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Body as a MovementSystem - Part 2Hou: Do We Express the Rolfing" 51Story to the World and How Might theTaxonomies Better Reflect the Story?

By Kevin Frank, Rolf Movement® Instructor,Certified Advanced RolferTM

Abstract: The initial success ojstructuml integration (5T)camejrom a/oC1ls 011fascial mobilizationand an explanntion that [asci« is plastic. Modern science points to the brain and the posturalsystem as being the plastic part of the equation, and this has led to iinprooed interpretations ofDr. Rolf'S emphasis mi gravity and posture. The author proposes two places for reexaminationof the Rolfing$ 51 narratioe: retool the I1WIlIlCT ill which Sf is described to clients, students, andthe listening public; and retool the orgallizational model for class(fl/illg dimeusionslmodels ofassessment and interoention - what became known as the 'iaxonomiee.' With improuements illhow RoLfil1gSf is described, we lIlay envision afuture ill which it better distinguishes itself/romsecond-paradigm therapies. This article builds 011 "Body as II Movement System, A Premise forStructural Integration" published in this journal ill June 2008.

What's the Future of 51?Docs ST have a fu tu re? fascial mo biliz ationand myofascial release techniques likelydo have a future: they are attractive andcontinue to spread in the body-therapyworld. But does Rolf's vision of SI have afuture? Docs the Rolf Institute+of StructuralIntegration (RISl) have a future? Rolf'swork is abou t much more than fascialmobilization. 51evokes postural evolution- changes in posture toward what couldbe considered 'normal.' Improvement inposture means improvement in motorcontrol, or coordination. When we stand upwith greater length and, at the same time,greater ease, we express an improvementin coordination, an improvement in being,and, at the least, greater efficiency, Further,the psycho-emotional benefits of SI set itapart from generic myofascial release. Dowe communicate this effectively? How willwe convey our story in a manner that doesjustice to the depth and complexity of thework we offer?

Who Answers the Phone?

How does alii' profession represent itself?A potential client calls a practitioner:"How might you help me with my backand hip pain?" The practitioner answers,"I will systematically mobilize your fascia

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in specific places in your body that havebecome fixated. As the fascia is freed up,your body can stand up more easily becauseit isn't pinned down by fascial restrictions."

Is this a structural integrator speaking?Perhaps. These days, it could also be thevoice of anyone of the many massagetherapists who have taken deep-tissue orrnyofascial rnobiltzation cou.rses tau.ght bystructural integrators, rnassage therapists,or physical therapists. Once upon a time,Rolfers owned this territory: we had thenewest technology on the block and werethe ones who delivered the (exciting)news about fascia. One way or another,technology leaks into the culture andirreversibly becomes pa rt of the pub liedomain. Rolf's institute is a victim of its ownsuccess. We could declare victory - Rolfsmission was successful- and that's the endof it. But is that the true story?

fascial mobilization remains a fascinatingand mysteriously powerful tool to unlockbody issues, including conflicted patternsof motor control. There are sound reasonsfor it to continue as a prime tool for somatictherapy, at various amplitudes of pressure.Fascial work can calm or excite, arousebody awareness, and relieve tensions. It'sgreat to be a fascial manipulator. But is itnecessary and. sufficient to define SI, and

is it even prudent to talk about fascialmobilization "aligning the body?" Is the oldmessage sufficient to enable SI to survive asa distinct profession in the coming decades?More importantly; what elements of Rolf'smission are the most important to survive,other than the fascia-as-plastic one?

Consider again: a potential client callsand asks: "How might you help me withmy back and hip pain?" Suppose thepracti tioner mentions, over the courseof the call, the following: "Most chronicmusculoskeletal problems arc the resultof faulty coordination. Your body worksto stand and walk and at the same time itworks hard to limit itself. Your body worksagainst itself as you stand or meet any ofthe activities you wish it to do. A body withchronic tension is like a car with the brakeand gas pedals welded together. When youpush on the gas to move, you unwittinglyalso push on the brakes. This conflict makesfor chronic tension in the joints. Therapiesthat relax your muscles or reset your jointsare temporary because your body recreatesthe problem over and over.

