Dear AGSI Family,
Welcome back for the July newsletter where the goal is to catch you up on everything regarding the American Guild for Structural Integration and the people involved. Here in Boise, summer has kicked in and it is getting hot. I love my air conditioned office, really. To continue with last months theme of telling you about my wildlife viewings I saw something really cool this morning while out riding my bike. Across the bike path there was a dirt trail leading to a pond that caught my attention. When I looked further, it was an obviously well worn path leading from a grove of willows, across the bike path, through the cattails and into the pond. It is the work of a beaver literally harvesting willow branches and storing them in the mud under the water for winter. The beaver cuts the branches with it’s teeth, drags them to the pond and then sticks them in the mud under the water so when the ice freezes they can exit their hutch through the under water opening swim down and retrieve their food stores from their pantry . By having an underwater entry into the hutch and underwater food stores the beaver is safe from preditors and set up for winter. I value my time outside and spend a lot of it observing patterns and details. It’s not very different then the time I spend in my office where I try to observe, my friend David Davis used the term See/Feel a long time ago, with an open mind, lots of skill, lots of expertise and without an agenda. As practitioners I believe that is one of our most unique and greatest strengths, the ability to See/Feel our clients in a way that other professionals don’t.
As far as classes and events going on now we have plenty to talk about. We are in week 4 of a Basic Training in Boulder, CO where we have 10 students, 7 Auditors and 3 Practitioners. These Practitioners will be our very first AGSI graduates! The students are all very excited about what they are learning from Nilce Silviera and Bradon Planty. Nilce is a legacy instructor having spent many, many trainings working with Emmet Hutchins and Peter Melchior. Bradon is leading the way for our next generation of AGSI Instructors as our firsty assistant. He also trained with Emmet Hutchins on the island of Kuai. The Practitioners are halfway through the 10 series in there exchanges with each other and their outside models. Each student will work with 2 models and a fellow Practitioner for hands on experience during the Basic Training. The Auditors will watch and observe (audit) 8 different 10 Series, two buy the Instructors doing demos and then the Practioning students working with their outside models. The Auditors are also practicing and developing their Informed Touch skills, learning Integrative Anatomy and learning the theory and philosophy of SI.
In Sterling, CT, AGSI hosted Denise Foster-Scott to do a workshop on “Reclaiming the Pelvic Floor” at AGSI Instructor Rob Martin’s studio. Rob’s studio is very unique in that it is in his 300 year old home in the rural Connecticut forest creating a very cozy and intimate environment for this class. We had students come from all over the US and Canada to have Denise help them unravel the mysteries of working with both men and women’s pelvices. Denise created a very professional and safe learning environment for the students to explore new terrain and challenge themselves to grow their knowledge and hands-on skills. The 4th hour can be intimidating to practitioners and the terrain can be very foreign to clients receiving work on their inside line. The goal of this class was to help the participants grow their confidence in their knowledge of anatomy and their ability to work in a supportive and inviting way with their clients. Knowledge, confidence and professionalism are key to creating a safe atmoshpere in our offices for our clients.
Denise has the whole room engaged!
These trees are as old as the house!
The last new, big news is that we are really close to becoming an approved NCBTMB Continuing Education Credit Unit (CEU) provider. This is a big and important step because it will allow our students the ability to meet their states Continuing Education requirements in order to maintain their licenses. Our future workshops beginning this August will mostly qualify for NCBTMB CEU’s. This will not be 100% because not all of our instructors will meet the requirements but it will be close. We will very clearly announce which classes, trainings and workshops do qualify for CEU’s. We are very proud of our progress in establishing the AGSI program. We keep clearing these hurdles one at a time. It has taken a lot of hard work and leaning on our community to succeed. It is one thing to have a vision and an entirely different one to do the actions required to carry the vision into fruitfull action.
We have been offering memberships to the American Guild for Structural Integration for a year now. We have done this as a way to help grow our community, help you market your practice with our practitioner search page and to give our community a way to support us financially. Our goal is to continue to offer value for your contributions and to really grow that value. Over the last year we have video recorded our workshops. This has been a real challenge and our learning curve has been steep. The video project has not been a huge success but we do have some great footage of some of our workshop lectures and demos. We made a ton of mistakes that include bad camera angles and having the wrong plug for the microphone so we don’t have sound. The plan for the future is to continue to record workshops and other content with our new skills and then place them in a library on our website for our members. We will have some posted soon. I’ll ask now, what would you like to see in the future? Ideas that we are working with are:
- a collection of videos of the Basic 10 series with senior practitioners
- a collection of videos about how to develop and run a successful practice
- a continuation of the series we have already started and call “Lobby Talks with Ritchie Mintz”
We have been posting our video content on our YouTube channel, AmeriGuild Training Program, over the past year. We have some great interviews with senior practitioners
‼️ ALERT ‼️
We will be back in Boulder, CO again later this summer offering “The Magic Moment” workshop starting on August 9. Ritchie Mintz taught this class last summer in Austin, TX and it was amazing so we are doing it again. This is the workshops that will change your practice in 100 different ways. Ritchie talks about anatomy, touch and the line.
