Structural Integration: Easing the Strain

By Jean Louise Green, certified Rolf practitioner

I roll up my sleeves, enter my treatment room, and prepare to work. I may not know what challenges await, but I eagerly take up the request to assist. People come to me because they want to change—to clear restrictive patterns in their bodies, to find the freedom and ease of movement they've been missing and know is possible. I expect such changes on my table. For my clients, they can be life changing. For me, it's all in a good day's work. I am a practitioner of structural integration. 

In 1986 I received my first 10 sessions of structural integration. It changed my life. Years of gymnastics training had left its patterns—an excessive arch in my lower back; feet, legs, and hips that turned out from dance training; and hip rotator muscles in my pelvis that were rock solid. I had also injured my nose and tailbone. Standing, sitting, or kneeling for any length of time was uncomfortable. So much pain and strain in my young body! I shudder to think of my life without the balancing and destraining of structural integration.