"The path out of this dilemma is acomprehensive approach that restoresnormal coordination. We do this with acombination of tools that speak to yourmotor control system: deep touch in thefascia that restores differentiation of yourbody maps; careful attention to the wayyou prepare to move, and practice withthose pre-movements in slow motion; aset of perceptions (body-mind awareness)that liberates the body to move moreintelligently; and self-care exercises for youto do at home that recreate the restoredcoordination you experience in yoursessions. YOLI will get a comprehensivepackage of education that helps yourbody move as human architecture isdesigned to. Accidents, overuse patterns,overwhelm, and trauma - these eventsevoke coping strategies in the body's motorcontrol patterns. That's a good thing, butoutlives its usefulness. Our job is to undothose quickly learned, but not so easilydropped, patterns - to make a lastingrestoration of normal coordination. Thatis 51, an integration of all the elementsthat constitute posture and movement.An integrated body feels better becauseit moves as nature intends it to: when weare challenged, we feel the simple joy of abody that lengthens to meet the challenge.An integrated body lengthens in responseto demand rather than becoming stifferand shortening."

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Do we present our message this way? Thevocabulary of the 1(lS1specifically, and S1in general, begs for revision. The work willnot su rvivc as aholistic proposal without animprovement in how it is described.

The Old MessageOu r old message is suspect. Robert Schleipskillfully captures our dilemma in his 2003article on fascial plasticity.' Weare on shakyground with the old gel to sol model. Weare on shaky ground to claim that any ofour fascial mobilizations do what we saythey do other than provoke messages inthe mechanoreceptor links to the brain. Themedical world has had its doubts for sometime. Fortunately, wehave the language andthe research to support something new, ,1S

the second phone conversation illustrates.

If we drill into RI51 thinking, languageusage sits on shaky ground. How wedescribe our work is important. How wecategorize the different components of ourwork has consequences. If our professionis to continuously innovate, the descriptionof what we do and what we teach needsreexamination. Do our words make sense?

Dimensions of 81:Classification (Taxonomy)of ModelsTaxonomy means a system of classifications.vVithin any particular taxonomy are taxa(plural of taxon) that are the differentuni ts and sub-uni ts wi thin the system.There's nothing particularly holy aboutthe word taxonomy other than that it'sused traditionally in science, especiallyin biology where forms of life divide intokingdoms, phyla, families, species, and soon. Taxonomic language was introducedat .R1S1in the 1990s by Jeffrey Maitland,an Advanced Rolfing Instructor, author,and philosophy professor who makesfrequent contributions toward order andlogic in the IUS! vocabulary. Among hiscontributions is the introduction of theword PI11il1tOI1LlS, from the pre-Socraticphilosopher Heraclitus." Palintonicity,the sense of dynamic bi-directionality,is a central experience of SI and one ofMaitland's constitutive principles; it linksour work to an age-old observation aboutharmony with gravity - it takes us forward.

Another concept that Maitland proposedwas the or ga niz.a t ion of our workinto different taxonomies: Structural/Segmental, Biomechanical, functional,Psychobiological, and Energetic. Maitland's

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taxonomies are a way of acknowledgingthe com plexity of SI as a whole-beingevent; multiple taxonomies representmultiple dimensions of who we are."Taxonomies were introduced to do justiceto the various dimensions of humanevolution; to encompass the complexitiesof evolution Rolf considered part of S1.Further, a practitioner might well considerthese dimensions as he/she intervenes witha client. The taxonomies acknowledge thebreadth of the 51 proposition. This was astep forward in mapping our work.

Mai tland men tions. in a 1996 article,that when you fill in the taxonomieswith the various specific taxa - thingswe do, measure, or look at, like spinalmechanics, models of walking, or modelsof neurological integration to mentiona few - the greatest number of taxa fallinto the functional taxonomy. The 1995mS1 faculty meeting determined that themajority of what structural integratorsdo belongs to a functional taxonomy.' It'san interesting observation, but perhapsan inevitable result of a Hawed premise:that structural and functional are separatetaxonomies, that these terms usefu llydistinguish dimensions of the work. In 2012,the taxonomies reveal need for revision. Itis appropriate to take a second look and seewhat makes sense today.

