IASI Yearbook 2007. Herbert Grassmann and Christina Pohlenz-Michel.Dr. Herbert Grassmann is one of the co-founders of SKT® Strukturelle Körpertherapie, and TraumaSomatics®. He is an Advanced practitioner from the Guild for Structural Integration, Certified Hakomi Therapist, and later trained with Dr. Peter Levine. He combined principles from these three methods and subsequent experience to create and teach the traumatherapeutic method TraumaSomatics®. His website is: www.traumasomatics.de.Dr. rer. nat. Christina Pohlenz-Michel works in Freising, Germany, with Bodyoriented Psychotherapy, Tattva Therapy and TraumaSomatics®. She has been a toxicology consultant for national and international organizations since 1988,incorporating knowledge from medicine, molecular and cellular biology, biochemistry, and biophysics. Her website is: www.seele-und-koerper-imdialog.de.“A trauma has less to do with conscious memory but with the inability to calm down the somatic reactions.”- Bessel van der KolkThe essence of TraumaSomatics® Knowledge originating from neuropsychology, psychotherapeutic and somatic therapeutic methods, as well as from medicine and biosciences, combined with modern models of trauma therapy make it evident that the somatic level plays an essential role for development, fixation, and resolution of trauma. 3, 7 -9.TraumaSomatics® is a therapeutic method that is based on the reorganization of somatic memory located in what we call the SomaNet. An essential characteristic of this therapeutic method is that we work with somatic sensationsand movements to resolve somatic traces of the traumatic experience. Both the calming down of the nervous system and changes in the structural and molecular net contribute to these processes.TraumaSomatics® works with the human memory system which can be differentiated into semantic, episodic and procedural memory (see also readings from Allan Schore1, John Grigsby and David Steve ns2, Bessel van der Kolk3, and Eric Wolterstorff4). The therapeutic objective is the separation of these memory systems in order to work with them individually. The work with episodic memory via the somatic memory system integrates the traumatic experience.Procedural memory gives access to trauma - dependent patterns of behaviour, and the learning of abilities represents an important resource. Semantic memory supports the client in his autonomy and in managing the sequels of stress and trauma.All these therapeutic tools support the development of the ability to recognize that the traumatic experience is in the past giving the clients access to the present moment.Starting points for a somatic trauma conceptTraumatic experiences are generally accompanied by enormous stress and complex patterns of sensory input that are threatening and painful in an extreme way. The traumaticsituation mostly appears like an unexpected attack leading to a state of shock. A trauma is connected with the experience that there is no opportunity to solve the situation and there is a deep sensation of being overwhelmed. The situation gets out of conscious control because the processing and storage of incoming traumatic information becomes uncoupled from higher brain functions. The reactions of the threatened human, which are orientation, fight, flight or freeze, are now driven exclusively by the autonomic nervous system. According to Janet (see Ogden 5) this condition can be regarded as a constriction of the conscious field obstructing Somatic therapy methods like Structural Integration, Craniosacral Therapy and Osteopathy have recognized that work at the tissue level is essential for the development, fixation and resolution of trauma.12-14 Even a purely psychic trauma leaves traces in tissues and cells in the same way a physical injury does.Psychotherapy, up to now, had no mechanistic models to understand how trauma and soma are bound in a somatic memory system. We have created the SomaNet model to describe the somatic side of trauma.The SomaNetThe model of the SomaNetFigure 1: The principle of the SomaNet The subunits of the SomaNet propagate and store information both on their own but also in close cooperation thus forming a soma - wide information network.Stress and trauma call for managing an excess of information, both from the outside to the inside of an organism and between the 50 billion cells, and different organs and tissues of the human body. The SomaNet model describes the highly linked and cooperating somatic network of information and communication which is characterized by self-organization and the capability for dynamic change. Our model combines experience from somatically orientedpsychotherapy, trauma therapy and somatic therapies with recent research in medicine, neurobiology, cellular and molecular biology, biomechanics, physiology, biochemistry and biophysics. 15- 21 This model uses our understanding of the processes of communication and information exchange in the context of stress and traumatic experience, to find solutions to the sequels of trauma and the reorganization of somatic memory.In the SomaNet model we categorize somatic intelligence in individual subunits designated as: the structural net, the molecular net, and the nervous system (Figure 1 and Table 1). The state of the components of the SomaNetis intimately connected with our well-being since traces of stress and trauma can be the cause of cell and tissue imbalances, leading to symptoms and the diagnosis of “dis-ease”.Continued on page three of attached. The Reorganization of the Somatic Memory System.pdf

