WHAT MAKES KMI DIFFERENT?

KMI is a form of Structural Integration (SI). The other brands of SI - Rolfing®, GSI, Hellerwork, Soma, Core, etc - are all good schools with talented practitioners - so this document is not meant as a put down to anyone or any school. But each school / brand has a distinctive “flavor”, so the purpose of the next few paragraphs is to give a sense of the distinctive elements of KMI.

• KMI is system-oriented, not symptom oriented

• KMI work is applied gently and sensitively, with full client participation

• The KMI series unfolds around a logical and coherent map of the myofasciae— the Anatomy Trains Myofascial Meridians

• KMI practitioners welcome and value other inputs

• KMI seeks client autonomy

1) ALTHOUGH MANY PEOPLE COME TO KMI AND STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION BECAUSE OF SOME KIND OF PAIN OR RESTRICTION, THE INTENT OF THIS WORK - ESPECIALLY WHEN UNDERTAKEN AS A SERIES OF SESSIONS, IS TO GET TO THE CONDITION BEHIND THE IMMEDIATE PROBLEM.

Many shoulder injuries, for instance, are caused by the lack of support from the rib cage. What's the point of fixing the immediate problem if you don't at the same time moderate the cause? The KMI series is designed to progressively build support, sturdi- ness, and balance throughout the structural system, so that there is a whole new ‘frame’ underlying your posture and movement, which can keep old injuries from coming back and help to prevent new ones from happening.

Ida Rolf used to joke: “If your symptoms get better, that's your tough luck”. A KMI prac- titioner may or may not address right away the area where you are having pain or re- strictions - the roots often lie at some distance from the presenting problem. It may take several sessions or most of the series to get to the specifics of the problem, since we have to build up the supporting structure first.

In this way, KMI more resembles classical acupuncture or homeopathy or osteopathy - where the symptoms were secondary and building the ‘constitution’ is primary.

2) KMI WORK IS NOT IMPOSED ON THE CLIENT. THE WORK SHOULD BE ON THIS SIDE OF THE PAIN THRESHOLD, AND THE CLIENT AND PRACTITIONER WORK OUT WHERE THE PRESSURE AND INTENSITY LEVEL SHOULD BE FOR MAXIMUM BENEFIT. NO GOOD WILL COME OF ‘GRINNING AND BEARING IT’ THROUGH AN ENTIRE SERIES. OCCASIONALLY, IT IS BENEFICIAL TO ‘EXPOSE’ PAIN STORED IN THE BODY, BUT ‘IMPOSING PAIN’ IS NOT A PART OF KMI WORK.

Secondly, the client moves during the application of the manual therapy. If you are lying passively on the table for most of the session, you are not getting the best work you can get. KMI follows Ida Rolf's pithy dictum: “Put it where it belongs and call for movement.” Your movement produces several benefits: it lessens the sensation by spreading it out, it engages your proprioception (inner sensing) that helps integrate the work, and it also helps the practitioner stay on the right layer of fascia during the release.

Thirdly, your KMI practitioner wants to hear about how the process is affecting you - physically, emotionally, in your exercise or other performance activities. Letting your practitioner know what's up is very helpful in getting the best work for you.

3) THE KMI SESSION SERIES IS BUILT AROUND A LOGICAL, COHERENT APPROACH TO THE MYOFASCIAL SYSTEM. THE ANATOMY TRAINS MYOFASCIAL MERIDIANS PROVIDE A WAY TO DEFINE THE TERRITORY OF EACH SESSION, ALLOWING THE PRACTITIONER TO BE BOTH CONFIDENT THAT THEY ARE GETTING THE PROPER TERRITORY, BUT ALSO CREATIVE WITHIN EACH SESSION TO ENSURE THAT EACH INDIVIDUAL CLIENT IS GETTING THE EXACT WORK THAT HIS OR HER UNIQUE PATTERN REQUIRES. THERE'S MORE IN- FORMATION THAN YOU WOULD EVER WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE ANATOMY TRAINS ON THE REST OF THIS SITE.

4) THE KMI SCHOOL, AND KMI PRACTITIONERS, WELCOME OTHER THERAPEUTIC INPUTS TO YOUR PROCESS. KMI IS COMPATIBLE WITH OSTEOPATHY, CHIROPRACTIC, CRANIAL WORK, AND MOST FORMS OF MASSAGE, YOGA, AND EXERCISE.

We recognize that no way is the ‘one true way’ in manual and movement therapy, and we are always learning from other disciplines. Sometimes we absorb what we learn into our work, sometimes what we learn tells us when to refer to the other competent pro- fessionals within the wide spectrum of healing available.

