Dynamic Process Integrity
Ida P. Rolf, Ph.D.
(An essay on the theory and principles of
structural integration, circa 1954)
Modern workers, struggling to find that
physiological balance called "health", have been coming to the
realization that they must abandon the notion of a specific "remedy"
to correct a specific "disease". Many workers have accepted the idea
that by the nature of a complex universe, no one school of therapy is adequate
to deal with the complicated pattern ordinarily labelled "disease",
" ill health" etc. Nevertheless most therapists tend to give their
loyalty to some one method of approach - chemical, mechanical, physiological,
etc., and while they render lip service to the notion that other schools have
their "cures", nevertheless their one particular "brand" is
"best".
As an attitude this is readily
understandable. It is after all our emotional drive, our enthusiasm, on which
we have to depend when the going gets rough. For thousands of years our
ancestors have operated on "good-bad", "right-wrong"
dichotomies. As children we as a generation learned our loyalities in these
terms - linear ideas - at one end God, the Sheep, and the Right (and of course,
we were with the sheep and Clarence Day's father at this end), and at the other
end the Devil, the Goats, and the Wrong.
Looking at the known world in the second
half of the twentieth century, we find with a shock that this simple
two-dimensional linear approach conveys no adequate representation of our
universe. The science of our century is disclosing our world as a
multi-dimensional manifold. Pulling a thread from a many-colored complex
tapestry gives us no guide to indicate beauty of the design, nor does the
simplicity of the linear two-dimensional "either-or",
"right-wrong" approach of Aristotle enable us to recognize the
universe in which we live, move and have our being.
Now this complex which we call "the
universe", "the world" or "man", as the occasion
warrants, is to be understood at this period of our race history - apparently
not in terms of a one-cause one-effect sequence but as an extraordinarily
complicated interplay of balancing forces. To the modern mind, the notion of
this type of interplay can be evoked best perhaps, by the words
"process" or "integration". There may be other terms, but
to me these are the two verbal symbols effectively suggesting the interplay of
energies, which are not merely never-static, but are also so interrelated that
a shift in the balance at any one point results in a changed relationship at
all other points, or in words having a mechanical flavor, the application of
energy at any given point results in changing stresses throughout the
continuum.
We can profit by examining the world we
call "man" or "a man" by the assumptions implicit in this
symbolism. As appreciation of its interplays constitutes a very practical asset
in the process of educating (in the sense of "e-ducere", to lead
out)- or stimulating, the personal evolution in a given individual. A
"man", then may be thought of as the embodiment, the manifestation,
of a "level" of activity, and these levels differ from time to time,
for this is a "process" world.
This idea of course, when called
"homeostasis" has had wide acceptance in the biochemical area. But
actually the notion is useful over a much wider field, including relationships
existing mechanical manifestations of a body, as well as the interplay which
apparently exists between psychological, chemical, mechanical, etc., aspects of
body energy.
On these assumptions it becomes apparent that
no one level can be called "Health" without further differentiation. All
too many lay men are willing to label "Health" a state which,
according to their previous experience, is merely "symptom free". Actually
this level to which they are happy to be returned, and for which service they
are happy to pay, apparently may be an extremely low level, characterized by an
indefinite number of chemical, mechanical, or psychological imbalances, each
imbalance existing to compensate for other stresses imposed by yet other
imbalances. But this is what they are accustomed to - this is
"Health" to them. This is the level at which an adjustment
"fixes" the
"something-that-went-wrong-with-my-back-when-I-woke-up-the-other-morning",
or when a dose of penicillin makes a throat pain-free. And it does restore them
to this level of yesterday or of last month, without a doubt. (?-?-?)
The 64-dollar question remains to be
answered however. How does one get people to understand that there can be and
is another level of functioning? What terms can be used to express that which
is essentially non-verbal - that which is experiential? What words does one use
to convey that there is a state of dynamic well-being that springs from
operation on a dynamic level, where energy interchange can occur on the
physical and muscular level without literally being blocked by the
compensations which have occurred to keep the original distortions from
destroying the body.
This level of functioning does exist and
can be reached - on the whole with amazing ease - or so I would name a process
of 10 or 20 hours which changes patterns of a lifetime. It is true - there is a
chemical, nutritional factor involved for which there is no substitute. This is
basic. But there is also a mechanical factor involved which up to this point
has not been understood in terms which permitted fundamental improvement. The
word "posture" is among the more aligned vocables of our culture. This
one word means so many things to so many people. To most humans, however, it
connotes a body, forcing the shoulders back, drawing the abdomen in, holding
the head up - and in general adding mightily to the tension already present as
an index of the strains within that organism. Personally I understand posture
as the dynamic balance of the parts of the body, in space, in relation to the
force of gravity, at any given moment, and for any given position. In other
words, the posture at any given moment marks an equilibrium. This latter exists
by virtue of the necessity with which the organism is faced, of moving its body
masses and adapting them to the pull of the Earth which can be regarded as a
constant. By the above description you will note that as I see it, there are
many "postures", posture1, posture2 etc. determined wholly by the
relationships which exist between muscles, ligaments, tendons, bones, etc. -
all the parts of the body which we regard as structural. There is however one
set of relationships between these structural parts, approach to which permits
greatest ease of movement and maximum effectiveness of functioning. This
pattern includes effectiveness of reflex function, as well as the more direct
lift which comes by removing interference with the movement of the viscera,
etc. This might be called the point of "least effort". It may also be
called "Dynamic Posture", or "Integrated Posture".
