If you’ve read the other posts in this series, you now know the major fascial lines that run through your body. The Superficial Back Line running from toes to brow. The Superficial Front Line curling you forward. The Lateral Line balancing you side to side. The Spiral Line controlling rotation. The Arm Lines connecting fingertips to torso. The Deep Front Line providing core support. And the Functional Lines powering cross-body movement.
Now here’s the question that ties it all together: if these lines are all interconnected, how do you address them systematically? Where do you start? What order do you go in? And why does the order matter?
The answer is the 12-session structural integration series. And the logic behind it maps directly onto the Anatomy Trains framework.
Why order matters
You can’t just pick a line and start working on it. Or rather, you can, but the results won’t last.
Here’s an analogy. If you want to renovate a house, you don’t start by installing new kitchen cabinets. You start with the foundation. Then the framing. Then the electrical and plumbing. Then the drywall. Then the finishing work. If you install cabinets on a crooked foundation, the cabinets will be crooked. And eventually you’ll have to rip them out and start over.
The body works the same way. The superficial fascial layers are the outer structure. The deep layers are the foundation. The integration layers are the finishing work. If you try to address the deep layers before the superficial layers are free, the superficial layers resist the change. If you integrate before doing the deep work, there’s nothing to integrate.
This is not me being precious about protocol. It’s physics. Fascia is a three-dimensional web, and the outer layers literally sit on top of the inner layers. You have to create space in the outer layers before you can effectively access and change the inner ones.
The three phases
The 12 sessions divide into three phases of four sessions each.
Sessions 1-4: Superficial. Opening the outer fascial layers. Creating space, length, and mobility in the body’s wrapping.
Sessions 5-8: Deep. Accessing and reorganizing the deeper fascial structures, particularly the Deep Front Line. This is where the most transformative changes occur.
Sessions 9-12: Integration. Teaching the body to use its new structural organization in coordinated, functional movement. Making sure everything works together.
Let me walk through each phase in detail.
Phase One: Opening the Sleeve (Sessions 1-4)
Session 1: The Superficial Front Line
We start with the front of the body. Session 1 addresses the Superficial Front Line, the fascial pathway that runs from your toes up through the shins, quads, abdomen, chest, and neck.
Why start here? Because most people walk in the door with a front body that’s been shortened by years of sitting, driving, and screen time. Opening the front gives the rib cage room to expand and the breath room to deepen. When clients can breathe more fully, the nervous system settles and subsequent sessions are more effective.
Most clients leave session 1 feeling like they can breathe more easily. Some feel taller. It’s groundwork, not a dramatic overhaul, but it sets the tone for everything that follows.
Session 2: The Superficial Back Line
Session 2 takes on the Superficial Back Line, the continuous fascial pathway from the bottom of the feet up through the calves, hamstrings, back, and over the skull.
With the front of the body opened in session 1, we now balance it by addressing the back. This is where hamstring tightness, low back tension, and forward head posture start to shift. Clients who’ve been stretching their hamstrings for years without progress often notice a real change here, because we’re addressing the whole line rather than just one spot.
Session 3: The Lateral Line
Session 3 opens the sides of the body along the Lateral Line, from foot to ear. This creates what I think of as the side seam, allowing the front and back fascial containers to move independently.
After session 3, clients often look noticeably more level. Hip hiking, lateral tilting, and one-sided rib compression start to resolve. The visual change can be striking.
Session 4: The Spiral Line
Session 4 addresses the Spiral Line, the double helix that wraps around the body and manages rotation. This session begins to work with the rotational patterns that everybody carries, one shoulder forward, one hip rotated, the subtle twist most people don’t even know they have.
By the end of session 4, the superficial fascial container has been opened from front to back, side to side, and through rotation. The body has more space, more mobility, and more breath. The stage is set for deeper work.
Phase Two: Accessing the Core (Sessions 5-8)
With the outer layers opened, we can now reach the deeper fascial structures. This is where the Deep Front Line gets primary attention, and it’s where many clients feel the most significant shifts.
Session 5: Deep Front (Lower)
Session 5 opens the lower portion of the Deep Front Line. We work the inseam of the leg, from the arch of the foot up through the deep posterior compartment and the adductors to their attachments on the pelvis. This is tissue almost nobody has ever had worked with real precision. It is also the road that every deeper session to come has to travel.
