Structural Integration/Rolfing and ART (Active release therapy) can be performed alone or in addition to any massage. This interactive style of bodywork involves the recipient in participation. The idea is to manipulate and add movement to find greater balance and structural organization within the body. It is deep work and its purpose is to create long-lasting change in the body’s structure. It is effective in many problems, from frozen shoulders to sciatica and scoliosis.

Our bodies are intertwined webs of muscle and connective tissue or fascia. The muscles become overused or locked in certain structural patterns, whether from birth or poor posture or just bad habits. The connective tissue then solidifies it, creating a sort of body armoring, barrier that keeps things jammed up or fixed in a certain angle that might not be optimal for the rest of the body. The body then tries to offset the problem by compensating for it on the other side or in the nearest joint creating more pain and tension. Often nerves get pinched and squeezed within these muscle and fascia fibers, resulting in serious negative effects.

By locating the sore spot, and then asking the recipient to activate it, while the practitioner applies pressure to it, followed by immediate relaxation and breathing into the new space, the practitioner is able to get deeper through the layer of connective tissue and untangle the web and body armor. This creates space and new depth and releases the muscle and even realigns the bones to a more favorable position. This also helps to show the recipient who may have a difficult time letting go, of what is relaxed and what is engaged. When we allow the muscle to soften and relax to a new state of being, we create a better relationship with gravity.

This work can be done as spot work wherever there is pain. It can also be done in a 10-series protocol that begins at the sleeve, arms, legs, and chest, followed by the core, front back, and side. Then integration of the two, revisiting the important “tight” areas of the upper and lower body and work on mobilizing the surface layers of the deep fascia. These types of sessions are done as an intensive section-by-section, 10-session series with work done in one area at a time per week. It does take 10 weeks and the process can be, at times, tedious or strenuous, but the long-term effects are phenomenal.