What is Rolfing?
Rolfing® Structural Integration is a holistic form of bodywork and education that aims to reorganize the connective tissue network of fascia that exists throughout the entire body. This is done by hands on manual therapy, breath and sensory guidance. This has the great potential to result in greater structural alignment, balanced movement and an ease in overall mobility. Function is truly able to take flight. Fascia is the most prevalent tissue found throughout the body. It groups and supports the body’s arteries, nerves, muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones and organs.
“Rolfing Structural Integration works on this web-like complex of connective tissues to release, realign and balance the whole body, thus potentially resolving discomfort, reducing compensations and alleviating pain. Rolfing SI aims to restore flexibility, revitalize your energy and leave you feeling more comfortable in your body. The genius of the work rests on Dr. Rolf’s insight that the body is more at ease and functions most effectively when its structure is balanced in gravity. Essentially, the Rolfing process enables the body to regain the natural integrity of its form, thus enhancing postural efficiency and your freedom of movement.” From the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute Website https://www.rolf.org/how.php
On a deeper level the amount of sensory awareness that can resonate from within rather than due to externally input is the greatest transformative aspect of the process. Readdressing realms of the body for which have not been in use perhaps due to habitual patterning in movement are awakened and utilized again. Many times there are muscles and other connective tissue in overuse. Rolfing helps to guide clients into the still and forgotten realms of the body.
The results of this work extend far beyond simply appearing posturally aligned and simply addressing a symptom. As Monica Caspari(former Advanced Rolfer, Rolf Movement therapist, Doula and Instructor at the DIRI), has stated regarding the goal of Rolfing for people in her posthumous piece, The Functional Rationale of the Recipe “…to take fuller advantage of the human condition and express themselves better through the body and its inherent movement potential.” She goes on to conclude, “To bring more vitality to life, we must integrate structure and function. This is integration(page 23).”
Rolfing® was named after its founder, Dr. Ida P. Rolf more than fifty years ago. In 1920 Dr. Rolf received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and early on in her career worked as one of the few women scientists and researchers in organic chemistry at the Rockefeller Institute. It was during this time that she became more interested in the human body due to her own desire to find less invasive solutions to her and her son’s health problems. This led her to explore different systems of healing such as homeopathy, osteopathy, and yoga. In her research she noticed a common thread that proper alignment, physiologic function and anatomical structure are all related. To read more about the history of Rolfing on the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute Website: https://www.rolf.org/history.php