5) THE KMI SERIES IS A PROJECT, WITH A BEGINNING, A MIDDLE, AND AN END. THE IDEA IS TO CREATE THE CONDITIONS WHERE THE CLIENT IS INDEPENDENT AND STABLE ON THEIR OWN, NOT TO CREATE A LONG-TERM DEPENDENCY ON THE THERAPIST OR CONTINUED WORK. OF COURSE PEOPLE COME BACK FOR MORE WORK, BUT NOT ON A CONTINUOUS BASIS. THIS WORK DOES ITS BEST IN SHORT, INTENSE PERIODS OF WORK, FOLLOWED BY LONGER PERIODS OF ABSORPTION. WE WANT YOU, WITHIN A REASONABLE PERIOD OF TIME, NOT TO NEED US ANY MORE.

Kinesis, Inc.
318 Clarks Cove Road Walpole, Maine 045673

www.AnatomyTrains.com
888 546-3747 • 207 563-7121 • info@anatomytrains.com

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM KMI SESSIONS

KMI is a wonderful ‘tonic’ for your posture and movement, but it is no panacea. Do not undertake KMI without medical permission if indicated, or if suffering from a ‘hot’ (inflammatory) disease. KMI can be remarkably effective for chronic pain patterns of a structural nature, but is not designed as a ‘curative’ for any disease, or as a ‘first aid’ remedy for recent injury. Check with your practitioner if you are unsure whether KMI is contraindicated.

You can certainly ‘try out’ a session of KMI to see if it suits you, but the best, most permanent and progressive results are obtained by undertaking the whole series. You can do the 12-session series within a season, and spread it out over three. Spacing the sessions too close together does not give your body time to absorb the information, whereas drawing the process out too long means you risk losing the momentum essential to the process.

Different KMI practitioners have different styles, so be sure your practitioner ‘fits’ with you, and feel free to bring any issues you have with the work up to your practitioner.

Typically, the KMI process will begin with a fairly extensive interview about your history and current habits. Most KMI sessions are done in underwear or a bathing suit, without draping. Your practitioner will usually want to observe you standing and walking before the sessions start, in order to assess your current structural patterns. Your practitioner may take photos in order to give you a visual sense of the ‘before’ and ‘after’, since there can be some fairly dramatic changes in your shape.

(AND SOMETIMES THERE WILL NOT BE DRAMATIC VISUAL CHANGES – JUDGE YOUR KMI EXPERIENCE BY HOW YOU FEEL RATHER THAN HOW IT LOOKS.)

KMI work is done on a massage table, or for certain moves on a stool or bench. The practitioner will use his fingers, hands, or arm to contact certain tissues, and then ask you to move in specific ways while he or she opens and repositions those tissues. The process of opening these tissues can involve some burning, like a yoga stretch or exercising some long unused muscles. The pain, if the sensation gets that far, should be short and bearable. Please converse with your practitioner to find the right level of depth for you that allows the maximum value for each session consistent with your comfort. The idea is to achieve a balanced body that is pain-free. You may have to feel some of the stored pain as it leaves your body, especially in traumatized areas.

Traumatized tissue can also contain emotional pain. Although we are not trained psychologists, your KMI practitioner has been trained to sensitively work with you around these issues as they relate to your body structure. Feel free to work with your practitioner again to find the right level of work for you.

Each KMI session deals with a different fascial plane or set of relationships in the body, progressively working around the body, and from superficial to deep and back again. Your practitioner may not work where you are reporting the symptoms, as the patterns that feed that problem are body-wide. A whiplash, for instance, is a problem of the neck for some days, a problem of the whole spine within a few weeks, and is linked to a whole body pattern within a few months.

It is not unusual to have odd feelings – physical or emotional – between sessions. Please contact your practitioner if they are cause for concern. Often, old long-forgotten pains will resurface for a time – this is a positive sign that the process of unwinding is well underway. Your practitioner has a short pamphlet, “Getting the Most From Your KMI Sessions”, which can be helpful.

View your KMI series as a project, with a beginning, middle, and an end; not an on- going and endless therapy. The initial 4 sessions deal with the superficial layers, the middle 4 sessions with deeper structures, and the last sessions of the KMI process integrate the two layers and bring it into everyday movement. Results will continue to accrue after you have finished your final session.

Clients often return once a twice a year for a ‘tune up’ session, to ease the effects of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Others simply go on to some other maintenance routine such as yoga, Tai Chi, Feldenkrais, a workout routine – whatever is appropriate to them. Still others return periodically for a shorter series of sessions, advanced work designed to take the process deeper into your body and your experience.