STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION AND STRUCTURAL AWARENESS
The phone rings. “Gabriel Rosenthal?” a voice asks. “Yes”, I reply.
“Tell me, what massage work do you do?”
“I don’t do massage,” I say, “I do SI and SA”.
“OK”, says the caller, “can you tell me about it? “
“SI’s goal is to teach you how to live in your body within gravity. It releases stress, brings balance, eliminates pain, and improves posture. It holds for a long time, improving even after you finish the ten basic sessions. These sessions, which include SI and SA, last about two hours, and are spaced usually a week apart.”
How else are SI and SA different from massage?” the caller asks.
“Massage is done in a horizontal position, mostly on the outer muscles and the client is passive. In SI work, the therapist and the client work together, it is done lying on the table, sitting, standing, walking, and moving. It is done on the connective tissue, the largest organ in the body, the “organ of structure”.
There are some things the therapist can teach the client, but can’t do for him.
1. I cannot think for the client, the client must relate himself to the work.
2. I can teach the client to breathe, but the client must breathe according to the instruction.
3. I can teach guided imagery connected with breathing, but imagery is for the client.
4. I can teach the client how to activate inner muscles, joints, bones, lesions, tissue, but only the client can move the inner muscles that hold the skeleton.
5. I can teach the client excercises that should be done every day for ten minutes. This is the glue between the sessions
6. There is always some pain when tight connective tissue and muscles are loosened. Although I am aware of where the pain is in the body, the client must tell me if I cross his threshold of pain, and I am able to adjust the pressure.
SA directs the client’s awareness to internal tensions. Through words and touch, I assist the client to release the tensions and help him to move in harmony with gravity. Once he has learned new patterns for breathing and simple joint movements, he can apply these principles to every day activities”.
“Very interesting. What is the theory behind it all,” my caller asked.
“SI and SA work on the body and on the mind. They integrate the whole body; the opposite of the quick fix that seems to pervade our culture today. We have to listen to our body and its rhythm. The body has its rules, and we must be aware of them. We cannot force the body to release stress and anxiety. SI and SA are methods to unlock the human structure and to relieve structural stress. It means relating all the parts of the body so that they will act as one unit, with balance, symmetry and wholeness. For this to happen, the conscious will that lives in the body must be actively involved. Dr. Ida Rolf gave us the concept of the line, the Rolf Line, a line of vertical intention, extending through the feet to the center of the planet, and through the top of the head to cosmic infinity. This line passes through the center of the body, it is our personal guide, holding us in vertical position. The integration of the body in gravity is the most important concept of
this work. When structure is changed by these methods, the “real you” lives in a new body, freed at last from the inside out.”
Gabriel Rosenthal has worked in bodywork for 22 years. During this time, he has never stopped learning and he says he never will. He was the first Israeli body worker to study with the Guild for Structural Integration in Boulder, Colorado, USA, and was asked to design a workshop for scoliosis, and to teach it in the Guild’s school.