How is Rolfing different from Structural Integration?
posted in Structural Integration |
This is an interesting page I found on QueryCat doing a basic search on Structural Integration.
Structural Integration is the generic term for the style of bodywork that includes Rolfing. Rolfing is the original form of the work. Only practitioners that have attended the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration are permitted to call themselves “Rolfers”. All forms of structural integration trace their lineage back to Ida P. Rolf. Over time, various people have decided to change the way the method was taught or even alter its basic tenants.
Basically, Rolfing is what Kleenex is to tissues. Rolfers have branded themselves quite well over the years apart from the greater Structural Integration community, but now we are all united under the same roof again with the International Association of Structural Integrators (IASI).
The word ‘Rolfing‘ is a nonsense term that I’ve heard Dr. Ida Rolf herself scoffed at. When clients would go to see her they would say, “I’m going to get Rolfed” or “I just got Rolfed” and the word stuck. After all, she originally called the work Postural Dynamics which then morphed into Structural Integration.
Today there are 4000+ practitioners attempting to make the world more symmetrical. Here is a list of the schools the IASI deems part of the family:
The Guild for Structural Integration
Core Institute - Structural Integration Program
The Guild for Therapeutic Bodywork, Inc.
Hellerwork®, International
Institut für Strukturelle Körpertherapie
Institute of Structural Medicine
Institute for Structural Integration
International Professional School of Bodywork
International School of Structural Integration
Kinesis, Inc. - KMI
Mana Integrative Therapies
Northwest Center for Structural Integration
The Rolf Institute® of Structural Integration
The School of Integrated Therapies – SI Program
Soma Neuromuscular Institute®
Structural Innovations - SI Program
I’ve decided to follow in the footsteps of the Rolfers and call my work Bulgering since I integrated visceral manipulation into the basic series and tacked on another 5 sessions. 