Session 6: Breath, Psoas, and Diaphragm
Session 6 addresses the relationship between the psoas and the diaphragm. Both muscles attach to the lumbar spine. They share fascial real estate and they restrict each other when they are not working well. This session releases them together so breath can drop through the torso and the low back can decompress. Clients often describe session 6 as the hinge of the series.
Session 7: Deep Back
Session 7 balances the deep front work by addressing the deep back line: the small muscles that run vertebra to vertebra, the deep layers of the erectors, and the tissue around the sacrum. When the deep back wakes up, the outer back muscles stop bracing and the spine finds its own length.
Session 8: Head, Neck, Face, and Jaw
By session 8, the trunk is organized well enough to support real change in the head and neck. This is where the deep structures of the neck, jaw, and skull get addressed. Clients dealing with neck pain, headaches, or TMJ issues often notice a significant shift here. This is also the session that most visibly changes the face: jaw softens, forehead relaxes, eyes open wider.
By the end of session 8, the body has been reorganized at both the superficial and deep levels. The sleeve is open. The core is freed. Now the question becomes: can this new organization hold?
That’s what phase three is for.
Phase Three: Integration (Sessions 9-12)
The structural work is done. Now the body needs to learn how to use what’s changed. Sessions 9 through 12 are about integration and movement education.
Sessions 9 and 10: Lower and Upper Body Integration
Session 9 focuses on the lower body, session 10 on the upper. The goal in both is making sure the changes from the first eight sessions work together rather than in isolation. This is where the Functional Lines get direct attention, the cross-body connections that power walking, reaching, and rotation.
Movement education becomes more prominent here. We’re not just working tissue. We’re teaching the nervous system to use the body’s new structural capacity.
Session 11: Full Body Movement
Session 11 is a full-body session focused on how all the lines coordinate during movement. Walking, bending, reaching, twisting. The body has been reorganized. Now it needs to learn to move in that new structure, because old movement habits persist even after the tissue has changed.
Session 12: Completion
The final session ties everything together. It addresses any remaining areas that need attention and completes the integration process. The 12-series has a beginning, middle, and end. The ending matters.
Why you can’t skip ahead
I sometimes get asked: “Can we just do the psoas session? That’s what I really need.”
I understand the impulse. But no. Here’s why.
If I work your psoas in isolation, without first opening the superficial fascial layers that sit on top of it, the work will be less effective and less lasting. The superficial layers will pull the psoas back into its restricted state because they haven’t been opened to accommodate the change.
It’s like trying to straighten a bent nail while it’s still embedded in a board. You need to remove the board first (or at least loosen it) before the nail can change shape.
The progressive nature of the series isn’t arbitrary. It reflects the actual layered architecture of the body’s fascial system. Each session creates the conditions for the next one to work. Skip a step, and the results are compromised.
After the 12 series
The 12 sessions are not the end. They’re a reorganization. After the series, the body is in a fundamentally different structural state, and maintaining that state requires attention.
Some clients come back for periodic “tune-up” sessions, maybe once a month or once a quarter. Some integrate what they’ve learned through the movement education component and maintain on their own. Some come back for a second 12-series after a year or two, and the work goes deeper because the first series created the conditions for it.
There’s no one right answer. It depends on the individual, their activities, their goals, and how their body responds to the work.
The map and the territory
I want to be clear about something. The 12-session structure I’ve described is a framework, not a rigid protocol. Every client is different. Some need more time on session 3 topics and less on session 6. Some have arm line issues that need attention earlier than session 7. The Anatomy Trains framework gives me a map, but the territory of each person’s body is unique.
The value of the map is that it prevents random treatment. Instead of just working on whatever hurts today, the series addresses the body systematically, in an order that respects the fascial architecture. This is what makes the results more lasting and more comprehensive than piecemeal bodywork.
If you’ve read through this series and you’re curious about how your body would respond to this kind of systematic work, I’m always happy to talk about what the process would look like for you. You can learn more about the series on my 12-series page, read about my approach, or simply book a session to get started.
Next up in this series, I’ll take a deep dive into specific patterns, starting with why your plantar fasciitis might actually be a hip problem.