Published in International Body Psychotherapy Journal The Art and Science of Somatic Praxis. (formerly US Association for Body Psychotherapy Journal)Received on 22/07/2013. Revised 120/1/2014AbstractThis essay presents an integrated approach to treating traumatic transference dynamics. Our theory integrates findings from the family therapy literature, principally the contributions of Murray Bowen; new understandings about memory from the field of neuropsychology, most clearly expressed in the writings of James Grigsby; and insights into the behaviour of the autonomic nervous systems of people after they have been stressed or traumatized, as modeled by Peter Levine. Our work integrates these three literatures into an approach to addressing the complex interpersonal dynamics that arise when psychotherapists work with clients who have experienced a particular class of traumas which we call “in-group traumas”, which is to say, those clients who have a history of involvement in traumatic incidents in their families, schools, churches or other tightly knit groups. Because of the close and ongoing nature of relationships in these groups, memories of traumatic experiences in such environments can be more complex than memories of car accidents, surgeries, or even an attack by a stranger. We propose a way to conceptualize these memories of “in-group” traumas. To do so, we rely on five ideas: 1) It is useful to simplify people’s behavior during a traumatic event into four roles: Savior, Victim, Bystander, Perpetrator. A single individual might play more than one role, even during the same event. 2) Individuals playing any of these four roles can develop posttraumatic symptoms. 3) Traumatic reenactment can be accounted for through the mechanism of projective identification. 4) During a traumatic event, we remember not so much what happened to us alone, but rather our subjective interpretation of the entire traumatic event itself; we remember the scene of the crime. 5) Healing from a complex relational trauma requires integrating all four posttraumatic roles and, through them, the whole of the traumatic event. Identifying with one of the roles and disidentifying with the others, as is usual, leaves clients with a superficial misinterpretation of what they actually remembered because, during the original traumatic event, they also remembered what they imagined at that moment to have been the experience of others present. To conclude, we describe the implications of this interpretation for clinical interventions. Throughout, we use a (fictional) case study accessible to any reader, Alfred Hitchcock’s 1961 psychological thriller, Marnie.Click here to continue reading article..Wolterstorff & Grassmann - Scene of the Crime IBPJ 13_2 2014.pdf

Basic Training Course in Structural Integration - in ItalianThe first basic training in Structural Integration of the Guild Europe in Italian language will start in March 2019. The training will be carried out in monthly modules of three days each for a total duration of two years.I studied the Rolf method of Structural Integration with Emmett Hutchins at the Guild for Structural Integration and in 2011 I became an operator. This year I had the opportunity to participate in one of the last weekends of the organized modular course of the European Guild and I was able to appreciate the effects of a modular teaching format distributed over two years. They are professionals who are already working and bringing structural integration into the world ... and they already do so at a very high level. Dario di LorenzoDescription of the courseThe heart of the Guild Europa training program are the principles and the techniques contained in the basic series of the 10 sessions of Structural Integration as they were conceived by Ida Rolf, without additions or modifications deriving from other modalities. The training takes place in modules lasting 20 long weekends and has the following three phases:Phase 1 - 6 long weekends for a total of 152 h in the classroomSkeletal and myofascial anatomyBiomechanics and Structural IntegrationPhysiology and biochemistry of the fasciaAnalysis and interpretation of human structure and movement in order to conceive coherent strategies for manipulative interventions that can improve the structureHow to behave in a therapeutic relationshipExercises to be taken to care for themselves in order to become a competent IS operatorAnatomy and theory of 10 basic sessionsPhase 2 - 6 long weekends for a total of 152 h in the classroomPractice of the 10 Basic sessions during which the trainee students exchange the work between themPhase 3 - 8 long weekends for a total of 202 h in the classroomAt this stage, under supervision, each trainee student practices 10 base sessions on 3 external modelsStudy at homeIn addition to this, students should consider at least 500 hours between home study and practice.TeachersThe course will be held by Fulvio Faudella who will be assisted by Dario Di Lorenzo. Four training modules will be conducted by special teachers, bearers of Ida Rolf's lineage and there will be opportunities to have Aleš Urbanczik - the director of the European Guild for SI. To see the curriculum click below: Fulvio FaudellaDates of basic training 2018/202008. - 10.03.201912. - 14.04.201910. - 12.05.201907. - 09.06.201912. - 14.07.201906.- 08.09.201904. - 06.10.201908. - 10.11.201906. - 08.12.201910. - 12.01.202007. - 09.02.202006. - 08.03.202003. - 05.04.202008. - 10.05.2020Course announcement Click here for Info