What's a Structure?The word 'structural,' as in the term S1,can be interpreted two ways: structu recan mean a collection of parts that makesup a whole; structure can also meanfunction that persists over time - a systemproduces predictable functional behaviorsaccording to its structure. "vVhat arecalled structures are slow patterns of longduration, functions are quick processes ofshort duration" - Ludwig von Bertalanffy,the father of general systems theory, madethis observation in 1952.;This is the modemview regarding complex systems such asbiological systems -like, say, people.

The structure 'as assembly of parts'definition associates SI with professionslike bridge repair, auto body services, ororthopedic surgery, where a practitioneris skilled at putting parts (back) togetheraccording to specifications. This offers anattractive self-image - it elevates structuralintegrator to the rank of people whore-align parts, as opposed to those whopalliate symptoms. At first blush, it's astep forward from first paradigm to second

paradigm. But the more modern definitiontakes Rolfing SI into the future while theold. one anchors it to the past. To quoteMaitland, 'The body isnot a soft machine.:"The body is a biological system event, notparts that react (exclusively) accordingto physics. To treat a cornplex system, soit improves functionally over time - so itchanges structurally - we want to go beyondrepair (second paradigm) and work in whatMaitland and Sultan posited as a thirdparadigm approach - holisrn.?"

51 makes lasting changes in terms ofposture and movement patterns - evenpsycho-emotional patterns. Patterns ofbehavior change and often don't revert. Infact, they often continue to integrate andimprove. That's a product characteristic.RISI marketing has always emphasizedlasting change. We don't just palliatesymptoms; rather, we make structuralchanges. In that sense we do have someoverlap with orthopedic surgery, but unlikeorthopedic surgery we hel p people with thesoftware part of the equation, which iseverybit, if not more, important to successfuladaptability. We work with post-surgicalclients so they actually use repaired orreplaced parts in harmony with the whole-body system.

Are We a Stack of Blocks?The RISl's 'Little Boy Logo' shows a personas a stack of blocks. It's good advertisingcertainly. Our education emphasizesthe way in which anatomy shifts spatialpositioning as people undergo the work.So 'structural' can also mean the portion ofour work in which we think keenly aboutbone position and notice and treat fascia invarious ways. 'Structural' can denote theaspect of our work in which we think aboutanatornv and the mechanical properties ofanatomy. However, this view is not limitedto work that pushes on fascia.

To return to the context in which thetaxonomies were introduced, it's true thatthe word 'structural' in Maitland's use ofthe taxonomy of 'structura l/segmen taI'is an accurate descriptor of this aspect ofour being. We can experience ourselves asbeing a physical body, a segmental physicalbody. We can change our experience ofthis structural/segmental body in somaticwork such as Rolfing 51. 50 far it works -two uses of the term 'structural' and eachclearly delineated. When we apply theterm; structural' to taxonomies of clinicalpractice, the logic breaks down in ,1 mannerthat is not immediately obvious.

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The current RTS1 taxonomy, as a templatefor dividing up what we teach, limits theintelligence of what is taught, and thework that flows from it. More specifically,the taxonomic labels give the impressionth a t the "r e a l ' event is mobilizationof tissue rather than revival of nativemovement intelligence. Why? The errorfollows because the assumed definitionof 'structure' or 'structural' reverts tobridge repair. It's reversion to "body-as-a-soft-machine" thinking, which leads toeducation that fragments the holistic natureof S1. The public loves the body-as-a-soft-machine message because it's familiar; butit's not holism.