At the bottom of this newsletter you will find the link to our website and some great YouTube videos of Ritchie talking about Structural Integration. There are still openings so contact Erin Foster at 281-536-6468 or elfoster4@hotmail.com .
‼️ ALERT ‼️
Basic Training September 16 – November 7 Taught by David Davis and Leesa Gray
We will be back in Tucson, AZ for our fall Basic Training class. Tucson is a great small city and has amazing weather in the fall. We are grateful to David for bringing his vast experience to AGSI. He is the education advisor to our administration team and is the chief instructor. Leesa Gray lives and works in Augusta, GA where she has a thriving pracitce. We are lucky to have Leesa on our faculty team as she brings with her over 20 years of experience operating her private practice and a passion for sharing Structural Integration with students and new practitioners.
If you are talking to your clients about training to become a Structural Integrator please have them contact AGSI. Structural Integration is unique in that almost all new practitioners come into training through their 10 series practitioner. It is the power of our work that attracts new people, everyone comes with their own exciting story. We recognize and appreciate the trust that you place in us when you refer people and we are committed to offering everyone the best experience possible.
What’s on the calendar?
We have exciting schedule of upcoming trainings and workshops. Check them out on our website and tell all of your friends.
⭐️ AMAZING OPPORTUNITY ⭐️
Advanced Training October 7 -24 taught by Ritchie Mintz
We are offering an Advanced Training this October in Dallas, TX taught by Ritchie. We are teaching the original 5 series developed by Dr. Rolf, Emmet Hutchins, Peter Melchior, Jan Sultan and Michael Salveson in a 3 week format. The training not only teaches you the Advanced series but will expand your vision of Structural Integration. It will bring a new level of confidence, sensitivity and awareness to your practice.
Workshops
The Magic Moment August 9 – August 11 Taught by Ritchie Mintz ⭐️ Don’t Miss This One‼️ ⭐️
We are bringing this one back by popular demand! Last summer AGSI had Ritchie teach this workshop in Austin, TX and it was amazing, a real game changer. Ritchie is a very clear and concise educator making his work accessible to everyone. He has been in private practice for 45 years, written 2 books on Structural Integration and founded the Texas School for Structural Integration.
Check out this short video of Ritchie talking about the Magic Moment:
and a long one of Ritchie. Because you asked
Evolutionary Transformation Through the Line December 5 – 8
Taught by David Davis and Will Johnson
Also back by popular demand! We did this workshop in Costa Rica last December and the practitioners that participated can’t stop talking about it. This December we are moving it to the White Eagle Lodge Retreat Center in Montgomery, TX which is just 45 minutes north of the Houston airport. Will leads the morning discussions and meditation and then David takes over in the afternoon leading the hands on Structural Integration work of the class. David and Will both trained in the 70’s and have been developing the model for this workshop for over 20 years. Will is the author of 13 books on meditation and has been leading retreats for decades. David brings 34 years of teaching experience to this class. Between these two master instructors they have been practicing Structural Integration for 97 years.
Here is a video we made last year of David and Will:
A little something extra:
Here is a short description beyond our website for each of our upcoming workshops and trainings. Not all of these events are on our current calendar. Our plan is to offer a variety of workshops each year. We are also in the process of developing a workshop that includes both movement and the Post 10 3 Series. This project is still unfolding but we will let you know as soon as we do
The Magic Moment:
This workshop is an incredible weekend deep dive into a very practical and brilliant view of anatomy and a way of working and touching that will level up anyone’s practice that attends the workshop. Ritchie Mintz is an incredible teacher and really has a knack for making our work accessible and relatable. We have done a number of YouTube videos and interviews about this workshop that are on our channel. Getting to know Ritchie over the last 18 months has given me the opportunity to really understand his view and goals as he practices. His work is very easy to receive and transformational in the change it offers to the client. This is a way to work that is easy on our clients and maybe more important, easy on ourselves. Like I have said, don’t miss this one!
Re-Practitioning Basic Training:
A number of practitioners have reached out to us about retaking the last phase of our Basic Training, Practitioning. This is the part of the training where students exchange the Basic 10 Series with another student and then work with 2 outside models as well. The class also observes two 10 Series done by the teachers on models. This is a really great way to get grounded and confident in the 10 Series if you are a newer practitioner. Our Senior Instructors have been in practice for decades and are very traditional in their work. They all studied with the first teachers that Dr. Rolf identified, Peter Melchior and Emmet Hutchins. Confidence is a big part of having a successful private practice and really getting a strong foundation is the 10 Series is a great way to build that confidence needed to both market your business but more importantly develop the conviction to interact with your clients in a really productive manner. A big part of SI is seeing and intention, developing and deepening our skills really shows up in our touch and the changes that we can invite in our client’s structures.
