What is Rolfing®?
Rolfing® is a system of deep tissue touch and movement education which helps people find more balance and ease in their body and daily activities and relationships.
Developed by Ida Rolf in the mid 20th Century, Rolfing addresses patterns of tension and imbalance which you likely experience - most of us do! These imbalances arise because of repeated movements, postures, work demands, trauma and other life experiences.
A Rolfer® addresses the whole person. You might arrive with pain in a particular place, and whilst I will address that area, we will work with your whole pattern of structure and movement. This approach can help the whole of you to find more balance and ease throughout your life. The whole person approach in Rolfing Structural Integration is different in this regard from other practices of myofascial release.
In Rolfing we work with gravity. If we are well organised then we can relate to gravity as a pull down, a grounding, connection with earth and weight, and the reactive force which we can receive upward and outward, a lift towards the sky and the space around us. A mountain of ground and a fountain lifting us to the skies.
Fascia
Fascia is the “organ of form”. It is like a web or matrix throughout our body. It has no beginning or end and it wraps around everything: muscles, skeleton, organs and cells.
Fascia is also rich in sensory nerves - there are estimated to be more nerve endings in your fascia web then there are in the whole of your skin. Feeling pain, and how we perceive the inner space of our bodies relate to the fascia.
The threads of fascia can get "sticky" and start to compromise movement of all these different elements.
Western scientific research is showing that sticky fascia plays a significant role in back pain, and other movement related functions. Fascia also is key to immune functions, chronic pain/inflammatory conditions and is being investigated for its role in cancer development
Ida Rolf was a pioneer in Western understanding of the importance of fascia, and other Rolfers continue her work: some are at the forefront of scientific research into fascia.
We thought fascia was nothing, but now we know that it is everything.
Jean Claude Guimberteau.
The Rolfing Process
Rolfing® is usually experienced through the Ten Series. The Ten Series normally takes place over ten sessions, sometimes more.
The Ten Series is a way of working through the whole of the body, exploring the body from different angles and perspectives.
Each session will have a different focus - for example one on freeing the breath, another on relating with ground, another addresses the head and neck.
Exploring Rolfing can be deep, playful, energising, relaxing - different for each person and in each session.
