About Integral Anatomy

Go Beyond the Book

"Integral anatomy" looks beyond "regions" to explore and appreciate the whole body continuities and relationships of the textural layers of the human form. It goes "beyond the book," to explore the unique anatomy of specific individual forms rather than abstractions and averages. 

Context is key.

Integral anatomy looks to nature (rather than machines) as a mirror reflecting self, with a view to understanding the whole person.

Whether you are simply a curious human, a consciousness explorer, a health professional, a bodywork, fitness or movement practitioner, Integral Anatomy will take you far beyond the books and offer you a framework to celebrate and understand with awe and appreciation the continuities, connections, and relationships of our human form.

Meet Gil

I started my adult learning journey earning a BA in Religious studies at Duke University. I then continued at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, earning my MA in the study of Religion and my Ph.D. in Theological Ethics. During that time I also became a Certified Rolfer®,  and then spent five additional years studying psychodynamics and energy healing in NYC at the IM School of Healing Arts. I have been an avid student of personal and spiritual development my whole life. 

My combined interests and training has supported my personal exploration of the human form and led me to develop an integral approach to the study of human anatomy.  

Based on that integral approach, since 1995 I have led thousands of hours of Intensive Hands-On Human Dissection Workshops in the laboratory, and spent thousands of additional lab hours dissecting and filming for in-depth studies to share with fellow Explorers on this site. Through this work, as well as keynote presentations and online programs and video courses, I have encouraged a great many fellow "somanauts" to appreciate, explore, and embody their human form with deeper awareness and appreciation.

PS: I coined the word "somanaut" for a mid-nineties article for Rolf Lines: The Journal of the Rolf Institute, of which I was the editor at the time, to describe Emily Conrad (RIP Emily!), founder of Continuum movement work. Then I realized I was a somanaut too! Like the astronauts who explore outer space, the somanaut explores the inner space of the human form. ("Soma" for "body," and "-naut" for navigate. Somanauts sail the inner seas of the human form filled with awe and wonder for this great gift.)