Soma Structural Integration & Massage Therapy

Offerings

  • Soma Structural Integration is designed to be engaged with as a series and this is the most effective way to experience the work. Each session builds upon the last with the goal of bringing the entire body into balance and offering the client a greater sense of ease. Each session is accompanied by a short reading and movement/awareness education. I encourage all my clients to keep a mind-body journal during the 11 series to aid in the integration process.

    See below for more information.

  • Somassage® is a specialized form of massage that balances the fascial layers and brings the body into optimal efficiency, ease, and gravitational alignment. This treatment uses slow, deep, and intentional strokes to organize the fascial web, soothe the nervous system, and address the unique qualities of each individual. This treatment allows you to rest and leaves you feeling grounded, lighter, and with greater ease of movement. Somassage® is a wonderful introduction to Soma Structural Integration, as well as the recommended maintenance after the Soma Series is completed.

  • Treatment sessions offer individualized support for many conditions, including nervous system complaints, minor accidents, injuries, or pain. Treatments are designed to address and reintegrate a region, or joint of the body. Each session is unique and specifically designed to meet your needs and goals. This work helps to rebalance, rejuvenate, and support your body’s natural ability to heal itself.

    If you are hoping to address more complex or chronic issues, we can explore if the Soma Series would be a good fit for you.

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What is Soma and Structural Integration?

Soma Structural Integration is a holistic form of manual therapy, bodywork, and movement re-education. Soma practitioners use myofascial release to address chronic tension and shift movement patterns that do not serve you. These patterns can be created by injury, repetitive movement, or simply postural habit. The result is a healthier, more easeful and balanced bodymind. Soma is a strong preventative medicine to add to your personal healthcare practice.

Through the selected readings and journaling prompts which accompany each Series Session, Soma also addresses emotional and psychological patterns. This invites unwinding from deep inside. The work of Soma is most impactful when you commit to yourself. When you listen to yourself. When you teach yourself. By investigating this sacred space, not only will you physically improve, but embodied wellness and awareness can bloom throughout your life. Structural Integration differs from massage in many ways, but the biggest difference is that Soma addresses pain patterns at the source and fosters lifelong change. 

Structural Integration bodywork was first pioneered by Dr. Ida Rolf in the mid-20th century, through her work known as Rolfing. As a lifelong student and instructor of yoga, Ida combined her scientific inquiry and experiential knowledge to create Rolfing, which is known for a tough series of 10 sessions designed to bring the entire body into balance and vertical alignment. The Soma Institute of Structural Integration was founded in 1977 by Bill Williams, PhD. who studied directly with Ida Rolf.

The Series

Session 1: Breath

In session one, we work to free the superficial fascia surrounding the rib cage and lower back, generating lift and increased mobility throughout the torso. This results in a more upright posture, increased breath capacity, as well as a general feeling of lightness and well-being.

Session 2: Grounding

In this session, we work extensively with the feet and lower legs to gain a greater sense of grounding into and through the earth. This session helps to establish a stable foundation to build upon throughout the series, introduces new awareness, and increases walking efficiency.

Session 3: Sideline

This session dives deeper into the fascia of the body, focusing on the relationship among pelvis, ribcage, and shoulder girdle.. By lengthening the side body we also balance front to back, and bring ease to the lower back and pelvis. As you go deeper into your inner experience now, you will feel new freedom in your breath, greater relaxation, and more available energy.

Sessions 4-6: The Core

These profound sessions focus on educating and revitalizing the center line, or core, of your body which runs vertically from the inner soles of the feet, up the inner legs, through pelvic floor, into the spine, and up through the crown of the head. In these sessions, we work to free the pelvis, awaken the deep abdominals, lengthen the entire spine, and enliven this central core from feet to head. The result is a greater sense of balance, support from deep within, and a new found freedom in the pelvic girdle as walking and fluid movement become more easeful.

Session 7: Head & Neck

In the seventh season, we thoroughly release the muscles of the neck, face and head, making this one of the most popular sessions! The result is optimal alignment of the head over the body, softened appearance in the face, and a sense of personal power. This session is especially powerful for clients who experience headaches, fatigue or TMJ.

Sessions 8-11: Integration

Integration is the sensation, feeling, and action of wholeness. These final sessions are designed to facilitate new neural connections by working into and across joint structures. These sessions are key to the lasting effects of Soma, because the bodymind becomes able to own the newly acquired ways of moving and being in the world. After these sessions, the result is a lessening of stress and an increase in energy as the body connects, aligns and moves more comfortably in gravity. These sessions include:

Session 8 & 9: The Upper & Lower Body

Session 10: Arms

Session 11: The Whole Body

“There's a lot of noise in the world, and bodywork with River has been a refuge to come home to myself more fully, with presence and tools for self inquiry and love. The Soma Series was at times intense, and River was a grounded and present guide for the whole experience. I feel infinitily more comfortable and confident in my body now. I'm grateful to have found you, River, and would recommend bodywork with River to ANYONE!”

T.A., Soma Client