Ida Rolf, the founder of Structural Integration (SI) said, “When gravity isn’t tearing something down it is upholding it. Gravity is as indispensable to us as water is to fish. We are rarely aware of it. It is the invisible force field that supports whatever is in alignment with it, but will cause stress in our bodies if we’re not properly aligned in it”.

Joseph Heller, early student of Rolf and founder of Hellerwork SI said, “A balanced body moves with greater grace and ease through space with far less energy expenditure”.

How is Structural Integration accomplished?

Through deep and gentle manipulation and re-balancing of connective tissue, or fascia. Individual areas are worked and integrated into the whole so that lasting change happens.

Emotional connections to physical restrictions can be explored. This allows you to recognize how your beliefs and feelings affect your body and can be shifted to better support the changes gained from physically working with your fascia.

Movement education and ergonomics coaching bring greater awareness to your movement patterns. You can then choose new ways of moving and being that better support you. This helps the changes gained during sessions to be more permanent. It helps prevent tension and pain from returning.

Why is fascia important?

Fascia wraps every structure in the body: muscles, bones, organs, nerves, arteries and veins. It is tendons and ligaments, in denser form, and blood and other fluids, in much more fluid form.

Injuries and stress, which can include physical and emotional trauma and repetitive strain, set up restrictive patterns in fascia. Scars from surgeries and injuries do the same. Our fascia responds to messages from our brain, carried through our nervous system. Our brain tells us to brace and protect in order to avoid further injury until we heal. Once we heal, the brain’s protective signaling system does not always shut off automatically. Bracing and protected movement patterns can continue, causing more and more fascial adhesion and restricted movement over time. This can cause a loop of chronic unresolved pain and inflammation as we get older.

The body has an innate wisdom and ability to heal. Given the right input, the loop can be broken and balance can be restored.

Who can benefit from Structural Integration?

Everyone!

Children, at the first signs of problems, like poor posture from carrying a heavy book bag or sitting at a computer for hours on end. Or from not moving as freely after healing from an injury or surgery.

Seniors who have compensatory patterns from years of living. Patterns that restrict movement and cause poor posture, pain and diminished quality of life.

Those of us in between who suffer from:
- Chronic, unresolved pain
- Poor posture
- Lack of mobility and pain in joints
(back, hips, knees, ankles, feet, neck,
shoulders, elbows, wrists and hands)
- Repetitive strain injuries
- Plantar fasciatis
- Sports injuries
- Tennis and Golf elbow
- Falls
- Whiplash
- Headaches triggered by neck pain and restriction
- Motor vehicle injuries
- Restrictions and problems from scars

Structural Integration can help improve your athletic performance. I have successfully helped clients who are equestrians, golfers, tennis players, runners, skiers, cyclists and dancers perform better with greater ease and less energy expenditure.

Structural Integration is most effective when done as a series of sessions, typically 10 or 11. This is recommended for those who have not received Structural integration before. I customize each session and series to best meet the needs and goals of each individual, while respecting and utilizing the brilliant sequential series that Ida Rolf and Joseph Heller taught. The work and the benefits are cumulative. The goal is creating changes that are truly life-changing and last. This takes some time, but nowhere near the time it took your body to get into the patterns it may have now. Each session builds on the last, and takes you further out of limitation and closer to your goals.

What is done in each session is determined by your input, what I observe watching you stand and move, what your body communicates nonverbally through touch and how your body has integrated the changes from the previous session(s).

Children’s sessions are 60 minutes. Older teenagers and adults sessions are 90 minutes. I offer 2 hour sessions for adults who may have a lot going on and want to progress more quickly. Sessions are spaced at least one week apart to allow your body time to integrate changes. Sessions are usually scheduled further apart as you progress through the series. I provide awareness exercises for you to do between sessions. These build skills to help you maintain the change you’ve gained from the sessions.

For those who have experienced Structural Integration before, I offer advanced work consisting of 2-4 sessions and single session tune-ups. These are usually two hours for adults and one hour for children.

I have been in private practice doing Structural Integration for 29 years. Including my initial training, I have 31 years in this field. The process of continually learning and deepening and refining my skills has been very rewarding. It is so inspiring, gratifying and humbling to assist clients as they transform and begin to live more fully again, with improved quality of life because they feel so much better.

I first experienced this transformation years ago when I was referred to a Hellerwork Structural Integration practitioner for unresolved bilateral knee strain. She was the first person who looked beyond my knees and found the source of the problem in my pelvis and feet. Only my knees hurt; I felt no pain in my hips or feet. We worked together for several months, freeing my body from its restrictive patterns to restore balance, ease and function. My knees healed and I could once again do the things I loved, without pain: hiking, climbing and snowshoeing. Just as importantly, I learned what caused the repetitive strain and developed ways to keep it from returning. This experience inspired me to become a practitioner.

I completed my Hellerwork Structural Integration Training and Certification on the West Coast in 1995. I trained with Founder Joseph Heller, Don St John, Dan Bienenfeld, Stuart Bell, Michael McFarland and Donna Bajelis. I became a founding member of the International Association of Structural Integrators and became Board Certified in Structural Integration. https://www.theiasi.net

I later studied visceral manipulation with Rolfers Jeffrey Burch and Liz Gaggini and nerve and artery mobilization with Kirstin Schumacher. Visceral Manipulation frees fascial restrictions in and around organs that affect mobility and function (motility).

I mentored extensively in Seattle with Tom Wing, a brilliant Rolfer and teacher who was trained by Ida Rolf and taught for many years at the Rolf Institute and the Guild for Structural Integration in Colorado. I have trained extensively with Sharon Wheeler, a Rolfer and teacher in WA, also trained by Ida Rolf. I have learned amazing manual skills to help resolve complex pelvis issues from Rolfer and Osteopath Ron Murray. I am grateful to all my teachers and clients through the years, who have taught me so much. After being in practice in Seattle and Kirkland, WA from 1995-2022, I have relocated to Mendham New Jersey. I am inspired to be helping clients here.

I became certified in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy in 2012. I was trained by Pat O’Rourke in Seattle, and studied Biomechanical Craniosacral Therapy with the Upledger Institute. I mentored with Osteopath Geraldine Bright in Edmonds WA. Craniosacral Therapy frees restrictions and normalizes the environment around the brain and spinal cord, enhancing the body’s natural ability to self-correct. I find that it is a wonderful compliment to Structural Integration and is helpful for many things including headaches, TMJ and jaw tension, car accidents, scoliosis and trauma, including PTSD.

Prior to Structural Integration, I worked in graphic design firms in NYC and Seattle doing art direction and graphic design work. I have a Fine Arts degree from Carnegie Mellon University. The creative problem solving skills I learned during those years have enhanced my work in Structural Integration. I enjoy painting, hiking, swimming and travel.