ABOUT ROLFING® AND IT'S BENEFITS
“I think Rolfing® can be a great way to get more in touch with your body and change long-standing problems of bad posture and chronic pain (like back pain). It can also release repressed emotions as we dissipate habitual muscle tension.”
-Andrew Weil, M.D.
WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM ROLFING®?
Everyone’s body has some degree of disorder and compensation in its structure. From an early age, injuries and repetitive movement patterns set in motion changes that over a lifetime can result in pain. b-Aligned Rolfing® can free your body from physical discomfort by bringing it into a more natural alignment.
Anyone who simply wants to feel more free:
Musicians, athletes, and workers may have restrictions that make their activities less enjoyable.
People are often aging with their structural and postural patterns stuck in some form of discomfort.
Young people can have postural tendencies that may be developing into patterns of discomfort.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF ROLFING®?
When a body is aligned and balanced it moves with greater ease. It requires less energy to function. Good posture is effortless and breathing is easier. The body becomes more flexible, more coordinated and athletic performance improves.
Rolfing® benefits:
Improve Posture and Alignment
Reduce Aches and Pains
Improve Flexibility
Enhance Performance
Reduce Stress and Aid Emotional Health
WHERE DOES ROLFING® ORIGINATE?
Rolfing® Structural Integration was developed by Dr. Ida P. Rolf. Dr. Rolf received her PhD in biochemistry from Columbia University in 1920 and went on to do award winning research in organic chemistry at the Rockefeller Institute.
Driven to find solutions to her own health problems as well as those around her, she spent many years studying and experimenting looking for ease in the body, both in structure and movement. Her life's work was devoted to this investigation, which led to the system of soft tissue manipulation and movement education that we now call Rolfing®.
Dr. Rolf, many whom consider to be a pioneering genius, recognized that the body is inherently a system of seamless networks of tissues rather than a collection of separate parts. Her big discovery was that this connective tissue that gets laid down in the body in response to strain can be changed. It is plastic and can be reformed by an intelligent use of the hands to separate and lengthen these thickened areas in the body.
She believed that the imbalances in structure placed demands on the body's pervasive network of soft tissues: muscles, fascia, tendons and ligaments, thereby creating compensations throughout the body structure. She developed Rolfing® SI to reduce gravity’s adverse effects on the body. Essentially, the Rolfing® SI process enables the body to regain the natural integrity of its form, thus enhancing postural efficiency and freedom of movement.
HOW IS ROLFING® DIFFERENT THAN MASSAGE?
Rolfing® is not the same as massage, although it shares some attributes with massage. Both Rolfing® and massage are relaxing, benefit circulation and basically feel good. While massage therapy addresses muscular adhesions, Rolfing® addresses fascial patterns of restriction.
Rolfers™ work towards freedom of movement by specifically changing the person’s relationship to gravity through reorganization of the fascia, ungluing it where it is stuck. These changes are lasting and profound.
If you don’t see your question answered here or if you would like additional information, please contact me.