Favorite articles related to structural and movement integration:


1. "Breathing in the gravity field," by Aline Newton
http://www.alinenewton.com/pdf-articles/breathing-article.pdf

This article explores the basic physiology of breathing, looking at the muscles activated in inhalation and exhalation and how respiration changes when a breath is "taken" rather than "allowed."

2. "Core stabilization, core coordination," by Aline Newton
http://www.alinenewton.com/pdf-articles/core.htm
This article is full of really important and interesting stuff about the "core," a Rolfing concept gone mainstream through the popularization of Pilates. It's about spinal stabilization, what makes a back strong rather than "bad," exploring the idea that the core is formed not only by the vertically-oriented lumbar multifidus (deep support muscles for the spine) and the transversus abdominis (deep abdominal muscles under the six-pack), but is made a dynamic interrelated system through the body through the horizontal myofascial diaphragms through the body--with pelvic floor, respiratory diaphragm, thoracic inlet as the main ones.

3. "Gracovetsky on walking," by Aline Newton
http://www.alinenewton.com/pdf-articles/walking.pdf

If you've ever seen a legless person (and shirtless too) walking--imagine the twist of the spine, the curves of the back shifting, and the sway of the hips), you'll know that walking doesn't begin with the legs. Serge Gracovetsky, whose research focuses on spinal biomechanics, describes the spine as the major engine for locomotion. Aline expands upon this concept to show how walking involves a set of functional relationships between interrelated parts of the body.

4. "Reading the Body in Dance," by Hubert Godard
http://www.seishindo.org/articles/hubert_godard1.html

This article is a lyrical exposition of the body's anatomical relationships to the poles of earth and sky. It introduces some of the concepts of French Rolfer Hubert Godard, who revolutionized Rolfing with the concept of "tonic function"--the body's ability to organize itself in gravity, which includes not just anatomy but its phenomenology--its relation to environment both within and without.

5. "Flight of the Eagle: Self Care for Structural Integration Clients," by Kevin Frank
http://www.resourcesinmovement.com/
Good article describing in detail a particular movement sequence clients can do on their own to increase body awareness, as the foundation for more efficient and dynamic structure and function.

6. "Movement," by Emilie Conrad
http://www.continuummovement.com/article3.html

Emilie defines movement as who we are, not what we do; the body is simply movement that's become stabilized, water made flesh that's still fluid. Limitations of movement, such as paralysis, are in the model through which we perceive, not in the body--because we are processes, or open systems that can respond to change, not a bunch of parts.

7. "Coherent Energy, Liquid Crystallinity and Acupuncture," by Mae-Wan Ho, PhD
http://www.ratical.org/co-globalize/MaeWanHo/acupunc.html
The biological rhythms of the body, as symmetrically coupled cycles within a closed system, are behind both the conservation of coherent energy and the canceling out of entropy. Rapid intercommunication in the body is facilitated by a liquid crystalline continuum of collagen fibers that make up the bulk of the connective tissues (what we work with as Rolfers and Structural Integrators)--which is why the acupuncture system works. This liquid crystalline continuum, as the "ground substance" of the entire body, is essentially a "body consciousness" that precedes "brain consciousness."

8. "Anatomy Training with Tias Little: Understanding the Temple of the Body," by Lori Gaspar
http://www.yogachicago.com/mar04/tias.shtml
This archived feature from Yoga Chicago's newsletter, describing highlights of a yoga & anatomy class, is a marvelously visceral explanation of how structure, function, and perception interrelate in the body.

9. "Scoliosis and Proprioception," by Robert Schleip
http://www.somatics.de/ScoliosisPropriocept.html
This article summarizes much of the research that has been done so far on scoliosis, which most people have to some degree. One interesting bit of research, validating my experience as a nervous brainy skinny ectomorphic type with scoliosis, ties scoliotic tendencies to lack of mesomorphic features--see Sheldon's Somatotypes. Here it's suggested, among other things, that scoliosis is tied to lack of proprioceptive ability (sense of what "straight" is). Overall just a very informative and useful article, particularly for those who are researching how to positively affect their scolioses--because it's understanding the history behind your body shape and habits that's the key to unwinding it.

10. "Stepping Over the Threshold: Into the Black Hole at the Center of Self," by Marion Woodman
http://www.noetic.org/publications/review/issue28/r28_Woodman.html

Absolutely beautiful, empowering article--not strictly related to structural integration, but about the process of healing through bringing the body to consciousness, balancing male-female energies ("male" being drive towards spirit, "female" being drive towards matter) and turning the black holes of our fears and addictions into sources for creative power.