Might this be the strongest claim in the history of health care? 

You should know Dr. Rolf originated a system to train and evolve the human body into structural balance and alignment with gravity. She named it Structural Integration. First, integrating the body itself according to its essential anatomical design. And, further, integrating the human body with gravity, the energy field of the earth. In short, proper fit.

That is quite a claim. Don’t you think?

But, what does it mean?

Well, the short answer, knowing Dr. Rolf and her clarity and directness: It means just what it says.

But what kind of working appropriately do you have to have for the force of gravity to flow through?

We all know the answer.

It’s the same thing for any kind of structure on Earth. The first thing architects and the building trades learn. Any kid who played with blocks understands this. To operate properly in the field of gravity structures have to be plumb and square and level. Yes, even those asymmetrical follies that are so in vogue these days; at their core they honor this elemental principle. If you don’t know the term, “plumb” has to do with the line which is squarely perpendicular to the level surface of the Earth. It isn’t real as such, but it points to something implicit in physical reality, the working of gravity.

You know it. It’s just like when you see a tilted picture on the wall. Or, like when you go to buy a house and it’s leaning sideways. What do you do? You don’t buy it. Unless, of course, it’s a moneymaker like the leaning Tower of Pisa. In which case you want it that way and you spend a lot of money to keep it from falling down.*** There’s a trick you use when inspecting an old house. Marbles on the floor. If they roll, the foundation is probably faulty. Or, as the sales agent euphemistically says, “It’s settled”. This sort of thing when it applies to human beings is called “set in their ways”.

I think that pretty much gets the point across on how things need to honor the dictates of gravity. Except for one teeny, tiny point.

If you look around at your fellows (do also include yourself) you will notice that few are living up to our native potential for the kind of order in the makeup of their bodies that we insist on in the design and construction of our homes and buildings. It’s so commonplace, in fact, we take it for granted. We are inured to it. We don’t notice it in the same way that fish don’t notice the water. It is so there, it is not. And, it’s probably the last thing to consider when the conversation turns to matters of health, living well, achieving top performance, fully expressing. If you read this, don’t say I didn’t tell you so.

So then, you say, what about that business of the force of gravity flowing through? And spontaneously healing as a result? Here, there are many answers; none of which, perhaps, gives the total picture.

First, and maybe foremost there’s common sense. It tells us the human body is just like any structure. It operates under the dictates of the force of gravity. Therefore, the human body segments need to be arranged vertically, stacked up one on top of the other so that their centers of gravity line up straight up and down. Also, things need to be level and symmetrical.

Let’s be scientific then. Verticality and horizontality are in the natural design of the human body. This is well understood from the study of Anatomy. Also, this is correct in terms of the Laws of Physics.

But, that doesn’t really answer the claim about gravity flowing through and the body spontaneously healing itself. It holds up conceptually. When things are as they should be the system works correctly.

But, still . . . Gravity flowing? Spontaneous healing?

If you are waiting for the research to come in to validate this claim, you are in for a long wait. The anecdotal evidence is definitely there. It’s not collated and summarized. Yet. It is common knowledge that people who have chosen to learn to live in alignment with the earth energy field have been reporting for several years now on how living at that level of improved functioning is enlivening and supportive of effectiveness in general, top performance, and full expressiveness. Unfortunately, there is no body of data that we can point to yet that brings all that together into a cohesive bundle of evidence. (Ida P. Rolf Research Foundation, here’s a project to underwrite.)

The last shoe on this point is an experiential one. As stated previously, those of us in the field of teaching individuals to become truly physically balanced in the structural makeup of their bodies are quite aware of the positive reports from our own clients. As practitioners in this field part of the implicit agreement is that the work itself necessitates cultivating true vertical balance in our own bodies.

Dr. Rolf also suggested something very interesting, and provocative. “Consign your body to gravity”, she said.

When you engage with the (Yogic?) process of consigning your body to gravity, what the heck are you doing? And, why should anyone want to do that? It’s for everyone, actually. But, not for everyone too. Most are content to muddle through with their pills and remedies. Living short of the easy natural evolutionary potential for order in the makeup of their bodies.

Some, however, want to cultivate the possibility to live into their natural birthright for health and well-being. That’s a big subject. Consigning your body to gravity though, is a foundational aspect of that. It suggests the possibility to live with the body in equipoise, the biomechanical tensions in the body unstressed and finely balanced. No unnecessary holding on. Then you discover as a tangible reality this ineffable experience of relating to gravity in its supportive, uplifting capacity. You do feel gravity flowing through.

But, you have to see it for yourself.

*** Hmmm. It may explain a lot about why we don’t immediately spark to balancing and integrating our own bodies. That would involve some real change. Maybe, though, we want to stay the way we are, resigned (content?) to spending a lot of money to keep from falling apart? A somewhat famous humorist begged off my invitation to consider Structural Integration for himself. He said, “I’m afraid I wouldn’t be funny anymore.” My response, “As if”.