Structural Integration & Yoga by L'

Compliments in the pairing...

Structural Integration ('SI aka Rolfing) combined with yoga complement one
other by improving structure, balance and flexibility. Founder Dr. Ida P. Rolf
used yoga techniques to further our understanding of human structure. Dr.
Rolf was highly infulenced by Hatha yoga in her the development of
Structural Integration.

When Dr.Rolf was a young mother, before developing Rolfing, she used yoga
to address back problems related to scoliosis. In the 1930's she studied yoga
with Pierre Bernard, a yoga teacher in N.Y. Yoga was considered a bit far out
at the time and there were very few teachers available in the US. Dr. Rolf
was cautious about referring her students to yoga then. "She declared that
yoga was the best exercise system ever devised, if the student worked with
a good teacher," says Jeff Linn, Certified Rolfer and archivist. "If the teacher
was not good then it could do serious damage in the long term."

Over the past seventy years interest in yoga has grown steadily in the West,
and now there are many expert instructors teaching from a variety of yogic
traditions. Dr. Rolf's personal study of yoga, osteopathy and homeopathy
contributed to the evolution of her Rolfing principles. She aligned her vision
of Rolfing with the goals of yoga, "a physical system that enriches the
student's body, mind and spiritual well being through an understanding of
structural balance."

"Dr. Rolf always investigated what was new and was never afraid to take
what she learned and use it," says Rosemarie Feitus, Rolfer, in the
introduction to her book, "Ida Rolf Talks: About Rolfing and Physical Reality.
In those years of practicing and discussing the principles of yoga, Dr. Rolf
was establishing the basis of her future work; that bodies need to lengthen
and be balanced, and that a balanced body will give rise to a better human
being. Slowly she realized that the asanas did not achieve length and
separation of the joints, that in too many cases there was actual contraction
of the joint surfaces. Something else was needed. Sometime later, Rolfing
was born.

Rolfing works primarily in two ways, with hands-on manipulation and

movement education. It physically changes the body's structure and
energetically improves movement and function. Yoga and SI both work
subtly with energy inside and outside the body. Let's look at the breath, and
how Rolfing works with energy. Sometimes stress makes us short of breath,
so we breathe more tensely. By guiding the breath throughout the body, SI
can potentially help relieve tension and increase energy levels.
The most common objectives that guide people to Structural Integration and
yoga are:

1. to gain relief from chronic or acute tension or pain

2. to increase flexibility or coordination
3. to improve posture and alignment
4. to learn to relax and obtain more body awareness
5. to offset deleterious effects of aging
6. to release emotional blocks stored in the body
7. to have more energy and stamina
8. to find relief from breathing difficulties

Please contact L' direct at 505.501.0279 or RolfYoga@gmail.com

L'aura Marie Campisi
www.lauracampisi.com