Structural/segmental and functionaltaxonomies were introduced to differentiatebetween doing Rolfing SI work that is"structural' versus 'functional.' At first blushthis offered a satisfying way to think aboutcomponents of the work. It created a wayto delineate the 'movement' domain (whichlacked for definition) from the domain offascial mobilization. The domains can bedistinguished but there is no meaningfuldivision between structural and functionalin styles of intervention. Vv'hen one mobilizesfascia, the new story - the more scientificstory - is that we are communicating withthe sensorimotor brain, helping theseparts of our biology improves choices formovement. Our segmental quality doesn'tchange at a bony level. One has the samenumber of bones before and after a session.What changes is the body's capacity tobehave in a more segmental manner. It'snot accurate to call fascial mobilization a'structural intervention' as contrasted to a'functional intervention.' When we assista person with her pre-movement by, forexample, bringing attention to a weighted-sense in her feet before she stands up, is thata functional intervention as opposed to astructural one? Not if that intervention leadsto a lasting change in posture and ease offunction. The measure of a structural changeis a reliable change of function over time.

It's amusing to hear the question, "Do Isec a structural issue or a functional one,"as part of a body reading assessment. Thequestion behind the question is really, "WillI get better change from mobilization oftissue, or mobilization of other dimensionsof the client's being (such as perception,coordination or meaning)?" The secondquestion has merit. The first question is afaulty choice. A practitioner learns to feelthe complex matrix of dimensions that body

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shape represents. (And we don't necessarilyknow the answer to these questions untilafter we do the work.)

Does manual pressure on fascia makechanges that last longer compared tocoordinative interventions that produce alasting improvement in, say, core stability?Or is pushing on fascia more structuralbecause of the amplitude of the touch.and the touch (strong or soft) necessary tochange coordination ceases to be structuralbecause of lower amplitude in the touch?When fascial touch changes the quality ofmovement, is that not functional? 1£ thequality of movement or posture doesn'tchange, what good is it? The specific useof language - dividing structural andfunctional - is misleading. Rather, thetwo interventions are both functional andstructural at the same time. That is why ourprofessional title has the 'Nord' integration'in it.

Improvements in movement and posture,and the psycho-emotional benefits thataccompilny them - these changes arestructural because they last. Structure meanssomething that functions in a certain patternover time. VVhat started as a proposal tolook at the dimensions of a person's beingbecame categories of intervention thatMaitland acknowledges are overlapping.But categories can become impedimentsto designing ways for people to learnthe work.

An inconvenient truth is that it typicallytakes longer to teach students to makeperceptive and coordinative interventionsthan it does to teach fascial mobilization.It's inherent to the task. The level ofembodiment required is greater. At thesame time, it is even harder to learn ifthe image in a student's mind holds thatstructure is affected by fascial mobilizationbecause it's the bricks and mortar part ofthe work, 'while function is fine-tuning - ,111

add-on. Function is the whole point.

An example: A client in her mid-sixtiescomes in for S1 a year after bilateral kneereplacement, preceded by multiple toesu rgeries. She has done standard physicaltherapy. She isn't moving well and haslots of discomfort, trouble climbing stairs,and so on. A skilled massage practitionerrefers her to S1 after months of massage,cranial work, and emotional support.The SI includes healthy doses of fascialmobilization, including some that is strongin amplitude. Along with the fascial work

STRUCTLlC\L INTECI(ATlON I jU'JL 2012

is vital work with usage patterns in whichstructural change occurs in her postureand strategies of movement and dynamicself-care: the client learns to feel hercoordinative change and understand it; andthen practice it on a daily basis. Structuralchange allows her to walk and shovel snowand take large dogs on lead along icy trails.She finds joy in doing these things. The testof our work is whether months and yearsafter we do our manipulative work theclient is better than when she left our office.This was Rolfs goal and claim. We may notalways rise to this level of success, but if andwhen we do, that is something worthy ofbeing called 51.

Godard's Four StructuresTonic Function ModelGodard proposed four structures thatinfluence human posture and movement:physical, roor dinativc. perceptual, andpsychologi ca l.? This was another stepforward in our usc of language. Each ofthese structures satisfies the requirementthat over time it contributes to predictablebehaviors and postures. Godard's schemehelps remind us that we aren't dealingwith bridges or car bumpers. Structureand function are two sides of one coin, andfascial mobilization is but one method forshifting any of these four structures.

