Postural Integration (PI)

Postural Integration (PI) is an alternative process-oriented, body-therapy method which supports individuals in dealing with the challenges in their lives in a more creative manner. The uniqueness of this bodywork method lies in the simultaneous integration of deep tissue and breath work, body movement and awareness, as well as emotional expression, during the course of an unfolding journey through upwards of ten sessions. It also aims to restore unity of tissue, feeling and awareness by a direct manual, deep softening and reorganization of the myofascia which envelopes and coordinates the entire muscular system while simultaneously working with breath, emotional release and expression, gestalt and bodydrama.

The method opens up new perspectives in a person’s life and enables them to increase their sense of well-being, their capacity to feel, their ability to consciously express themselves in all their relationships. It helps a person to change in every part of themselves, supporting them to become more aware in their body, thereby empowering them to change their "bodymind" – that is - their body, emotions and attitudes, thus furthering their personal development.

Practitioners of Postural Integration are trained to work in a respectful and interactive manner with their clients. They bring into the relationship with their client their professional knowledge and experience and the ability to appropriately share their personal feelings and attitudes.

Postural Integration (PI) was originally developed in the 1960s by Jack Painter, Ph.D., (°1933) (The International Centre for Release and Integration (ICRI), California) a former Professor at the University of Miami after many years of self-exploration in the fields of humanistic psychology, deep massage, acupressure and the Five Elements system, Gestalt therapy, but especially with Reichian therapy in combination with the work and theories of Ida Rolf.

Postural Integration is taught and practised in Europe, USA, Canada, Mexico, South Africa and Australia. Trainers of Postural Integration are organized within The International Council of PsychoCorporal (Bodymind) Integration Trainers (ICPIT), which is devoted to guiding and supporting those who train practitioners to use professional skills and personal power with integrity.

In the 1990s Psychotherapeutic Postural Integration (PPI) developed out of Postural Integration.

External links

• Official Homepage of the International Council of PsychoCorporal Integration Trainers (ICPIT)
• Official Homepage of the International Centre for Release and Integration (ICRI)

Reading References

• Rosenberg, Jack Lee: Body, Self and Soul: Sustaining Integration, Humanics (1985), (1989)
• Rossi, Ernest Laurence: The Psychobiology of Mind-Body Healing: New Concepts of Therapeutic Hypnosis, W. W. Norton (1993)
• Heckler, Richard Strozzi: The Anatomy of Change; East/West Approaches to Body Mind Therapy, Shambala (1984), (1993)
• Levine, Peter A.: Waking the Tiger – Healing Trauma, North Atlantic Books (1997)
• Pert, Candace B.: Molecules of Emotions, Simon & Schuster (1998)
• Johnson, Don & Grand, Ian J.: The Body in Psychotherapy, North Atlantic Books (1998)
• Juhan, Deane: Job’s Body A Handbook for Bodywork, updated (1987), (1998)
• Damasio, Antonio R.: The Feeling of What Happens, Vintage (2000)
• Rosenberg Marshal B.: Nonviolent Communication – A Language of Life, Puddle Dancer Press (2003)
• Goleman, Daniel: Destructive Emotions, Dialog with the Dalai Lama, Bantam Books (2004)
• Hartley, Linda: Somatic Psychology: Body, Mind and Meaning, Whurr (2004)
• Field, Marlena.: Body-Centered Coaching, Body Mind Spirit (2005)