Movement Integration

Book excerpt: A paradigm-shifting, integrative approach to understanding body movement. The ability to move with efficiency and agility has been an essential component to our evolution and survival as a species. It has enabled us to find food, fight threats, flee danger, and flourish both individually and collectively. Our body's intricate network of bones, muscles, tissues, and organs moves with great complexity. While traditional anatomy has relied on a reductionist frame for understanding these mechanisms in isolation, the contributors to Movement Integration take a more systemic, integrative approach. Ensomatosy is a new paradigm for comprehending movement from the perspective of the body's entirety. The body's many systems are understood as synchronized both internally and externally. Drawing on expertise in physiotherapy, somatics, sports science, Rolfing, myofascial therapy, craniosacral therapy, Pilates, and yoga, the authors assert that a more comprehensive understanding of movement is key to restoring the body's natural ability to move fluidly and painlessly. With over 150 images, the Color Illustration Model of Relative Movement provides a visual tool for understanding how joints interact with surrounding structures (rather than in isolation). This is an ideal book for physiotherapists, massage therapists, structural integrators, coaches, as well as yoga and Pilates instructors.