“Inside your body is a priceless treasure. A gift
from the eternally generous One. Look for the gift inside you.”
— Jalauddin
Rumi, poet and mystic Sufi Teacher.
Dr. Rolf’s Wish
Ida Rolf’s wish was to have a number of different
schools promoting her work. She felt that each school would offer its distinct
perspective in Structural Integration, serving to further its development.
ISI attempts to satisfy her dream and maintain dedication to her traditional
teaching.
The Skills Mastering the Craft
As practitioners, we seek to master
Dr. Rolf’s work. This includes specific skills in fascial layering, “seeing” human
structural alignment and movement patterns, and the underlying concepts of
the principles and metaphysical considerations in her recipe.
The Art of “Seeing” Human
Structural Alignment
Dr. Rolf taught, “Sight is touch at a distance.” She
considered this the greatest challenge of Structural Integration. When we speak
of “seeing” in Structural Integration, we are talking about viewing
the human structure in relationship to its alignment in space and the gravitational
field. With this in mind, you’ll first learn the essential components
of analyzing the human structure in a standing position, and how it moves within
a three dimensional space. You’ll learn to “see” a person’s
structural patterns by identifying how a person carries or holds him/herself
and “seeing” the changes in the patterns that need to be made.
ISI’s program encourages students to “see” a person as they
were in the past, who they are now, and who they are becoming.
Feeling the
Core
The most critical component is learning how to “see” with
your hands. This is called fascial layering. Layering fascia means balancing
the innermost (intrinsic) muscles with the outermost (extrinsic) muscles. Manipulating
fascia is key to becoming a successful practitioner. Regardless of how well
you can “see” structure, it’s ultimately your ability to
manipulate the fascia that determines what structural changes occur. ISI’s
distinct approach to teaching fascial layering is done with specific individual
instruction in the following:
• Learning to feel layers of fascia.
• Exploring
energetic qualities of tissue and how each layer responds to touch.
• Using
your intuition together with your palpation skills. Technique
“ ...no
situation exists in a human which a psychologist would diagnose as a feeling
of insecurity or inadequacy unless it is accompanied by a physical situation
which bears witness to the fact that the gravitational support is inadequate.”
— Ida
P. Rolf, Ph.D
