New Thoughts on the Alexander Technique
The Alexander Technique attempts to achieve balance in physical structure and movements very much like that which is the Foal of Structural Integration. Unlike Structural Integration, however, the Alexander Technique seeks to achieve this balance not by realigning the body structure directly, but rather by evoking appropriate patterns of movement through the use of imagery […]
A “Novel” Metaphor
In a recent review of articles submitted to this journal, I have identified several that explore fascial metaphors.’ All the authors reviewed used a wide range of images and devices to illustrate their points. We encounter such metaphors as soon as we learn to speak (upsi-daisy) and employ them not only in our everyday lives […]
How to Chance Whole Systems
The following principles are without exception lifted from Dr. Ida Rolf’s Practitioners’ Course, although the organization (and, in some cases, the general statement of a principle) is my own. The principles seem to me impressively generals I think that EACH ONE applies to each stroke_ a rolfer makes, to what a roller does in the […]
A Rolfer Describes His Work
In response to your request for a few words about my work, I will try, in as few words as possible, to give you the picture. A person’s body and set reflects his emotional past as well as physical trauma that may have happened to him. These factors, combined with the other experiences of living […]
Movement Electromyography at U.C.L.A.
Electromyography means the study of the electrical activity of muscle. It was not always known that the activities of nerve and muscle have to do with electricity. The foundations of electromyography co back to the 18th century and a famous dispute between Luiqi Galvani, who had discovered a form of electrical discharge which he believed […]
Explorations in Body-Image
Part I – September, 1968 As a human being newly emerged from 10 hours of processing in Structural Integration at the hands of Dr. Ida Rolf and one of her students, I am eager to net down some of the most dramatic first wave reactions and impressions. My initial reaction was moderate shocks apprehensiveness and […]
Swedenborg’s Interpretation of the Human Body in the Light of Recent Research
We hear much about “the whole man” vet who knows what the whole man is? He has been divided into the physical body physiologv, mind (psychology) and soul (theology), each a separate body. I have been in the healing art for over sixty two years and I have always considered man as a unit, physical, […]
Structural Integration and Prepared Childbirth
I have been asked to share my work in training classes for Prepared Childbirth. I do this with the awareness that some of you may not have a special interest in the expectant mother, but that you do have an interest in posture, muscles, awareness, structure and the like. My work is divided into two […]
Implications of the Theory of Structural Integration for Movement Therapy
Many students of the nature of human affairs have observed that man’s outer world seems to be a projection of the world within. Ida Rolf proposes that many human dilemmas would be illuminated by examining man’s physical being, his body, and that a better organization of physical structures would be paralleled by a lessening of […]
Towards a Psychology of Integration
Body image is the subjective or “inner” experience of self confirmation. Because the function of the image is to reflect the disposition of the self relative to any and all possible exigencies, the image is constantly shifting to provide the ground or context for coping behavior. In the ordinary day to day experience of most […]