Integration, education and therapy – thoughts from Dr. Ida P Rolf

Here is a quotation from Dr Ida P Rolf explaining her view of how Structural Integration is different from other kinds of medical care, therapy, and bodywork:

This is an important concept: that practitioners are integrating something; we are not restoring something. This puts us in a different class from all other therapists that I know of. It takes us out of the domain designated by the word “therapy,” and puts us in the domain designated by the word “education.” It puts our thinking into education: how can we use these ideas behind Structural Integration? How do we put a body together so that it’s a unit, an acting, energy efficient unit? One of the differences between Structural Integration Practitioners and practitioners of medicine, osteopathy, chiropractic, naturopathy, etc., is that the latter are all relieving symptoms. They make no effort to put together elements into a more efficient energy system.*

In my work, I think about how the various parts of the body relate to each other and to the world around us. As a result of the hands-on work and movement evaluation, clients improve. They experience more ease of movement, less pain, and fewer ongoing injuries.

 

*For more, see the Rolf Research Foundation