Bodywork at Its Best: Rolfing for the Rest of Us, Part III
An experienced Rolfer shares a clear, comprehensive explanation of Rolfing Structural Integration in non-intimidating language that everyone can understand.
In the old days, like 40 years and more ago, Rolfing was a lot more painful than it is now. It used to be taught that way, and when you think about what was going on 40 years ago, this makes a lot of sense. Rolfing came of age in the 1960s and ‘70s at Esalen, in Big Sur, California. Ida Rolf had been developing it for 30 years by then and found a willing audience for her transformative ideas and techniques among the people who gathered at Esalen. Esalen was a center for the personal growth movement and was the home to EST, Primal Therapy and other transformational ideas. Whereas the 1950s were a time when Americans were looking for stability after the upheaval of WWII, by the mid 1960s there was an itch for something different. People began trying out new ideas and possibilities on a considerable scale. Psychotherapy became popular, and alternative lifestyles, drugs and organic foods all appeared on the scene. New bodywork modalities like Rolfing were a part of that explosion of possibility. Esalen was on the cutting edge, attracting people with an open mind and a willingness to explore anything that might improve the human condition.
Rolfing found fertile ground. But because bodywork was so new to most people, the work tended to be much more dramatic than what it is today. Those early Rolfers were, for the most part, touching people that had never been touched in a therapeutic fashion before, who had layers of tension and feelings locked up in their bodies along with injuries and experiences that they were only beginning to be aware of. Deep Rolfing was often necessary to break through the armoring and lack of awareness most people lived with, hence the reputation for pain the current generation of Rolfers have inherited. However, this is an outmoded belief. These days, Rolfers are trained to be just as effective but without the level of pain past generations of Rolfers believed were necessary.
Rolfing no longer deserves the reputation for pain it did in the past. Times are different, and most people come to Rolfing with more awareness of their bodies than people did a generation ago.
In addition, the field of bodywork has evolved techniques with more finesse and sensitivity, and Rolfing has benefited from those advances. The current Rolfing training incorporates cranial sacral therapy, gentle spinal derotation techniques and movement education. It also teaches the need to lighten up if appropriate, keeping in mind to always be sensitive to the ability of the client to breathe with the pressure.
After Rolfing, most people can stand up straighter without effort. They find that old injuries and pains have eased or disappeared, and they often report feeling like they’ve taken steps into new possibilities in their life, now that some of their energy is not being used up in poor posture, compensating for old injuries or movement patterns.
by Jill Gerber, LMT, Certified Advanced Rolfer and Rolfing® Movement Integration Practitioner
© copyright 2009 Jill Gerber all rights reserved.
In the old days, like 40 years and more ago, Rolfing was a lot more painful than it is now. It used to be taught that way, and when you think about what was going on 40 years ago, this makes a lot of sense. Rolfing came of age in the 1960s and ‘70s at Esalen, in Big Sur, California. Ida Rolf had been developing it for 30 years by then and found a willing audience for her transformative ideas and techniques among the people who gathered at Esalen. Esalen was a center for the personal growth movement and was the home to EST, Primal Therapy and other transformational ideas. Whereas the 1950s were a time when Americans were looking for stability after the upheaval of WWII, by the mid 1960s there was an itch for something different. People began trying out new ideas and possibilities on a considerable scale. Psychotherapy became popular, and alternative lifestyles, drugs and organic foods all appeared on the scene. New bodywork modalities like Rolfing were a part of that explosion of possibility. Esalen was on the cutting edge, attracting people with an open mind and a willingness to explore anything that might improve the human condition.
Rolfing found fertile ground. But because bodywork was so new to most people, the work tended to be much more dramatic than what it is today. Those early Rolfers were, for the most part, touching people that had never been touched in a therapeutic fashion before, who had layers of tension and feelings locked up in their bodies along with injuries and experiences that they were only beginning to be aware of. Deep Rolfing was often necessary to break through the armoring and lack of awareness most people lived with, hence the reputation for pain the current generation of Rolfers have inherited. However, this is an outmoded belief. These days, Rolfers are trained to be just as effective but without the level of pain past generations of Rolfers believed were necessary.
Rolfing no longer deserves the reputation for pain it did in the past. Times are different, and most people come to Rolfing with more awareness of their bodies than people did a generation ago.
In addition, the field of bodywork has evolved techniques with more finesse and sensitivity, and Rolfing has benefited from those advances. The current Rolfing training incorporates cranial sacral therapy, gentle spinal derotation techniques and movement education. It also teaches the need to lighten up if appropriate, keeping in mind to always be sensitive to the ability of the client to breathe with the pressure.
After Rolfing, most people can stand up straighter without effort. They find that old injuries and pains have eased or disappeared, and they often report feeling like they’ve taken steps into new possibilities in their life, now that some of their energy is not being used up in poor posture, compensating for old injuries or movement patterns.
by Jill Gerber, LMT, Certified Advanced Rolfer and Rolfing® Movement Integration Practitioner
© copyright 2009 Jill Gerber all rights reserved.
posted by High Desert Healthcare and Massage at
10:55 AM
Photo courtesy of ABMP
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