the vision
Dr Rolf looked at the human condition as it related to the environment and chose to look into the relationship of parts to the whole. The segmented nature of the human body and its joint system renders us vulnerable to falling out of balance. Rather than working on symptoms, she evolved a series and sequence of manipulations to change how structure relates to the planet.
the anatomy trains
Anatomy Trains® Structural Integration springs from the pioneering work of Dr Ida P. Rolf, who in turn developed her work primarily from homeopathy, osteopathy, yoga, and movement awareness methods such as the Alexander Technique. Tom Myers, the original student of Ida Rolf, had then expanded and evolved Rolf’s work further into a more complete system, comprised of a multi-session protocol (usually 12) of deep, slow fascial and myofascial manipulation, coupled with movement reeducation.
ATSI is one of a number of schools that train practitioners in ‘Structural Integration’, Ida Rolf’s name for her own work. Structural Integration is practiced as an old-world craft with a 21st century comprehension of how your body structure works. The ATSI “brand” of Structural Integration concentrates on doing deep, lasting, and significant work, with anatomical precision, blended with movement and sensitivity to the unfolding individual experience.
the concept
The ATSI ‘recipe’ for structural integration is based around the “Anatomy Trains Myofascial Meridians” concept. There are twelve ‘tracks’ or ‘anatomy trains‘ . These muscle chains create lines of tensional pull which, when all working together, create the frame of the human body. “Tensional forces resulting from muscular contractions and load-demands are spread to adjacent- and distant- tissues via facial sheets, as well as by means of densified threads, strings, straps, wrappings, and rope-like connections (tendons, ligaments, muscles etc.). Our body gradually adapts over time, into global muscular patterns. Whether long-term work-related, or coping after an injury, these patterns can be unsound and slowly tug the body out of alignment.
“When Breath, Thought and Bones align, the true essence resonates through the whole body, unifying full expression”
the design
The design of ATSI is to unwind the strain patterns residing in your body’s locomotor system, restoring it to its natural balance, alignment, length, and ease. Common strain patterns come about from inefficient movement habits, and our body’s response to poorly designed cars, desks, telephones, and airplanes, etc. Individual strain patterns come from imitation when we are young, from the invasions of injury or surgery or birth, and from our body’s response to traumatic episodes. Beginning as a simple gesture of response, movements can become a neuromuscular habit. The habitual movement forms one’s posture, and the posture requires changes in the structure – the body’s connective tissue ‘fabric’. In other words, a gesture becomes a habit becomes a posture and eventually lodges in our structure. These changes are rarely for the better – anything that pulls us out of alignment means that gravity works on pulling us into more misalignment or increased tension to counteract the force.
the fabric
Connective tissue is a remarkably versatile bit of biology. It forms every supportive tissue from the fluid blood to the solid bone, and a host of sheets, straps, and slings in between. The muscular tissue moves us around, but it works through the connective tissue fascia, tendons, and the ligaments at every turn, and it is the connective tissue complex that holds us in the shape we are in. When we are injured or stressed, no matter what the source, there is a neuromuscular response – usually involving some combination of contraction, retraction, immobility, and often rotation. These patterns put some muscles under strain (where they develop painful trigger points) and also pulls at this fascial fabric, requiring it to shift, thicken, glue itself to surrounding structures, and otherwise compensate for the excess sustained muscular holding.
the method
ATSI is a hands-on bodywork method of reorganizing the body, but it is first of all a theory of movement. Reorganizing means knowing the body’s full potential for movement. Compensation begets compensation, and more symptoms. ATSI’s goal is to unwind this process and reduce structural stress. The method depends on a unique property of the body’s connective tissue network. Especially for chronic and long-held patterns, it is not enough to release the muscular holding, though that is definitely a good start. Freeing and repositioning the fascial fabric, along with re-integrating the movement patterns so that they stay easily in their proper positioning, is the job of ATSI. In this sense, ATSI could be seen as a companion to osteopathic or chiropractic care, but instead of thrusting the bones back into place, we adjust the fascial ‘guy-wires’ so that they stay in place – the new alignment simply becomes part of who you are, not something you have to work at or repeatedly see a practitioner to maintain.
the approach
ATSI brings the locomotor and sensory systems of human being to a new level of integrated function. The ATSI approach can be used to correct postural misalignment, ease myofascial pain and restrictions, improve movement , resolve somato-emotional difficulties, or evolve a more allied and complete body image. The ultimate goal, however, is “integration”. Some of our favorite defining hallmarks for the term include:
Structural Alignment
A unity of intent in body movement
Physiological Harmony
A refined balance between stability and receptibility
Efficient coordination of sensory information and motor impulse
Palintonic awareness
Most of us have collected extra tension through the course of our lives, either from injury or surgery, imitation of our parents or heroes, from our repetitive activities, or attitudes we’ve acquired along the way. These injuries and tensions form a pattern in our bodies. Exercise, and our mother’s request of us to “stand up straight!” may help, but most of this patterning happens below our conscious awareness and becomes part of who we are. These patterns become written into our muscular tensions, or skeletal form, and into the tissues that go between: the connective tissues. The ATSI approach is to free the binding and shortening in these connective tissues, what we refer to as the fascial network, and to re-educate the body in efficient and energy-sustaining patterns.
the sessions
Anatomy Trains Structural Integration (ATSI) sessions can be used to resolve particular problems, as a tonic for your posture, movement, and what used to be called “carriage”, how you carry yourself through the world. Your body is your most proximate tool. How do you use it? ATSI can be seen as a course in reacquainting yourself with your body in motion, whether you are a finely-tuned athlete, or a computer-bound couch potato. The sessions progress through the body: the first four sessions are generally more superficial, freeing the tissues on the front, back, and sides of the body and freeing the shoulders and arms from any binding to the trunk. The middle four sessions address the “core” of your body, working into the central stabilization muscles closer to the spine. The last four sessions integrate “core” and “sleeve” into your habitual movement (and address specific problems you bring to the table), leaving you with a lasting and progressive change that will echo throughout the rest of your life.
