We’ve been here since Monday, starting with a workshop called “Coordinating the Peripheral Nervous System” with Christoph Sommer & Pilar Martin, both Rolfing instructors & Christoph also teaches for the Barral Institute. It was the kind of experience that will radically change our practice as we learned to appreciate assessing & treating fascial dysfunctions of peripheral nerves, most of which are composed of 40%-90% connective tissue.

Then there was celebrating the 15th anniversary of Kinesis & as well as the reunion of graduates like us who who completed 500 hours of training in Kinesis Myofascial Integration. For those of you who don’t know what that is…well, read “Anatomy Trains” by Thomas Myers & go to www.anatomytrains.com. It will take you on an unforgettable journey through the lines of fascia in our bodies that up until recently have been totally ignored by mainstream medicine.

Getting back to the reunion, only 2 out of about 40 people actually studied & worked with Dr. Ida Rolf, PhD who founded Structural Integration as a full body therapy that re-organizes just about all of the connective tissue that we largely call fascia. That would be Tom and Ed Maupin & it was a joy to hear them speak of their times with Dr. Rolf who I think will soon be granted posthumous status as one of the great contributors to the health & well being of humankind.

We also had the privilege of listening to Dr. Robert Schleip, PhD, who is both a Rolf instructor, fascial scientist & a tireless flame bearer for fascial research (see www.somatics.de). His discussion titled “The Nature of Fascia” revealed the latest research as to what scientists have come up with in the past few years that will radically change medicine, bodywork, physical therapy, chiropractic, osteopathy, movement therapy & personal training as we know it today.

If you are in any of the related fields noted above then we strongly suggest that you join us in Amsterdam this October at the 2nd Fascial Research Congress (go to http://www.fasciacongress.org/2009/). We are dedicated to the research of fascia as it has helped us continue to evolve Fascial Stretch Therapy & Structural Integration to help our clients lead happier, more productive lives.