Biomechanics andPsychobiology asTaxonomiesLet's look then at our three other taxonomies:biomechanical, psychobiological, andenergetic. The biomechanical taxonomyis relatively clear. it is a point of view thatlooks at the physical laws of the body. Weneed to understand these relationshipsto appreciate the way the parts operate.Taxa include joint m a n ipu l atio n andskeletal variation to name ,1 few. It's not afinished science. Debate continues aboutbiomechanical models of different partsof the body.

The psychobiology taxonomy is relativelydear as well. It speaks for how psychologyis intrinsically interwoven 'with biology. Ithelps us see how, for example, coordinativechange can be governed by the meaning ofa movement, and how meaning can changeas coordination changes. Our biologyfinds its foundation in the potency oforientation, especially grilvity orientation,in reviving psychological security andstability. The psychobiology taxonomy

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·';{.)'j®(.V4ij*'i@ljli~i(.)3··-1@1.":li.];\·,acknowledges that Rotfing SI work affectsone's subjective experience in ways that canpermit/optimize integration. Psychobiologyencompasses skills tor self-regulation andskills related to therapeutic relations.

How could we ground the four taxonomiesdiscussed thus far at the RTSI? How docategories of intervention make senseas categories of education? The RISIcould have a biomechanical or manualmanipulation department. It could have apsychobiological department, or includepsychobiology within a department thatincl udcs perception, coord ination, andexpression - a view embraced by some ofthe Rolf Movement instructors.

However, to talk about a structural (Rolfing)faculty versus functional (movement)faculty is bad use of language. Would itbe better to speak about fascial- or tissue-mobilization faculty and percep ti velcoordinative faculty? It's not perfect.Fascial mobilization changes perceptionand coordination, and is often an efficientmeans to do so. Focusing on coordinationand perception, at the RISI, assumescompetence in fascial mobilization andtherefore involves that tool as well.Certainly teaching coordinattvc workrequires a well-differentiated embodimentof anatomy and biomechanics. \Vhere thento compromise?

Retire the TermsStructural and Functionalas TaxonomiesIf the RTST retired the structural andfunctional taxonomies (along with structuralfaculty a nd functional facu l ty), andsubstituted for them the categories' manualmobilization taxonomy' and 'perceptual!coordinative education taxonomy' wewould move a step forward. The wordswould refer to what actually happens, andnote a difference of emphasis - a differencein emphasis between two approaches to thestructure/function holism.

What Does 'EnergetiC'(Taxonomy) Mean?111e1'eis a fifth element to consider - the 50-

called 'energetic' taxonomy. Energetic work,whatever it is, acknowledges that often the'not doing' aspect of our work is highly,if not supremely, potent. Important workoccu.rs; the name is unfortunate, Energetictaxonomy, as a label, runs into trouble assoon as ~'Oll try to think about it or use

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it. And how do we link energetic work toposture and coordination?

As with the other taxonomies, we candescribe a di mension of our beingas 'energetic,' dimensions such as: adescription of metabolic activity; or of thesubjective sensory experience of flow, 'Navemotion, bioluminescence, trans personalresonance; 0' 1measure of electromagneticactivity; or .e conscious awareness ofextrasensory perception. There are manyoptions. This dimension is vita! to a holisticpicture of who/what we are. When we usethe term' energetic' to describe a category ofintervention, however, what are lovesaying?What does the word tell us?

The energetic domain, like the domainsof structure and function, is confusingas a category of intervention. Does ourwork become more energetic when ourhands don't touch the client's body? Doesour work become less energetic when ourhands are on the body? Docs our workbecome more energetic when we do itvigorously or when we slow down andenter a meditative state? The term has aprovisional placeholder £0J.' a discussionof the evolutionary potential of our work.However, the phrase, 'energetic taxonomy'of intervention spawns confusion untilwords are found to explain it. Our work hasan energetic dimension. What is it?

