: The Energetic Bodies with the “Etheric Pole” running down into the earth & up into the sky.

As Certified Advanced Rolfer™, Pedro Prado, Ph.D., has written in the professional Structural Integration, The Journal of the Rolf Institute®:

“If one releases a myofascial restriction – e.g., of the retinaculae of the ankle [Area surrounding the ankle; worked on, perhaps, to relieve symptoms of plantar fasciitis] – the intervention will actually enhance the active range of motion of that joint only to the extent that the relationships among the ankle, hip, vertebral column and head are free enough to accommodate the freeing of the ankle.  Should the knees or hip joints be rigid, the ankle will not be able to use the dimension of freedom produced by the intervention – and according to the principle of adaptability, the ankle will return to its restricted condition.“

Sound familiar?  I hear this constantly from clients – that they have gone over and over for a variety of bodywork treatments (Massage Therapy, Physical Therapy, Chiropractic, acupuncture, etc.) on a consistent basis seeking relief from symptoms that just keep coming back.

This is because - the entire structure - is not being taken into consideration or not taken through a process like the Rolfing® Structural Integration “10-Series”.  That’s why Rolfing® Structural Integration is actually a - process - that does work with every structural region of the body right from the very first session, interconnecting them and bringing balance, organization & symmetry into the structure; left-to-right, front-to-back, top-to-bottom.  That’s what it means to get the body structurally integrated!

All kinds of amazing body workers & bodywork can do wonderful things for your health; and session after session, all kinds of bodywork will have some form of progressive results.  Dr. Ida P. Rolf made it a science & art to work with the progressive results of the Rolfing® process, session-by-session, so that the benefits will create an exponential result of Structural Integration in one’s body and in all functional activity.  “Structural integration” is initiated during a Rolfing session – and continues while the body is “structurally integrating” between sessions.

A recent client of mine looked exactly like this while lying on the bodywork table during her session; she exhibited this complete look of being suspended beyond the limitations of time & space – the truly “integrated woman”! She expressed such that she was really feeling that way. She was completing her 9th session of the “10-Series” & is a excellent example of client that integrated both physical & energetic aspects throughout her structural integration journey.

When the body is *structurally integrated* – then the body will assume the greater, more perfect, physical plumb-line-alignment of ear, to shoulder, to hip, to knee, to ankle (Picture 1), and optimal functioning of all the agonist & antagonists muscle relationships throughout the entire structure become more balanced & symmetrical. When that kind of organized, symmetrical functioning is optimal, then the transition of tensional forces throughout the structure is balanced (rather than getting locked up in any one area/joint/muscle, etc.) and the firing of muscles will also be balanced – no *one muscle* will be encouraged to be stronger or weaker than another.  The balanced functioning of all the internal, visceral organs will also become more optimal.

When the body is optimally *structurally integrated* – the likelihood of multiple, various issues, chronic symptoms, injuries, etc., will all be less of an issue & the body will perform with the greatest capacity to utilize energy without wasting it, maintain overall, optimal body awareness, and function at its fullest potential.

When your body is *structurally integrated* – your multiple *energetic fields* will likewise glow with greater organization & clarity.  Then your physique will reflect & move in relationship to the greater perfection of your Inner Being. (As most wonderfully demonstrated recently by an incredible dancer & client, who demonstratively moved so beautifully with such slow, highly-conscious and meditative ballet-like movements after a number of Advanced Rolfing® sessions she’s just started.)  What then is in store for you is your evolution into your greatest functional, physical capacity & ascension into your highest state of grounded Spirituality!

Then the physical plumb line relationship of perfect alignment (Picture 1) becomes completely aligned, attuned, and at one with the energetic, “etheric pole” (Picture 2) that runs down into the earth & up into the sky and all your other energetic fields surrounding your physical body.

If you’re ever feeling out of balance in some way, having such a balance between the physical & energetic realities will allow you to check into your Inner-Self/Being to become better centered and in balance with your physical body and greater outward reality; functional movement & body awareness, social connecting, and harmonizing with the greater whole-world-reality.

Pic 3: Ancient “Caduceus” Symbol of Hermes used hypocritically as the U.S. Medical Logos

The ancient Greek “caduceus” symbol that is used in the United States for the medical logos, heralds from a time when knowledge of the etheric pole that runs up & down through the body on the energetic level, could be tapped into by a healer (or perhaps, metamorphosed by a structural integrator/Rolfer by mobilizing the physical structure & attuning to and transmuting the energetic field).  The goal would be to balance the female and male energies (in the logos – the snakes rapping around the pole; also known as the “kundalini”) that traverse up & down through the energetic chakra system, bringing balance to any chakra’s irregularities in their vibrational frequencies to heal any physical ailments & create better health on all levels.

Ironically – the contemporary medical establishment - is now hypocritically the far extreme opposite from the holistic perspective (unifying both – the physical & energetic reality) that was an actual embodiment of what the original caduceous logos stood for!!!

When the individual is *structurally integrated* on both the physical & energetic levels, natural balancing on both levels results and – the person becomes one’s own healer – with all levels of one’s being fully functioning in an optimal state for the best of health.

Or, from another perspective, as Dr. Ida Rolf would also say:

           “Gravity itself becomes the therapist!”

“When the body gets working appropriately, the force of gravity can flow through – then spontaneously, the body heals itself!”

This passage is a perfect explanation and acknowledgement of one who has completely embraced and is completely cognizant of what their physical body is in relationship to their Inner Being – and how such a higher state of body awareness and overall consciousness can lead them to their ultimate evolutionary destination.  The verse was originally spoken and written in the ancient Sanskrit of the Vedic literatures from India – the language of consciousness (or, of the spiritual world), or of “name & form” (The SOUND VIBRATION from the name of any object, idea, etc., of a Sanskrit word – produces the actual FORM that object, idea, etc., represents. That is why Sanskrit mantras are ideal for meditation!).   Sanskrit is known to be one of the earliest languages of civilization & has also been recognized as a “perfect computer language”.

