Structural Integration?
What is Structural Integration?
Structural Integration (SI) is a hands-on therapeutic approach that works with the body’s connective tissue—called fascia—to support postural alignment, movement efficiency, and overall ease. Developed by Dr. Ida P. Rolf, this work reorganizes structural patterns in the body to reduce chronic tension, improve function, and restore balance in relation to gravity. Finding greater physical alignment often has a biopsychosocial impact, influencing not just how we move, but how we feel, relate, and experience ourselves in the world.
Structural Integration is offered as both individual sessions and as part of a comprehensive 11-session series. While single sessions can provide meaningful change, the series is the most effective way to experience the full depth and benefits of this work. Each session has a specific focus and builds on the one before, gradually helping the body unwind old patterns and find new ways of organizing and moving.
Sessions may also include external pelvic floor manual therapy and intra-oral work to support core function, cranial balance, and full-body integrity. These gentle and respectful techniques address foundational areas of the body that are often overlooked, helping to restore connection and coherence from the inside out.
This bodywork is further supported by the practitioner’s continuing education in Bonework and neurovascular integrative strategies, which bring in subtle, whole-system tools for working with the nervous system, skeletal alignment, and vascular flow. These techniques deepen the work and support internal regulation, resilience, and vitality.
Can I benefit from SI?
Structural Integration may be a good fit if you’re looking to:
Reduce or resolve chronic pain and tension
Improve posture, alignment, or body awareness
Recover from injury or repetitive strain
Enhance athletic or creative performance
Feel more grounded, centered, and connected in your body
Address structural imbalances contributing to fatigue or discomfort
Explore a deeper relationship with how you move and inhabit your body
What should I expect in a session?
When you come in for a Structural Integration session, you can expect a personalized, hands-on experience that is both thorough and collaborative. For optimal access to the body, it’s best to wear shorts or underwear along with a sports bra or tube top. This allows the practitioner to observe and assess your posture, alignment, and movement patterns as the session unfolds.
Each session involves a combination of palpatory, visual, and functional assessments. The practitioner will observe how your body moves and feels, using their hands to explore areas of tension, restriction, or imbalance. These assessments help guide the session, ensuring that the approach is tailored to your body’s unique needs.
The primary work is typically done on the massage table, and can also include treatment while seated or standing, depending on what’s most beneficial for your body and goals. This flexibility allows for a deeper focus on functional movement, ensuring that changes made during the session translate into real-world improvements in how you move, feel, and function.
Throughout the session, you’ll have opportunities to move and feel into the work, helping to integrate the changes and connect with the adjustments being made. You may be guided through specific movements or asked to notice how your body responds to touch and pressure.
This is a collaborative process between you and the practitioner. Together, you’ll tune into your body’s signals, identify areas of tension or discomfort, and explore new patterns of movement and alignment. The goal is not only to relieve pain or discomfort but also to help your body function more effectively and efficiently in daily life.
Sessions
Sleeve Sessions
To start, the superficial fascia is first released and provides a foundation for the deeper core work in later sessions.
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Focus : Release the tissue surrounding the rib cage and lengthen the lower back.
Result: A sense of lightness and well-being, a more upright posture, and fuller, deeper breathing.
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Focus : The body’s foundation - lower legs and feet.
Result: A sense of being firmly grounded and in touch with reality.
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Focus: The relationship between the pelvis, rib cage, and shoulder girdle.
Result: Expanded breathing, greater relaxation, and more immediately available energy.
Core Sessions
To bring about the most profound benefits of work, we restructure, educate and enliven the center of your body: legs, pelvis, entire spine, and muscles that support you from deep within.
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Focus : Adjust and lengthen the center line, or core, that runs vertically through the body
Result: Better balance and freedom of movement. Walking takes a fraction of the energy typically expended.
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Focus : Release the muscles of the neck, face and head.
Result: More softened and relaxed appearance in the face, with increased self-reliance and personal power.
Integrative Sessions
These final sessions are the key to the lasting “effects” of Soma Structural Integration®. By focusing largely on integration and connectivity, we allow your body-mind to fully “own” this new way of moving and being in the world.
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Focus : Integrate first the lower, then the upper body in a new and more efficient manner.
Result: Less stress and increased energy as the body’s structure becomes better aligned with gravity.
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Focus : Release and integrate the arms and shoulders
Result: A lighter experience of the arms, greater ease through the shoulders, an experience of more connection through the entire torso.
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Focus: Integrate the whole body in a new and more efficient manner.
Result: Less stress and increased energy as the body’s structure become better aligned with gravity.
Testimonials
“When the body gets working appropriately, the force of gravity can flow through. Then, spontaneously, the body heals itself."
— Dr. Ida P. Rolf