Chinese medicine posits that there is cli'i(energy) that flows through the bod)! andthere are techniq lies for assessing thestate of this energy - is this somethingimportant to investigate? Is it essential toposture and coordination and within ourdomain? Some practitioners use off-bodyassessment or they work with clients at adistance. There are interventions that posita sacred space or an energetic geometry ortemplate to the space the work takes placein, 01' that acts as a force on our physiology.Some practitioners consider the variousforms of craniosacral therapy to constituteenergetic intervention.

There are specific practitioner skillsinvolved in energetic categories of work.Ray McCall, Ad vanced Rolfing Instructor,says, "The idea of 'getting out of the way'is central to energetic modalities. Therole of the practitioner seems to be to actas a reference between the client and the'information' that creates, that accomplishesthe healing. Goethe called that informationthe Ur-phenomena. It is often referredto as the blueprint. The challenge is to

STRUCTURAL hTEGIC\T'O,- / JU:-JE2012

perceive the blueprint as alive, dynamicand creative rather than as a static platonicidea),"'lo How do these activities fit with Sl?tvIcCall states that following Sourcef'oint"interventions he observes an improvementin contralateral movement in clients. ,1

MCClll highlights the notion of what couldbe termed 'non-personal intelligence.' 'INcassist people to allow this intelligence tooperate. In this sense, energetic work isnot far away from inherent movementintelligence (that resists an exact location,physiologically) - the 'movement brain'idea." Presumably, what McCall refers toas the blueprint is not located in the bodyat all, necessarily; nonetheless, it pointsto a sense of agency apart from client orpractitioner - thus the point about 'gettingout of the way.' The positing of inherentintell igence shows up in Rolf's insistence ongravity as the therapist. Gravity is invisiblebut palpable. Is it part of what we mean byenergetic? How do these observations affecta discussion of categories?

Much of what we call the energetictaxonomy might be categorized alongwith interpersonal communication andperception. Non-reactive presence is adimension of psychobiology, as are manyforms of listening to an organism's being.Some of what we call energetic workmight be the way in which practitioner orclient integrates sensory (or extrasensory)perception so it can become a 'known'ex perience, or inform non-consciousprocesses such as brain mapping, forexample. As a diagnostic taxonomy, off-body assessment might also belong toa perceptual taxonomy, as extrasensoryperception. Esoteric spatial geometry,conscious or non-conscious, is a formof orientation. Biology is founded. onorienta tion, the act of finding spatiallocation in one's context. 5I is interwovenwith the study of orientation and its relationto coordination. Biodynamic craniosacraleducation addresses orientation (spatialand interoceptive) as well.

Comparisons aren't proposed hereto trivia liz e energetic phenomena, orreduce them to mundane or simplisticexplanations. Categories, or taxonomies,aren't explanations - they're a way to seerelationships between parts of a largersystem ..A. category of intervention is, in part,a look at the skill sets/embodiment necessaryto be effective. Skills of embodiment are thecore of somatic education.

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'ttllllij(IWaijia@i.;, ..,CI);J·'.'@'.jil';C11;JijWhy Examine Word Usage?Why labor over words? On the basis ofthese words, we will be defining what wedo to the world. and what to prioritizein the education of practitioners. TheIUS! curriculum will change over time:innovation is necessa ry to stay relevant. Ascurriculums change there will be debatesabout what is important and what is not;what's truly Rolfing S! and what's not?The argument is appropriate. It's a dialecticnever finally answered, an ongoing inquiryinto "what is this work about?" Questionswill reoccur: what helps, and why does itwork - what is the truest expression of ourtradition, in this decade, or this century?As we hold this inquiry iteratively, mightwe examine the premises of the debate)What is it we do? Maitland's principlesand taxonomies are attempts to answerthis question.

As the second phone call example illustrates,one way of representing our work is as apackage of educational interventions thatspan multiple dimensions of a person'sbeing, dimensions continually assessedthrough the lens of posture, a particularlyincorruptible parameter. Posture spanscomplex levels of being, from gravityorientation all the way to abstractedmeaning making.

