People who have been processed, processors, and a rapidly growing group of professionals from the various sciences of mind and body which comprise the study of the whole man are seeking a rational understanding of the results of Structural Integration and the principles according to which they are achieved.Dr. Ida Rolf and I are presently writing a book to set forth the ideas underlying Structural Integration in general and each of the ten hours in particular. As the chapters of this book take shape we will be publishing them in the Bulletin for your criticism and comment.It would be most helpful for us to know which portions of the manuscript you find clear, which obscure. Of particular interest are your reactions to the examples and illustrations.Laurence Davis, Editor

In many elementary and advanced texts of physiology and anatomy, the section on skeletal musculature is crowned by a series of drawings which show the human skeleton as a complex mechanism replete with hinges, pulleys, beams, trusses, etc. The muscles appear as winches, engines, cables or springs, and the main point seems to be an analysis of the complexity of human movement into a form of energy release which is ultimately shortenings and lengthenings. This approach has its value, but directs one’s attention to movement as a whole phenomenon by presenting muscle itself in a mechanical, oversimplified fashion. It is clearly asking too much that every individual’s knowledge of the human body should include all the latest facts in every area. But it is desirable, even necessary, I believe, that the overall maps or models by means of which one integrates his store of information at least have room for such facts as he may discover. The chief deficiency of a model of the human body which presents muscle as cables or springs, is the oversimplification of what muscle metabolism is and how it relates to the rest of the body’s activity. Dr. V. Reggie Edgerton is a young scientist engaged in histochemical research into muscle tissue at U.C.L.A. In the following interview he gives us an idea of the complexity of this field. Laurence E. Davis

The work of F. Matthias Alexander brings us, in the words of George Bernard Shaw, to “the beginnings of a far reaching science of the involuntary movements we call reflexes.” The technique Alexander devised involves a re education of the kinesthetic sense to provide for correction and self control in each and every movement act. Alexander described his technique most precisely as a “psychophysical re-education with conscious control in the use of the self.”In the three articles which follow we are attempting to show how the work is being applied and carried on presently nearly 15 years after Alexander’s death.

The following two “chapters” by Dr. Rolf and Laurence Davis appeared in the Bulletin for Structural Integration. As noted in the original preface to the material, these were to be the first chapters of Dr. Rolf’s book. This archival material is interesting in light of the fact that it differs from the early chapters of the book that was eventually published by Dr. Rolf, Rolfing: Re-establishing the Natural Alignment and Structural Integration of the Human Being for Vitality and Well-Being.