Dr. Ida P. Rolf, from her landmark 1977 book that put the term – “FASCIA” – on the road map of the entire bodywork & health field:

“The practitioner of Structural Integration separates the confusion of random fascial structure and re-relates it around a vertical line with new appropriateness.

 

True verticality, the goal of Structural Integration, is more than a figment of the imagination.  Indeed, it is very real; it is a functional phenomenon, a line around which the body’s energy force fields balance.  Again, these energy forces are not abstract; they manifest in real myofascial material structures.

 

All too often, people who are predominantly interested in their psychic development  [spiritual development:  yoga, meditation, religious practices, etc.]  fail to realize that psychic [spiritual] awareness is best grounded in and supported by a physical body whose sensitivity and sturdiness allow psychic events to occur naturally and with adequate support.  The stable structure afforded by an adequate mesodermal system has a much more important role in the channeling of psychic [spiritual] energies than is usually recognized.

 

Through its vertical stance, the organism is no longer earth-bound; the vertical expresses an energy relation between earth and sun [The "etheric pole" as referred to earlier, Picture 2, and Picture 3, as represented by the ancient Greek caduceus logos used hypocritically by the current medical establishment].  As order evolves, a gravity/antigravity structural organization defines itself, and this basic polarity, rooted in the earth, expresses in terms of vertical lift.

 

To the extent that its energy fields remain symmetrical, randomizing deterioration of an organic system – physical or chemical – is slowed.  Biological time in such system expresses itself more slowly than chronological time.“

[Another - *KEY* - to the secret of maintaining youth?  YES!!!]

That’s when clients have the *most* awesome, amazing experiences – and I feel so fortunate & gifted to be a part of that & to witness it unfolding right before my eyes!

Certified Advanced Rolfer™, Betsy Sise, from her book, “The Rolfing Experience; Integration in the Gravity Field”:

“Dr. Rolf’s ideal was that this sense of lift would become natural and easy.  As the body begins to lengthen through Rolfing, the energy centers in the body, or chakras, have less static, and the exchange between the material and non-material world that occurs at these centers becomes easier.  A body with less static makes subtle levels of awareness more apparent, and thus the inherent knowledge contained within the body more accessible.  It would seem to follow that using this kind of a body as a laboratory for discovery would bring forth different results than using a body that was constricted by and locked into past history.”

also:

“This new human would no longer have to fight to survive and protect himself or herself.  This new person would not be afraid of his or her own death and would be free of guilt and shame.  This would be reflected in his or her body, by organization around a vertical line of intention – a lifting up through the top of the head, while remaining grounded through the feet.”  [The physical plumb-line relationship of the body (Picture 1) organized around its energetic counterpoint - the "etheric pole" (Picture 2).]

Barbara Ann Brennan, from her book, “Hands of Light; A Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy Field”:

“The diaphragmatic center [3rd chakra area], located behind the solar plexus, is associated with one’s intention towards one’s physical health.  If someone has a strong health-love toward their body, and an intent to keep it healthy, this center is open.

Overall health – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual – requires all centers to be open and balanced.

If a person has the solar plexus open and therefore is connected to their place in the universe, accepting that they fit as perfectly as each blade of grass, and the “lilies of the field,” this person’s self-acceptance will manifest on the physical level as physical health.”

Before I purchased Barbara Brennan’s (who was originally a physicist for NASA) monumental book on healing in 1987, the year it came out, I had already been engaged for over 13 years in practicing meditation and other methods to raise my own consciousness & that of others – now, for almost over 45 years.  You could most certainly say that this field of healing is a part of my “dharma”.  I have crossed the paths of many others in that time and experienced, practiced, and engaged in numerous fields of healing, religions, and spiritual paths that are universal throughout the planet.  When someone comes into my practice, they are wholeheartedly embraced by all of this cumulative knowledge for their own enlightenment and our mutual evolutionary ascension on all levels.

As Barbara says, “As each individual progresses, so does the whole of humanity.  Each generation is usually able to sustain higher vibrations than the last so that the whole of humanity moves in its evolutionary plan toward higher vibrations and expanded realities.”  

As I mentioned in the beginning of this article, with the upswing in consciousness of the world – more & more people are evolving into a greater state of health & functioning at an unprecedented level at this very moment on the planet.

It’s truly the essential responsibility of all individuals of post generations to the current generation, to evolve and grow up to the same level of real maturity and the same “higher vibration” of the current generation – rather than moping behind in an immature, lower state of consciousness which will only impede the evolution of all those around yourself, and ultimately, the entire world.   It’s a great joy to actively participate in this process of physical & energetic evolution to enable numerous people to easily & enthusiastically progress along this path on all levels – for themselves & the entire planet.

What else did Dr. Ida P. Rolf herself say?

“The last time this knowledge was around – was during the building of the Great Pyramids!”

Santa Barbara Sunset

Just like the ancient pyramids – it’s all about harnessing the Infinite Energy of the *Cosmos* down to the physical Earth Plane & into the present-moment-reality of your ongoing physical, functional existence.

When your structure is in a state of greater symmetry through a process of systematic organization of the connective tissue fascial system layer by layer & through your ongoing personal, physical experience of your body “structurally integrating” between sessions – your energetic fields and the perfection of your Inner Being will be allowed to be more perfectly reflected in your body and moment-to-moment (or movement-to-movement!) experience.

That’s the highest state of *Structural Integration* you’ll ever be transformed into to become your own - self-healing healer - and be able to experience for the best of your own “Vitality & Well-Being“!!!

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