Evolutionary Transformation Through the Line:
The feedback we have gotten from Practitioners that attended this workshop in Costa Rica last year range from “that was entirely life changing” to “every practitioner should be required to take this workshop”. David and Will trained together in the 70’s and have been “planning” this workshop for 20 years. This is their pet project that represents what they believe is the potential of Dr. Rolf’s vision of Human Potential and the Line. Will was a class ahead of David, he audited in Dr. Rolf’s last class and David audited in the first class after she retired from teaching. Both got to spend time around her and get a taste of her vision of her life’s work. As practitioners they have both remained very true to the Series and the power of the Line. Will has written 13 books on meditation and David has been teaching SI since 1990. This is information that is all over our website and marketing for this workshop but it is important to bring it up again because it speaks of the depth of this opportunity. David told me years ago that you can never help someone get to a place that you have been to personally. If we hope that our clients have a deep experience with our work then we need to have a deep experience with this work. The more we let it evolve and transform us the more it will transform and evolve our clients when they work with us.
Advanced Training:
We have developed a 3 week model to teach the traditional 5 Series in our AGSI Advanced Training. The 5 Series was developed by the original teachers Peter Melchior, Emmet Hutchins, Michael Salveson and Jan Sultan with the goal of inviting change at a deeper level after clients have received the Basic Series and Post 10 work. The 5 Series introduces three new positions, Z, C and L which allow the structure to be challenged in new ways. The series does a lot of work in the vertical which allows for creativity in approach, touch and interaction with the client because there is the potential to call for a lot of movement. The changes the series invites are next level, that’s why its the Advanced Training . Haha!!! It is easy to think, “I don’t need the AT. My practice is full” or “I can’t afford 3 weeks away, do you know how much that will cost me and how far I will get behid?” This training will redefine your work, you will want to do a do-over with every client you have ever seen because you will SEE differently and TOUCH differently. Your vision of the Line and our goals will have a dramatic shift because you will see and touch deeper. There is always another level that we can find, whether we level up our practice or understand deeper layers of fascia and this training is a Gateway to this growth.
Post 10 3 Series: Working with Chronic Pain:
This workshop is coming next year. All of us see clients that come to us for relief from chronic pain. I often tell people that the pain that brings them to our office is predictable based on their structure. It is never a suprise that someone has hip pain or knee pain, we can see it as we assess their structure. Neck pain or shoulder pain is the same thing. Even with traumatic events like ACL repair knee surgeries and joint replacement surgeries have been giving strong clues in the clients structure for years prior to the event. This workshop will look at the point of pain as just a symptom and use the Post 10 3 Series model as a powerful tool to address structural patterns that systemically cause the problems. Dr. Rolf famously said “the pain is not where the problem is”. We will focus on looking at the whole story of the patterns and how to invite change to these patterns to bring the clients closer to their line. As the compensatory patterns unwind and the structure becomes more upright, chronic pain resolves itselt. “Let gravity be the therapist”. Dr. Rolf
This workshop will focus on the deepest principles of Structural Integration, the Line, Informed Touch, and Integration. It is easy to get seduced into chasing symptoms when someone is in pain but our greatest tool as practitioners is our vision of the big picture and our tools based on our principles that allow us to fasciltate change.
Post 10 3 Series: 4 Handed Workshop
Working 4-handed means joining with another practitioner while working on the same client. This is a potent way to work but for our purpose here it is a potent way to learn to touch and to work deeper and more efficiently with our clients. In this class practitioners will partner in groups of three and experience the art of getting to connect with the client and the two practitioners at the same time within the fascial matrix. This is a great way to get a sense of what it feels like to really touch into someone’s system and facilitate the next level of fascial opening. You will really discover what it feels like to work “IN” someones body and the model receiving the 4-handed work will feel a connection to the practitioners and the invitation to participate in the session in a way that may not have been experienced before. Working 4-handed is important in this learning process because you get direct feedback from the partnership between the working triad. You are either connected as a triad or you are not, it is a discovery process that encourages being present and some trial and error. The skills learned it this workshop will be directly applicable to your practice at home because 4-handed touch will teach you how to find deep connection between your own 2 hands every day when you work with your clients.
Post 10 3 Series: Working with Scoliosis
A long time ago I asked a few clients for reviews because I was writing a brochure for marketing. I still remember what Linda said “Structural Integration is God’s gift to people with Scoliosis.” At the time I had taken a couple of scoliosis workshops felt a level of confidnece in my ability to see the patterns but I didn’t understand the impact our work had on people with scoliosis until Linda gave me her review. Scoliosis is a whole body pattern that is seen in the arches as well as the structure of the cranium and everywhere in between. Structural Integration is uniquely matched to work with these head to toe and everything in-between patterns, it is what we do all day long. In this workshop practitioners will learn how to see patterns deeper in a way that offers them good starting points to begin the unraveling process. No two people are the same but there are many commonalities in the structural patterns of people with scoliosis. This workshop takes away the mystery and confusion we, as practitioners, may face when someone with scoliosis walks into our office. The best part of learning to work with scoliosis is that it is an extreme version of EVERY pattern we see in our office. In other words, this workshop will help you see the patterns more clearly in ALL of your clients and help you effectively make decisions and make a plan for ALL of your sessions. This is one of my favorite topics because Structural Integration is so effective at helping people with scoliosis and it applies to every client we see and every session that we do.
Thank you for making it to the END! We will update you on our festivities soon.