Integral Therapies

Melinda Roland and The Institute of Integral Therapies are dedicated to facilitating healing at the deepest level. Dr Roland is known for facilitating profound personal and energetic transformation, as well as providing professional services in the evaluation and treatment of simple and complex adult and pediatric problems.

We specialize in a holistic and comprehensive evaluation and treatment approach. Therapies offered include: Focal Energetics®, advanced Craniosacral therapy and Somatoemotional Release, Orthopedic and manual therapy, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture, Anti-aging Therapies and Nutritional counseling.

In addition to in-office appointments, Dr Roland offers individual VIP intensive days, Online sessions, and small group workshops.  Whether seeking introspective work with Focal Energetics®,  treatment for post-concussion syndrome or other physical complaints, we recognize and respect the uniqueness of each person’s healing journey. 

Focal Energetics

Focal Energetics® (FE) is a proprietary, multi-dimensional approach to healing that resolves issues at their source, facilitating deep personal change.

When you participate in an FE experience, you'll be guided through phases of discovery, understanding and resolution.

The initial phase identifies the events and energetic interruptions that have enabled your current belief system. From there, we'll explore how they've impacted your life and work together to reframe them.

Using the body's wisdom to guide us, it's possible to understand and eliminate barriers, allowing you to move forward from a place of greater awareness and expansion.

While FE is built around a framework, each session is unique to the individual and profound transformation often occurs within a single session. In addition to individual explorations, I offer FE in small group workshops and retreats. Learning from other's experience is a powerful mechanism for one's own insight and growth, and is facilitated by group focus and support.

Craniosacral Therapy

Craniosacral Therapy (CST) is a gentle, non-invasive  manual therapy that detects and modifies restrictions in the craniosacral system as well as strain patterns throughout the body 

Shown clinically to have a profoundly positive effect upon brain and spinal cord function, CST has been used to treat myriad conditions.  Concussion, headache, lowback pain, neurodevelopmental issues, ADD, ADHD and other learning difficulties, are just a few of the complaints successfully treated with CST.

Direct and significant connections provide a mechanism by which trauma to boney structures lined with dura, as well as connective tissue strain originating anywhere and traveling throughout the body, can be communicated deep into the brain and nervous system.  This interconnectedness of connective tissue and structure forms a matrix through which strain patterns can be transmitted through the body and brain in all directions, affecting delicate structures responsible for vision, balance, pain, function.  

Treatment with CST utilizes a non-intrusive touch, light touch mobilization techniques that require a high degree of palpatory specificity and sensitivity.  As a result, CST effectively treats strain patterns in the connective tissue network body, brain and spinal cord, enhancing function and easng symptoms.   Guided by the patient’s body, the practitioner facilitates the biomechanical and energetic corrections necessary to improve function on all levels.  

The concept of intentioned touch, the awareness of possible memories and energy held in tissue,  and sensitivity to any needed expression, are important.   But when combined with the viewpoint that we are facilitators to a process that is really dictated by our client’s inner knowing, these important ideas set the stage for change using approaches such as Somato- emotional Release.

My mentor, Dr. John Upledger D.O.,O.M.M., developed Craniosacral Therapy after extensively researching and documenting the scientific basis, and has authored the definitive texts on the subject.  Much of his original research was with Autism, illustrating the positive therapeutic effects possible with this gentle but profound therapy.  Dr Upledger was a true pioneer in the  exploration of the bodymind through touch, the reality of “energy” within the body, and the interrelationships of the clients experiences and our thoughts and feelings.  His mentoring helped develop my confidence in my own abilities and encouraged me to expand my insights, facilitating my awareness of endless possibilities. 

For this, I am forever grateful.

For an in depth explanation of the anatomy and mechanism behind the effectiveness of  CST , please refer to my published research and articles:  Craniosacral Therapy and Visceral Manipulation: A New Treatment Inervention for Concussion Recovery;  Craniosacral Therapy to Address Post Concussion Syndrome.

The 3000 year old healing traditions of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) include Acupuncture, herbal medicine, and other therapies such as cupping, moxa, and tui na .   Simply described, TCM focuses on the many energetic pathways throughout the body called meridians;  acupuncture points used to affect the pathways; manual therapies that affect those pathways and tissues;  organ health and interrelationships, and  the concepts of Qi, blood, yin and yang, and imbalances that may occur.  

Acupuncture and herbal medicine target imbalances as revealed in pulse and tongue diagnosis, and symptom complexes in the physical, emotional or mental levels.   Treatment focus is on the building or calming of energy (Qi) and its aspects, warming, cooling or expelling dampness if indicated, and release of blocked energy (Qi) in the body.  

Used to create balance and stimulate function, evoking the body’s natural healing response through various physiological systems, modern research has demonstrated acupuncture’s effects on the nervous system, endocrine and immune systems, cardiovascular system, and digestive system. By stimulating the body’s various systems, acupuncture can help a myriad of conditions -  pain resolution,  improve sleep and digestive function, and sense of well-being,  among others. as well as the results of trauma, whether physical, mental,  or emotional

The most common method used to stimulate acupoints is the insertion of fine, sterile, single use disposable needles into the skin. Pressure, heat, or electrical stimulation may further enhance the effects. Other acupoint stimulation techniques include: manual massage, moxibustion or heat therapy, cupping, and the application of topical herbal medicines.

In 1997 the U.S.  National Institutes of Health (NIH) documented and publicized acupuncture’s safety and efficacy for treating a wide range of conditions.

Treatment is centered on the person, not the disease.   

Chinese herbal medicine is a sophisticated system requiring in depth study and certification in prescribing.  It is often an important part of successful treatment, targeting both root causes as well as symptoms.  The correct combination will positively affect organ health, correct imbalances in the body, influence meridians, energy, and body components.  

Acupuncture and electroacupuncture therapy have been utilized to treat a broad spectrum of illnesses and injuries, and have proven particularly effective at treating anatomically localized neuromusculoskeletal (NMS) injuries caused by repetitive stress or trauma. 

The anatomical NMS injuries that are most typically treated by acupuncture and electroacupuncture are due to trauma, sports injuries, auto accidents, and work-related repetitive stress injuries of the tendon, ligament, and bursa, and injuries in and around joint areas and the soft tissues (muscles, ligaments, etc) surrounding the spine. 

Acupuncture and electroacupuncture are also commonly used to treat chronic or post-operative pain, headaches, nausea, menstrual-related pain, and other conditions that may be anatomically, neurologically, or physiologically based.  

In my practice, I often use acupuncture as another pair of hands, choosing just a few points to help open blockages and create balance in a patient’s physical, mental and emotional being.  Chinese herbal medicine and functional medicine are utilized when indicated to facilitate healing from the inside out.