Structural Wisdom offers a 12-series of Kinesis Myofascial Integration (KMI).  Structural Integration is a way of exploring your body and its structural relationships.  The intention of the 12-Series is to initiate change, for the better, in your posture, movement, energy, and your knowledge of how your body works. 

This series will address many troubled areas such as the pelvis, legs, upper body, shoulders, neck and spine.  The techniques used are based on fascial lines described in the book Anatomy Trains by Thomas Myers. 

The 12-Series sessions are a collaborative process between the practitioner and the client.  Here are a few notes to help you get the most from this experience:

1) The KMI 12-Series is a wonderful tonic for your posture and movement, but it is no panacea. Do not undertake a 12-Series without medical permission if needed, and let the therapist know about anything medically relevant to your sessions. 12-Series of KMI can be remarkably effective for chronic pain patterns of a structural nature, but is not designed as a curative for any disease, or as a first aid remedy for recent injury or as a substitute for medical attention where needed. Check with the therapist if you are unsure whether the 12-Series is appropriate for your situation.

2) The 12-Series process begins with a fairly extensive interview about your history and current habits.  All 12-Series sessions are done in underwear or a bathing suit. The therapist will usually observe you standing and walking before the sessions start, to assess your current structural patterns

3) The 12-Series work itself is done on a treatment table, or for certain moves on a specialized bench.The therapist will use his or her fingers, hands, or arms to contact certain tissues, and then ask you to move in specific ways while these tissues are opened and repositioned.

4) The process of opening our myofascial tissues can be sensation-ful involving feelings of stretch, or perhaps some burning, as in yoga stretch or when exercising long unused muscles. The level of this sensation is in your control, and entirely up to you. Pain, if the sensation gets that far, should be short and bearable. Please converse with your therapist to find the right level of depth for you that allows the maximum value from each session consistent with your comfort and acceptance.  The idea is to achieve a balanced body that is pain-free. You may have to feel some of the stored pain as it is released from your body, especially in traumatized areas.

5) Traumatized tissue can also contain emotional pain.  Although we are not practicing psychologists, your 12-Series therapist has been trained to sensitively work with you around these releases as they relate to your body structure.  Again, feel free to work with your therapist to find the right level of work for you.  Emotional feelings related to the work may come up during the sessions or between them.

6) Each 12-Series session deals with a different fascial plane or set of relationships in the body.  The sessions will work progressively around the body, from superficial to deep and back again.  Your practitioner may not work where you are reporting the symptoms, as the patterns that feed that problem are body-wide. A whiplash, for instance, is a problem of the neck for some days, a problem of the whole spine within a few weeks, and is linked to a whole body pattern within a few months.

7) It is not unusual to have odd feelings, physical or emotional, between sessions. Please contact your therapist if they are cause for concern. Often, old long-forgotten pains will resurface for a time; this is a positive sign that the process of unwinding is well underway.