I have begun the experience of Structural Integration with an open and curious mind and a healthy amount of skepticism. SI literature frequently stresses how clients who have been through the basic 10 sessions have increased their bodily height by two, three, four, or even as many as seven or eight centimeters, in a mere few weeks.
Having been familiar with other body manipulation therapies such as osteopathy and chiropractic, I was keen to find out how SI differs from the other two. Since all these three are frequently listed under the umbrella terms “alternative medicine” or “pseudoscience”, at least from the current perspective of evidence-based western medicine neither of them seems to qualify as a reliable manipulative technique. I would like to experience them first-hand, and see whether they would prove to be beneficial. With osteopathy and chiropractic I did have partial successes, as they both seemed to ease the pain in my ailing lower back—a congenital disease that has been my loyal companion during my thirty-seven years. Nonetheless, these improvements never appeared to have lasted for a long time, so my most trustworthy allies in fighting the unwanted symptoms of chronic pain have been going to the spa and taking deep-tissue massage. Until I have experienced SI.
During the Basic 10 sessions, Sato san targeted different areas and layers of my body. Every time she did that, she would readily explain in clear terms what she was doing and how these techniques would alter the fascia and the bone-structure in my body. Her manipulation was never aggressive or painful. On the contrary, it felt rather delicate and careful. After a session got finished, most of the times I felt improvement in my gait and in my posture, particularly during the first five sessions. Personally, I did not see that much change in the before-and-after photos that she regularly took of me in order for us to see how her work has affected my structure and function. On the other hand, I could feel between sessions how my walking pattern had been altered, how my sitting had become more comfortable and stable, how my lower back pain would gradually lessen.
What made the experience all the more worth my while was Sato san’s well-informed and enthusiastic personal style with which she answered the abundance of my anatomical and structural questions in a manner that left no doubt as to her comprehensive medical knowledge. I have learnt a good deal from her about correct movement and posture which helped me to absorb mentally the changes that she had effected in me physically. She lent me books and DVD-s and taught me exercises that could further enhance the structural integration of my body.
It has been almost a month now since the sessions have ended. What I feel is that my body moves in a more natural and effortless way than before, also, I can sit longer hours in front of my computer which results in a decreased amount of overall discomfort. I still experience pain but I seem to have more control over it. Although the fee of the 10 sessions is not a trifle sum, to me it was worth it. I feel much better in and about my body. I do not feel, as it is often maintained, that after SI I have gained a new body, it is still my good old body with its familiar aches and sores. Still I feel much more at home in this body than ever before and I am grateful for all the beneficial changes—even though I have not grown but a millimeter... Male philosopher in his 30s
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