Viewing The Body As A Tensegrity Model

I taught a?massage continuing education class recently, and in my explanation of how Rolfing and Structural Integration worked, I hearkened back to my education in the late 80's at the Rolf Institute. We were taught the concept of Buckminster Fuller's tensegrity model to explain our vision of Dr. Rolf's approach to massage therapy. R Buckminster fuller was an architect who developed the concept of the geodesic dome. As has been discussed before in an earlier post, a tensegrity system is characterized by a continuous tensional network, (tendons, in our case as bodyworkers) supported by a discontinuous set of compressive elements, or struts. The concept of tensegrity provides a conceptual like link between the structural system and the energy information systems. When we apply the concepts of tensegrity to the myofascial system which we palpate in a focused manner we deem appropriate to the client's needs, we gain a sense of the ability of our bodies to absorb physical impacts without being damaged. The force flows away from the original site of impact thought the tensegrity network. If the system of absorption is flexible and well balanced it will be able to absorb the various impacts more readily then an inflexible system. We can then hypothesize how our work may help to reduce injuries in athletes and other top notch performers.

So, grasp this for a moment, if there is disorganization in the fascial system, tensegrity explains how that shortness effects other parts of the "model". If you as a massage therapist learns to deal with the inflexibility in one part of the structure, those positive changes will effect other parts of the structure. In Tom Bowen's work "The Bowen Technique", the massage therapist "plucks" the tendon creating a vibration throughout the system which is interpreted by the homeostatic mechanism and adjusts the entire tensegrity system accordingly. That is due to the tensegrity system's vibratory continuum. We can then hypothesize that you can't effect the mechanical aspect of the system without effecting the energetic system. In cranial sacral therapy you have the ability to effect the entire structure by the simple fact that we are a liquid crystalline matrix where all parts are vibrating! Donal Ingber speaks volumes about how biochemistry is effected by physical forces. So you can extrapolate, how we as massage therapists have the ability to effect the biochemistry of an individual.?I loved the look on the student's face when she came to the realization of how potentially powerful her touch could be on another human's body!