ROLFING®
is a technique for reordering the body to bring major segments-head,
shoulders, thorax, pelvis and legs toward a vertical alignment.
Generally speaking, the Rolfing® technique lengthens the body,
approaching an ideal in which left and right sides of the body are more
nearly balanced and in which the pelvis approaches horizontal
permitting the height of the trunk to fall directly over the pelvis:
the head rides above the spine, the spinal curves are shallow, and the
legs connect vertically to support the bottom of the pelvis.
Pioneered by Dr. Ida P. Rolf, Rolfing® is a holistic process
of body re-education and manual manipulation focusing on the body’s
connective tissue, or fascia. Fascia completely surrounds and supports
every muscle, bone, joint, and organ in the body. It reaches through
all body elements like a three-dimensional spider web.
Hardened or shortened areas in this "fascial web" are caused
by repeated patterns of self use such as the way a person walks, sits,
or sleeps, as well as by injuries and deep-seated emotional patterns.
Imbalances in the fascia occur where the stress is greatest, negatively
affecting the body's shape and movement patterns. Pain is often the
result.
The Rolfing® Technique rebalances the fascial network by
taking advantage of its tendency to hold the shapes induced by applied
force. In a carefully worked-out sequence of manipulations, the Rolfer
reverses the randomizing influence of the environment, moving tissue
back toward the symmetry and balance that the architecture of the body
so clearly calls for in order to feel whole and functional.
The Rolfing® process is one of exploration, awareness,
education, and change. Clients are encouraged to actively participate
in their own healing process by accessing their body's innate
intelligence, an inner memory of what it is to be "right." If you give
the body information regarding possibilities for efficient and
effortless use in rest and in movement, the body can heal itself and
reach a state of wellness.
DR. IDA P. ROLF, formerly an organic chemist with the
Rockefeller Institute, perfected the technique of Rolfing® over many
years before establishing a systematic training program and a
professional organization. Nearly 700 certified Rollers and Rolfing®
Movement Teachers are located throughout the world. Training programs
are conducted-in the United States and Europe with the main facilities
in Boulder, Colorado and Munich, West Germany.
Copyright 1976 by The Rolf 1nstitute- of Structural
Integrity. All rights reserved. (Used with permission)
From a purely mechanical perspective, distortions are the
result of the remarkable plasticity of the body, the tendency of
fascia, the connective tissue which envelops the muscles and which
gives the body shape, to be remolded by applied force. The primary
force comes from repeated patterns self-use – the way an individual
walks, sits, or sleeps. These patterns, which are generally established
in infancy, draw heavily on parental example and on other environmental
factors like diapers, shoes, and school desks. Inefficient patterns of
behavior set themselves in the fascial network as unbalanced patterns
of structure.
Distortions also enter our plastic bodies through accidents: a
fall from a bicycle, for example, that twists a knee, causing a limp
for a few weeks. The shifting of weight to the strong leg restructures
the play of muscular effort not only in the legs but through the pelvis
up the spine, eventually throughout the whole body. Although the limp
seems to disappear as the knee strengthens, the system of compensations
leaves its imprint in a broad complex pattern of shortened fascia.
Patterns of imbalance tend to reinforce themselves; they feel
comfortable and natural – balanced, in fact. Over the years they deepen
by repetition, and the weight centers more progressively further from
the vertical axis. Gravity becomes an increasingly destructive force
and we lose our structural integrity and wholeness of health.
Massage therapy and the Rolfing® technique can help rebalance
the body by working the fascial network in a carefully worked-out
sequence of manipulations to reverse the randomizing influence of the
environment, moving tissue back toward the symmetry and balance that
the architecture of the body so clearly calls for in order to be whole,
healthy, and functional.
Rolfing® is typically applied in an initial series of ten
sessions. Sessions are usually scheduled one to two weeks apart and
last approximately one hour. The results of Rolfing® are lasting and
the basic ten-session series does not need to be repeated. Follow-up
work may consist of occasional tune-up .or first-aid sessions. Those
curious but not certain are welcome to try one session; shorter series
are also available. Please call for a free consultation or to schedule
an appointment.
"One individual may experience his losing fight with gravity
as a sharp pain in the back, another as the unflattering contour of his
body, another as constant fatigue, and yet another as an unrelenting
threatening environment. Those over forty may call it old age: yet all
these signal may be pointing to a single problem so prominent in their
own structures and the structures of others that it has been ignored;
they are off balance: they are at war with gravity. " - Dr. Ida P. Rolf