Our Message, Our Model:What's Takesthe Work Forward?Our work is complex and multifaceted. 51 isa profession that has much to offer the world.Our message becomes more plausible aswe consider fascial mobilization as animportant, still mysterious, component thatmost probably assists in sorting out motorcontrol and autonomic regulation, ratherthan physically adjusting the tensionalcables of the body represented as a Hagpole. Our message needs to emphasize theeducational nature of the work. Educationempowers clients to regulate their lives.Education is an ongoing inquiry into howpeople learn.

Our message is distinct and refreshingin the marketplace if INe speak aboutstructure and function as dimensionsof people's experience rather than twostyles or techniques of intervention.Lastly, energetic taxonomy, as a label,obscures the investigation. Retire it astaxonomy of intervention while preservingit as a descriptor about one's experience.

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Reexamine what is it that arouses passionateinterest in what is termed the 'energeticwork.' Find descriptors that define that styleof work in a way that plausibly links to amodel of coordinati ve change - to postu re.Once linked to posture and economy ofmovement, assessments of effectivenessbecome possible.

Endnotes1. Schleip, Robert, "Fas 11 Plasticity - ANew Neurobiological Explanation: Part 1and Part 2." [ournnl of Bodywork a11dMovement Therapies, January 2003, pp. 11-19 and 104-116.

2. Maitland, Jeffrey, "The Palintonic Linesof Rolfing." Rol] Lines, January 1991, pp."[-2 and 43 -49.

3. Maitland, Jeffrey, "Rolfing - MovingToward Our Evolutional Potential." RolfLines, May 1996, pp. 5-24.

4. Ibid.

5. McKone, W. Llewellyn, OsteopathicMedicine: Philosophy, Principles, and Practice.london: Blackwell Sciences, Ltd., 2001.

6. Maitland, Jeffrey, "What's in a Name?"Ro(f Lines, December 1995, pp. 11-24.

7. Maitland, Jeffrey, "What Is the Recipe?"Rolf Lilies, July 1991, pp. 1-5.

8. Maitland, Jeffrey and Jan Sultan,"Definition and Principles of Rolfing."Rolf Lilies, April 1992, pp. 16-20.

9. frank, Kevin, "Tonic Function - A GravityResponse Model for Rolfing" StructuralIntegration and Movement Education."RolfLine», March 1995, pp. 13-20.

10. McCall, Ray, private correspondencewith the author, 2012.

11.1vlcC11l, Ray, part of a discussion duringthe 2011 H.lSI faculty meeting.

12. Frank, Kevin, "Body as a MovementSystem, APremise for Structural Integration."[ournal of Structural Integrtuum, June 2008,pp.14-23.

YieldingEngaging Touch, Presence, and thePhysiology of Wholeness

By Carol Agneessens and Hiroyoshi Tahata,Certified Advanced Rolfers™ and Rolf Movement® Instructors

Nothing ill the world is as soft and yieldillg as water. Yetfor d issoivins the hard mid inflexible,Hothing mil surpass it. The soft o"Uercol1les the 1111"111;the gentle ODerC01l1esthe rigid.

lao Tzu, TrlO Te Ching

OverviewFor over ten years, we ha ve been exploringthe first developmental movement knownas 'yield', as originally described by somaticinnovator Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen in herBody Mind Centering system. This articlecombines contributions from both Hiroyoshi(Hiro) and Carol. Hire's contribution andinsights into working with this gentleapproach for shifting structure, movementpatterns, coordination, and perception arcdocumented through client photos and anunderstanding of cellular biology and the

STRUCTURAL INTE(;RATJOi': ; JU"E 20"1:2.

extracellular matrix. Carol explores yield inthe context of embryology and movementawareness. This article presents a briefsynopsis of our collaboration.

Yield is the first developmental movement.Often misunderstood as a passivesurrendering or a 'doing nothing,' yieldingis in fact an active coming into relationshipand is the fundamental movement behaviorunderlying all others. Take a momentand recall all image of an infant restingsecurely on her mother's chest. Sense thevery tangible contact between them. There

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