Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals
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Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals:
Advancing professionalism through practice support,
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Meetings of the Minds

Boston was buzzing with bodyworkers this past autumn. Professionals fascinated with the function of fascia gathered for the First International Fascia Research Congress October 4-5, 2007, at the Harvard Medical School conference center. A portion of those attendees then stayed on for the International Association of Structural Integrators (IASI) conference.

The fascia conference was a combined project first funded by the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration and IASI. Additional support from organizations such as Elsevier, the Massage Therapy Foundation, National Center for Alternative and Complementary Medicine, and the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration.

SI creator Ida Rolf.
More than seven hundred individuals from twenty-eight countries representing sixty disciplines gathered to share their research and experiences with fascia. The topic brought medical doctors, massage therapists, cell biologists, structural integrators, and psychiatrists together (to name a few specialties) and sparked a great deal of conversation about ways clinicians and scientists can share information and partner on future research. Vrije Universiteit (Free University) in Amsterdam committed to sponsoring the next two conferences in 2009 and 2011.

Individuals can still access the information from the 2007 gathering in a number of ways. The conference proceedings book and a DVD recording are available for purchase at www.fascia2007.com or e-mail info@fascia2007.com.

During a Friday noon session, Valerie Berg of the Rolf Institute unveiled the Ida P. Rolf Research Foundation for research in the area of Structural Integration. Rolf's sons, Alan and Richard Demmerle, were on hand to host a presentation about her life and legacy. The foundation is a nonprofit corporation formed by The Rolf Institute of Structural Integration in Colorado. Thomas W. Findley, MD, PhD, is the foundation's executive director. For more information contact him at rolfing.research@gmail.com.
Rolf's legacy continues to thrive.


An estimated 350 bodyworkers attended the IASI conference the Hyatt Regency Cambridge from October 5-7. Keynote speakers included Judith Aston, Jane Harrington, Joseph Heller, and Emilie Conrad.

IASI was also pleased to host the first certification exam for Structural Integrators on October 7. The exam is designed to help SI practitioners define their work and underscore the safe and effective practice of SI. For more information about future administrations of the exam, visit www.siexam.org.








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