Natural Alignment

The goals of Structural Integration require us to understand natural alignment. That is, the alignment that is natural to the person. The alignment they were born to have. The point of this article is that natural alignment is not the same for all bodies. There seems to be a great difference in the preferred alignment […]

The Role of Imagination in SI

[:en]Structural integration (SI) is founded on the notion that posture can change, and that the shape of the body in gravity can make a lasting change. But what shapes our physical body? What shapes our perceptive body? These questions in turn lead us to ask, what is the relationship of imagination to perceptive shape and […]

Approaches to Psoas Work

Introduction   The psoas muscle and its role in human structure has drawn much attention from Rolfing practitioners from the early days till the present time. It has been perceived as a “mysterious” and “emblematic” element of Ida Rolf’s work. Historically, it has been identified and held responsible for the perception of how “deep” Rolfing […]

Mentoring for Rolfers

Mentoring, in professions like Rolfing Structural Integration (SI), can play a significant role. What we Rolfers do is very much an art – a creative process. Yes, there are aspects that are very logical and linear, such as knowledge of anatomy; but there are other aspects that are nonlinear, very “right brained” and intuitive. These […]

Learning About Pain Management

Introduction Over the years, many estimates have been made as to what percentage of clients seeks out Rolfing Structural Integration(SI) because of issues related directly to pain, and the answers range from 80% to 95%. I believe that there are very few, if any, Roofers who have not intentionally worked to reduce a client’s pain. […]

A Forum for Cross-Disciplinary Education

Anise Smith: Peter, how long ago did you and Christoph Sommer found the Munich Group?   Peter Schwind: Actually, I do not remember our official start, but I do remember that our starting point was a course on visceral manipulation we took with Jean-Pierre Barral somewhere in the north of Germany. At the end of […]

The Kenai Peninsula Mentoring Program

Our mentoring program here on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula has its roots in the mentoring I myself received from two wonderful Anchorage Rolfers, Barb Maier and Gwen Moerlein. From my earliest days as a Rolfer, their energy and generosity shortened my learning curve by years and inspired me to develop the program we now use. Every […]

Through the Lens of Experience: Mentoring on Trans-structural Experiences

The following collection of articles offers insight into part of the current process of training Rolfers at the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration (RISI). The starting point was a Phase II project by then-student Vivian Gettliffe. Her instructor, Thomas Walker, suggested that she write up her class project to submit to Structural Integration: The Journal […]

A Student’s Project: Survey of Trans-structural Experiences in Phase II

The following collection of articles offers insight into part of the current process of training Rolfers at the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration (RISI). The starting point was a Phase II project by then-student Vivian Gettliffe. Her instructor, Thomas Walker, suggested that she write up her class project to submit to Structural Integration: The Journal […]