More about the Rolf method.
The basic tool of rolfing is gravity, we can fight against it or we can join it. The human body is a structure that must live within relation to gravity. Think of your body as a set of blocks stacked on each other. If your upright body is out of line, or that is to say your blocks are not stacked in line evenly, gravity will pull on your body in an unequal unbalanced fashion. In this case, your muscles will have to work to pull against gravity or else you’ll fall down. This causes pain, overuse of muscles and further imbalances.
Rolfing reorganizes the body so gravity can flow through it, energizing the body and creating integrity. Think of the game Jenga. Before you were blocks that couldn’t support its structure to get taller. Now your blocks are all aligned and gravity is your friend.
How is Rolfing SI typically done?
The Rolf method works through the whole body in a series of ten sessions. We believe that discomfort is caused by misalignment in the body as a whole system and problem areas that we experience in the body typically are unrelated to the site that hurts.
The first seven sessions work with a specific area of the body, and each has a specific goal, which requires that each session be customized for the client. Sessions eight and nine are balancing sessions, while session ten integrates the whole.
Rolfing can be like making your bed in the morning. You think you’re going to get by without pulling that bed apart, so you pull up this cover and the next cover. When you get all the covers puffed up, you’ve got nine ridges running across the bed. Now you’ve got to go to a deeper layer and organize the deeper layer, and make your bed on top of that. Then you’ve got a made bed. Well it’s the same with the body: you’ve got to organize those deeper layers.”
–Ida P. Rolf, Ph.D., Founder of Rolfing
What in the world is fascia?
Fascia is a type of connective tissue that is present throughout the entire body and acts like an internal wetsuit. It’s actually the stuff that determines your structure, not your bones! Imagine if you were wearing a wetsuit that was too tight and restrictive in certain areas. In a broad sense, Rolfing reshapes that internal wetsuit so that it fits more comfortably allowing for more ease and balance in your body.
When you experience Rolfing, you will find that it resembles deep massage therapy, yet it is more than that. Rolfing is a customized and carefully integrated series of private sessions designed to move your body progressively towards its own ideal pattern. That is why your series of sessions may be quite different from session your friends or family receive. Every body has its own response to gravity, its own history, and its own potential for fitness. The ten initial sessions are intertwined to create change. In their order, the sessions are briefly outlined with what you can expect.