ROLFING IN A NUTSHELL
Rolfing is a holistic system of bodywork designed around a series of sessions using connective tissue manipulation and movement education to change deeply set, inefficient postural patterns. The goal is to restore normal human function and structure by reestablishing the body's relationship to its central vertical axis. Rolfers lengthen, align and balance the body in gravity by releasing chronic shortenings and holding patterns due to the physical and emotional stress of everyday living. When misaligned, gravity is experienced in our bodies as a subtle stress to tense up against as we maintain our uprightness. Once aligned, gravity supports our structure by simultaneously grounding and lifting us. The results are a more energetic, flexible, youthful and pain free body. Rolfing Movement enhances the hands-on work by enlisting our perceptual sense to coordinate our natural orientation to ground and space. Talking to our "movement brain", which runs under our conscious awareness, helps us to repattern our inefficient habits and gets us moving more freely.
NUTS & BOLTS
Rolfers believe that pain and tension are a result of an overall pattern of imbalance in the body, one that is held together by the connective tissue or fascial system. Fascia is a fibrous material that weaves in and around the muscles, envelopes bones and organs connecting the entire contents of the body in one big fluid, fascial web. Therefore, it is the support structure ultimately determining the shape and individual movement patterns of a person.
With physical or emotional trauma, lack of movement, faulty body-use habits of sitting, standing, or walking etc., fascia shortens, thickens and loses it elasticity. These conditions travel through the fascial fabric sticking the layers together often some distance from the original impact, Much of the stiffness and pain that one feels as “muscular” is actually the connective tissue hardening the area resulting in limited or imbalanced movement. Compensation patterns result.
Rolfers are trained to see these relationships of fascial tonicity imbalances and resolve them. With slow, deep pressure and gentle movements from the client, the pliable quality of fascia is contacted which allows the Rolfer to release and realign the entire body, unwinding the primary adhesion and its compensations. The results not only resolve symptomatic pain but improve skeletal alignment and support allowing for minimum effort in standing, sitting and action. For Rolfers, health is more than the absence of pain.
WHO WAS IDA P. ROLF?
Rolfing Structural Integration was developed by Ida P. Rolf, Ph. D. over the course of her lifetime. In 1920, she earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry from Columbia University and subsequently worked at the Rockefeller Institute where she studied the flexibility of proteins in connective tissue. When her son fell ill and the doctors could not properly diagnose his condition, Ida took matters into her own hands, literally. She noticed that pressure was on his internal organs from a compressed physical structure. Following her intuition, she massaged and manipulated his body until the pressure was released and his problems disappeared. She went on to develop Rolfing over a 30 year period, writing and lecturing. She created the Rolf Institute in the late 1960’s. She is known for the discovery of the importance of fascia, she called it the "organ of form", relating everything together in the body and possessing a quality of plasticity that allows it to be shaped, as well as gravity as a force humans unconsciously negotiate with to stay upright on the earth.
THE TEN SERIES
Traditionally, Rolfing is done in a series of ten sessions each one building upon the results of the last in the fascial restructuring of the body. Each session addresses specific body structures and their relationships to each other, keeping the unique issues of the whole person in mind. The cumulative effect creates lasting change as gravity supports the new vertical alignment. In addition, the body is naturally drawn to what is most efficient and balanced as “good habits” replace “bad habits” and body awareness increases.
THE FIRST SESSION
In the first session, you will fill out a confidential health questionnaire and we will discuss your goals and physical history. I will evaluate your structure in standing, walking and sitting.
The hands-on part of the session lasts about 55 minutes and most of it is done on a Rolfing table or bench. You will be asked to do small movements as I work to facilitate the release of the fascia and repatterning of the nervous system. Walking at various times during the session to assess and integrate the change is also a possibility.
The session ends with another evaluation to determine the progress that has been made and any appropriate awareness “exercises” to support new movement patterns.
ROLFING TOUCH
Rolfing is experienced as a very individual process based on the history of injuries and chronic tension patterns of each person. Sensations can range from light to deep, from pleasurable to intensely mind-body altering. However, most clients experience a slow, steady pressure followed by a feeling of release and lightness. The relationship between Rolfer and client determines the depth and speed the tissue requires to stay at ease and present for change.
BENEFITS
- moving with ease and less effort increases energy
- improved flexibility, balance and alignment
- increased body awareness and recognition of different choices of movement
- less prone to injury
- relief from chronic pain
- increased breathing capacity
- increased capacity to deal with stress and recognize its physical signs
- psychological and emotional evolution and growth
People of all ages seek out Rolfing for various reasons:
Limited mobility, chronic pain issues such as TMJD, headaches, whiplash, tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, rotator cuff injury, lower back pain, scoliosis, knee problems, plantarfascitis or many other challenges resulting from injury. Some look for an improved athletic or artistic performance, often dealing with repetitive stress injuries from the intensity and duration of practice. Others want better posture or the Rolfing “experience” of lightness, flexibility, and personal growth that comes with being brought into alignment with gravity.