KMI or Anatomy Trains Structural Integration
What is Structural Integration?
We introspect the layers and the levels not to parse ourselves to abstract pieces, but to find the connections and continuities that bring us into relationship with all. Sometimes we have to come apart before we can come together - Gil Hedley Ph.D. Founder of Integral Anatomy Productions
SI is a kind of manual therapy and re-education for our bodies. It is a project for the body. You are changing the the way your bodies' posture, they way it moves, feels, and works. It is a collaborative process between the client and the practitioner. Instead of laying on the massage table for an hour and drifting off, you will actively be taking part in this project of becoming a more integrated body structure. It is not massage or physical therapy, however I do use a massage table and the work is hands on. You will be getting up and down from the table and moving when you are on the table. For example, I may find an area in your foot that needs to be released. I would use my hands to work that area, but also have you flex and extend your toes to assist in that release. In this way your body begins to make changes to itself, beyond what I would be able to do with just my hands. You begin to re-wire your nervous system and proprioception to open what has become taut, tight or lost sensation. We work to increase awareness in your body, to find range of motion that you may not have had for a long time.
Who Benefits from Structural Integration?
Most people can benefit from coming in for an SI series. Whether you are trying to improve yourself in yoga, advance in your athletic ability, or reduce chronic tension and pain SI will work towards these goals. I do not work on pregnant women, but there are specialists in the SI field who do. Please understand that this is really a whole project for you to take on, your body will be changing. If you are an athlete, come in during your off season. If you are overly stressed with too many projects going on in your life already, you might want to do a shorter series (explained below) or wait until you feel like you have the time to come in on a regular basis for a few months. If you have a current injury or surgery I would recommend waiting 6 weeks until you begin a series.
What to Expect
SI work is generally done in a series format in 3 or 12 sessions, although this can be varied depending on the client. If you want to just come in for one session to see what its like we can do that as well and then start a series. The more sessions we have, the more in depth we go, but generally we do not need more than 12. Once we are done, we are done. It is not an ongoing process. If you go through a full 12 series and decide that you might want to come back for some maintenance work we could either go back to doing massage, or you could wait a year and come back for a shorter series. When we are in the sessions you will be active, getting up and down from the table for me to be able to monitor what is changing or what isn't, and for you to have a moment for your body to digest the work. It can also help you become more aware over time of differences in your body. You will be in bra and underwear, or just underwear for men, or a two piece swimsuit. This is so that I can assess your entire system. While your complaint may be from an old injury in your leg, we work with the whole body to better integrate your leg. We develop compensation patterns over time from loss of motion, pain or tension and those pattern move through the whole body, an unpredictable domino effect. If we only work on one spot, that pain will often come back, or a new issue will crop up. The better balanced we can get you, the better for you in the long run.
I also work with clients in a seated position on a bench. This allows us to freedom to use different techniques that can be more effective than when you are laying on a table.
PAIN
Often times when asked what I do I will say, "Have you ever heard of Rolfing?" Rolfing is a trademark term from the Rolf Institute (not the school I attended and am therefore not a Rolfer) and is another type of SI that is a more commonly known term than SI or KMI. Unfortunately, Rolfing also often has the connotation of being extremely painful, which is not necessarily true. The work I do is not meant to be painful and I will always work within your own boundaries. Sometimes we will get to an area on the body that is highly sensitive and you will have more sensation from our work. If you are holding your breath, twitching on the table or scrunching up your face in an effort to try and "deal with it", we are past your pain threshold! My goal would be to keep communication open enough for us to never get to that point. A certain amount of sensation is therapeutic, beyond that it is disruptive to our work and your body.
What is Structural Integration?
We introspect the layers and the levels not to parse ourselves to abstract pieces, but to find the connections and continuities that bring us into relationship with all. Sometimes we have to come apart before we can come together - Gil Hedley Ph.D. Founder of Integral Anatomy Productions
SI is a kind of manual therapy and re-education for our bodies. It is a project for the body. You are changing the the way your bodies' posture, they way it moves, feels, and works. It is a collaborative process between the client and the practitioner. Instead of laying on the massage table for an hour and drifting off, you will actively be taking part in this project of becoming a more integrated body structure. It is not massage or physical therapy, however I do use a massage table and the work is hands on. You will be getting up and down from the table and moving when you are on the table. For example, I may find an area in your foot that needs to be released. I would use my hands to work that area, but also have you flex and extend your toes to assist in that release. In this way your body begins to make changes to itself, beyond what I would be able to do with just my hands. You begin to re-wire your nervous system and proprioception to open what has become taut, tight or lost sensation. We work to increase awareness in your body, to find range of motion that you may not have had for a long time.
Who Benefits from Structural Integration?
Most people can benefit from coming in for an SI series. Whether you are trying to improve yourself in yoga, advance in your athletic ability, or reduce chronic tension and pain SI will work towards these goals. I do not work on pregnant women, but there are specialists in the SI field who do. Please understand that this is really a whole project for you to take on, your body will be changing. If you are an athlete, come in during your off season. If you are overly stressed with too many projects going on in your life already, you might want to do a shorter series (explained below) or wait until you feel like you have the time to come in on a regular basis for a few months. If you have a current injury or surgery I would recommend waiting 6 weeks until you begin a series.
What to Expect
SI work is generally done in a series format in 3 or 12 sessions, although this can be varied depending on the client. If you want to just come in for one session to see what its like we can do that as well and then start a series. The more sessions we have, the more in depth we go, but generally we do not need more than 12. Once we are done, we are done. It is not an ongoing process. If you go through a full 12 series and decide that you might want to come back for some maintenance work we could either go back to doing massage, or you could wait a year and come back for a shorter series. When we are in the sessions you will be active, getting up and down from the table for me to be able to monitor what is changing or what isn't, and for you to have a moment for your body to digest the work. It can also help you become more aware over time of differences in your body. You will be in bra and underwear, or just underwear for men, or a two piece swimsuit. This is so that I can assess your entire system. While your complaint may be from an old injury in your leg, we work with the whole body to better integrate your leg. We develop compensation patterns over time from loss of motion, pain or tension and those pattern move through the whole body, an unpredictable domino effect. If we only work on one spot, that pain will often come back, or a new issue will crop up. The better balanced we can get you, the better for you in the long run.
I also work with clients in a seated position on a bench. This allows us to freedom to use different techniques that can be more effective than when you are laying on a table.
PAIN
Often times when asked what I do I will say, "Have you ever heard of Rolfing?" Rolfing is a trademark term from the Rolf Institute (not the school I attended and am therefore not a Rolfer) and is another type of SI that is a more commonly known term than SI or KMI. Unfortunately, Rolfing also often has the connotation of being extremely painful, which is not necessarily true. The work I do is not meant to be painful and I will always work within your own boundaries. Sometimes we will get to an area on the body that is highly sensitive and you will have more sensation from our work. If you are holding your breath, twitching on the table or scrunching up your face in an effort to try and "deal with it", we are past your pain threshold! My goal would be to keep communication open enough for us to never get to that point. A certain amount of sensation is therapeutic, beyond that it is disruptive to our work and your body.