Dr. Ida P. Rolf
What is Rolfing?
In the sixties the term “Rolfing” or getting Rolfed over was given by those receiving Dr. Rolf's powerful work and is the trademark of the ROLF Institute.
The objective of the ten-session systems is to organize the body segments; feet, knees, pelvis, shoulders, and head around a vertical line so that gravity may flow through, allowing upper body balance over the lower body. The muscles in the front “flexors” balance with the muscles of the back “ex-tensors”.
Rolfing reestablishes the natural alignment and structural integration of the human body for vitality and well-being.
Who is Dr. Rolf?
Dr. Ida P. Rolf, Biochemist, Mystic, Philosopher, Visionary, and Originator of the Structural Integration series or “recipe”, the recipe is ten hours of deep-tissue bodywork that lengthens and organizes the many layers of fascia. Dr. Rolf discovered that she could achieve remarkable changes in posture and structure by manipulating the body's myofascial system and eventually named her work Structural Integration. Dr. Rolf observed that the never-yielding force of gravity affects all structures, organic and inorganic. Form and function, pain and dysfunction, are entwined with the bodies’ relationship to gravity.
“This is the gospel of Rolfing when the body gets working appropriately,
The force of gravity can flow through, then spontaneously the body heals itself.”
” In Rolfing, we work in terms of alignment. We align the myofascial structure, which is the connective tissue system. Dr. Rolf referred to the facial layers as "The organ of support or organ of structure” the organ that holds the body appropriately in three-dimensional material world. "
What is myofascial?
Fascia is a web of thin elastic tissue, which exists in continuous layers throughout the body. Muscles and bones are organized and supported in this web, as are all the elements that make up a human body.
Fascia is what makes the shape we recognize as an individual. The position, tone, and condition of the fascia make John’s leg recognizable; John’s or Elaine’s neck and head easy to identify even at a distance.”
“Stress is gravity’s effect on random Structure”
Dr. Rolf began doing sessions with the intention of organizing the body structure around the vertical, around gravity. During each session, she would ask herself “what does the body want me to do?” Due to the person's’ relationship with gravity and compensations that result from chronic imbalances, Dr. Rolf understood the need to work with the whole body. she observed that when the physical body gets into difficulties, trouble spreads to the whole being. It affects one’s consciousness, and we call it “Stress”.
Absence of stress is seen as balanced function - the balance of the body within the field of gravity. This is a new definition; stress is imbalance, visible as the inappropriate position of body components in space. Dr. Rolf observed that the never-yielding force of gravity affects all structures, organic and inorganic. Form and function, pain and dysfunction, are entwined with the bodies’ relationship to gravity.
As soon as you begin to look at structure, you find that a body is not a unit. It is an aggregate of units, head, thorax, pelvis, legs, etc., and it is this sum of units which we must interpret as a single unit. In accordance with the way those units are put together as a body, they function well or they function less well, they function ill or they function very badly, or they lead into death, death being the dissolution of the whole.
Stress is Imbalance You must get a new pattern that is appropriate dynamically to movement of weight. By the time you use the word ‘movement’ with the word ‘weight’, you realize that you are back to gravity again. You cannot get away from it, “gravity does not take a vacation”.
Understand the gravitational pull affect everything that a human being does, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year from the moment he/she gets out of his/her mother’s womb. I do not know, maybe it even starts in the womb. From that day until the under taker catches up with you.
"True strength the ability to flex and extent rapidly"
The muscles in the front flexors balance with the muscles of the back extensors.
“Flexors and extensors act in pairs-when a part of the body bends (flexes), a reciprocal action of lengthening (extending) will take place on the other side. This is what is meant when a Rolfer says that any and every movement should lengthen the body. In average bodies, this is not what happens. Instead, as a part flexes, the joint tends to shorten and tighten. The movement then lacks stability. A good image is a drinking straw: when an ordinary straw is bent, it folds and collapses it has shortened in bending. There is another kind of straw, which is accordion-pleated along a part of its length. When this straw bends, one side compresses (flexes) and on this side the gets narrower. On the other side, the pleats open and gets longer. This bend is stable because it can extend as it flexes”.
Tone and Span
“When used is connection with a living body, tone and span refer to the quality of the myofascial tissue. Good span describes adequate, balanced spatial arrangement of the tissue; good tone (from the Latin tonus) indicates a resilient chemical balance in the tissue. In either case, what is being evaluated is the ability of the tissue to respond quickly and easily to any situation and, equally, its ability to be at rest when not required for action. Tissue may be hypo-tone (too little responsiveness) or hyper-toned (constantly under stress). The latter is by far more usual, but in either case, we describe the body as poorly balanced tissue as ‘random’ that is, some of the body’s myofascial elements have shortened (become hyper-tone) and pulled the structure as a whole away from balance”.
"Pain is not where the problem is"
In the many years of giving and receiving this work one of the hardest things to explain to a new client is “it is all connected vie the facial network.”
New clients will tell me their shoulder hurts and I start working on the lower back and pelvis, or they complain about lower back pain and I start on their feet. Structural Integration we look at the relationship of the horizontal lines, in relationship to the vertical (gravity), Feet on the ground ankles, knees, femur, pelvic, each vertebra up to the back of the head all balanced around Gravity (vertical).
When you experience the length and the lift after a session, it makes sense gravity report to you though you deep sense. You cannot treat neck or jaw pain until your feet are on the ground giving your pelvis a solid foundation and a place for you rib cage to float and your shoulder to balance, giving the cervical spine the needed support for your head.
Structural Integration (Rolfing) is a body of work ten-hours over ten weeks each session is 1/10th of the system.
Dr. Rolf would get very upset with those she would show her work too and they would want to use a piece a specific hour. I see this segmented approach in client coming from rehabilitation post injure, surgery and the have only had the area addressed that was injured. The work I do is to balance everything else, the compensation from pain, holding patterns, sleeping in one position for eight to ten weeks. I have the great privilege to look at the human structure as a Whole Man/Woman and a body of knowledge and technique to help.