Dynamic posture and its attendant
well-being, is the outward and visible evidence that certain relationships in
terms of length and position of muscles, tendons, ligaments, etc. have been
established. It is also incontro-vertible evidence that in body movement, the
fundamental functional design of the body is adhered to - specifically, the
extensor muscles are lengthening, and the flexor muscles are contracting. This
in turn permits extension of the spine, and consequent rehabilitation of the
spinal structure, reconstruction of discs, etc. This is of course, another way
of saying that it permits the elimination of the "chronic" "recurrent"
lesion, which is chronic and recurrent of necessity by virtue of the
inadequacies of the supporting muscular structure.
This level which we have chosen to call
"dynamic posture', in which the greater degree of energy exchange become
so apparent - can be established by various methods. It occurs as the result of
the establishment of a body movement more appropriate to the body structure
(not to be confused with calisthenics). However, such training can be a long
drawn out process. A quicker and simpler method starts with the manual
manipulation which removes the interfering restrictions, followed by a more
positive training in body movement. It is to be noted that these changes made
possible by manipulation, are made permanent only by the pattern of formulated,
not random, body movement, which often occur spontaneously, as the restrictions
to movement are released. Actually these are the patterns of movement which
occur naturally, spontaneously and unconsciously which restrictions are
removed. The individual being processed merely "lets it happen". A
noteworthy time relationship may also be observed in this connection. In
practically all bodies which have not be subjected to drastic trauma,
automobile accidents, polio, etc. - the tenth hour of processing shows a
fundamental change in the muscle tone of the body. This seems to be associated
with reestablishing the tone of the extensor muscles. This in turn gives the
person a sense of freedom and adequacy which is both lasting and far-reaching
in its effects on the personality as a whole. For this reason it is advisable
to have it understood that a ten-hour processing is essential for the real
success of the method. Fortunately this ten-hour sequence my be spaced in any
convenient fashion - completed in two weeks or two years. The latter
arrangement is not particularly satisfactory - but only because humans
apparently are unable to remember the level from which they have emerged, for
anything more than a very short period. Therefore, when this sequence is
dragged out over too long a period, the processee fails to realize how drastic
a change has been made in his functioning.
Little has been said in the foregoing to
indicate any "working conditions" or working "Manual" for
attaining the "integrity" we are talking about. A worker in
Chiropractic or Osteopathy may be justified in wondering at this point, whether
the technique for postural integration which is being advocated differs fro the
older methods in use in this country.
Actually, it does differ - and fundamentally
- in the following basic particulars: (It is to be noted that the following
discussion applies to the chronic and recurrent case) 1. Older techniques rely
on specific local correction - even though such correction me be at the base of
the spine, designed for (and effective in) lessening rotation. Postural
Integration posits that through the adequate "stacking" in space of
the gross weight units of the body, the head, thorax, pelvis, legs, rather than
by placing of individual vertebrae; the tensions of the muscular and
ligamentous structures are relieved; the muscles and ligaments permitted to
reconstruct, in accordance with the demands of the body. Thus the malalignment
of the individual parts of the spine is automatically relieved without outside
interference or specific correction. 2. The method of inducing the personal
physical integrity known as Postural Integration claims that its results are
permanent in the same sense that the process level of the individual is changed
so fundamentally that reversion to the old level does not occur.
This change is self-perpetuating and
self-generating when patterns of movement are established which are in accord
with body structure. Specifically this means that feet must move on ankles
"truly" - that is in accord with the structure of the ankle joint. Similarly
knees, hips, wrists, elbows, shoulders, and all spinal vertebrae have their own
requirements before "true" functional movement is established. Essentially
this requires that the muscles controlling the movement about the joint be
balanced in length, position and tonicity. In most instances it also
necessitates lengthening the body structure slightly thus permitting the joint
greater freedom of movement. In effecting this, the body itself reconstructs and
rehabilitates the cartilaginous structures, discs, etc. The improvement in
metabolism started here quickly finds a reflection in improved tone of viscera,
glands, etc.
The methodology known as postural
integration can be summed up in one sentence: to get the muscle group nearer to
where it "belongs" - that is, nearer to the position required for
efficiency in the particular movement, which is its basic function - and to
demand that the muscle group move in that position. Once this pattern is
established it does not regress.
Unfortunately, specific
"how-to-do-it" directions for attaining this end can not be given
verbally. Like many of the richer and more rewarding aspects of life, this
technique is essentially non-verbal and requires experiencing. Fortunately, the
"experiencing" does not involve the sacrifice of too much time. Ten
or twenty hours of processing is sufficient to establish the new muscle pattern
and the changed metabolic patterns which maintain it indefinitely. Fortunately
too, in experiencing the change in himself, a worker skilled in body
processing, suddenly finds himself realizing the deviations of the body with
which he is dealing, and its needs suddenly seem simple and obvious. At this
point the term "dynamic process integrity" ceases to be a verbalism. Instead
he realizes that no "correction" will ever again satisfy him - that
only by establishing an integrity of structure and functioning in the fellow
human whom he serves, can his own goal be reached.
A POSTURE QUIZ
These
will be the subjects of discussion at the meetings to be held at Cedar Rapids,
Iowa - April 26th to May 10th, 1954.