"For me, the most important thing is not a specific Rolfing session, it's the evolution from one session to the next"Rolf, Ida Pauline 1978The legacy left by Dr. Ida Rolf was the recipe of 10 sessions.Structural integrating professionals know that going through the 10 sessions of the recipe means that the client will undergo profound physical and emotional changes.At the end of each session you can immediately see changes in the shape and contours of the body as well as better structural alignment.The science bases and explains these alterations by the properties of the connective tissue (Thixotropy, piezoelectricity, viscoelasticity, tensegrity).Apparently magical results are nothing more than physiological events.What we do not seeThe time between the sessions is strategic and necessary for the processing of the mechanical and neurological stimuli that lead to the plastic adaptation of the tissues, generating new neuro-motor patterns.Between one session and another the body continues processing the sensory information received. This process is experienced particularly by the customer. His perception is subjective and known as interoceptive perception (consciousness of bodily sensations).Structural changes settle as the body moves. They are modeled by the continuous presence of gravitational mechanical force."Recent brain imaging studies have shown that when one learns a new pattern of movement, it is recorded in the prefrontal areas of the cerebral cortex. In the next 6 hours this changes to more dorsal (motor, parietal, and cerebellar) areas for consolidation"  (Science, 1977 Aug 8, pp.821-825)Once consolidated, it needs to be trained, repeated and fixed.Maria Eugenia OrtizStructural Integration Practitioner - GSIAdvanced Structural Integration Practitioner

I wrote this article, more than 22 years ago I finished my training in the Rolfing method, I have recovered this article that I wrote in the magazine Body Mind in num 50, the little children are my children Nico and Claudio. I realized the importance of their full potential, especially Claudio who was born with a torticollis that kept me awake many nights, placing and changing his head on his side, because it hurt and he had an atrophy of the mastoid Esternocleido on one side and all the musculature of the face. Today I am proud of them but especially because I see the results in the children with whom I have worked all these years, it is wonderful to see that through the body we are developing our personality, well I do not roll over here I leave the article,Rolfing - Unfolding the power of the childThanks for sharing.

Taking care of oneself is not just taking medicine or doing exercises. Self-care with RA is about understanding yourself as a person.Working with symptoms is not enough. What I have learned through these 18 years is that I am really interested in the person, I have realized that although we must deal with the presenting symptoms, what is most important is to emphasize education when the person is not in an acute crisis so creating a better order and understanding of the person with awareness can really make a difference,to prevent future problems, rather than focusing only on the patient’s symptoms I should engage the person to take care of self and to be educated to have a higher quality of life.Treatments that I recommend are :Manual therapy , listen to the body and wait for the person´s nervous system to respond so that motion restrictions are diffused as the client’s awareness grows. Also the use Swedish massage, lymphatic drainage, and other massage techniques. Movement education and body awareness are important aspects of the exercise therapy so patients can adequately adapt and maintain new movement and alignment patterns. Patients can change the way they perceive and understand their bodies through movement awareness.Hydrotherapy ,since many of RA patients have limitations, water should be a key point within the RA program. Exercises, movements and aerobics could be done also in water starting with mobility exercises and progressing slowly into cardiovascular and resistance exercises. The work of Integral Aquatic Therapy works with the fascial and joint restrictions of the client within the lower-gravity environment of a heated swimming pool. In this method, the client is supported by the water and held by therapist ́s arms and with some floats while being moved in ways that are not easily accessible on a table so as to achieve fascial release and activation of the parasympathetic nervous system.The aim is to educate each person to live in his or her own body; something that is missing many times in rheumatism treatment. Patients tend to only live when they have pain. When they are fine, they are not really enjoying their bodies. To live in their body is what I want for them. Come back to the body. Come back to your own perception. Come back and feel you are alive.The 3H program that I have created offers the RA clients time to recognise and learn to respect the potential of their ability on any given day, neither forcing an unrealistic expectation of performance nor being hindered by the physical limitations of the previous day. In my opinion this acknowledgement and acceptance of being in the present is very important for the manual therapy that I do named fascial release.Our thoughts, our emotions, our postures, and movements are the history of our lives and they have taken toll during the years.Discovering the potential in people and finding a way to create vitality, equilibrium, and well- being is my goal. I have no doubt that prevention carried out in a way that we enjoy it is the best medicine there is.