Rolfing® is the answer — no matter your age

Throughout the 10 sessions, the Rolfer™ will use her hands, arms, elbows and fingers to create length and ease in your tissues.

by Deanna Melnychuk — 

As we grow older, we tend to restrict our activities; our lives slow down. We sit at our computers, perform a repetitive job or play one sport (golf, for example). Usually, we forget to stretch. One day, our joints do not move as well as they did; we have lost our flexibility, which we blame on arthritis and “getting older.” Our world closes in around us, we become fatigued easily and we get depressed.

Is that how you wish to spend your retirement years — with aches, pains and tunnel vision? There is absolutely no need for this to happen.

Rolfing is the answer. A series of 10 sessions can change your body from blah to hooray. When your flexibility increases and the pains and aches go away, your attitude changes and you are ready to enjoy life again.

So what is Rolfing? Rolfing is a form of bodywork that manipulates the connective tissues to lengthen and stretch restricted and frozen joints, tendons and ligaments. Connective tissue, or fascia, surrounds and permeates our muscles and surrounds our bones, organs and nerve cells. This layer is just under our skin, and Dr. Rolf called it an organ of support, as it dictates the size and shape of our muscles and can pull a bone out of alignment when it is too tight. This connective tissue becomes tight through physical trauma such as an accident or surgery, mental or emotional anguish, or stress.

Throughout the 10 sessions, the Rolfer™ will use her hands, arms, elbows and fingers to create length and ease in your tissues. She will ask you to participate with slow movements of your arm, head, foot or knee to create a tension on the restricted muscle, which helps to lengthen it.

The Rolfer will show you different ways to sit at your computer and how to walk (not waddle) in order to maintain and sustain the newly found freedom in your joints. You will be amazed at how your attitude changes when your body’s physical structure changes. Walking and hiking and living will become delightful again.

It is time to celebrate the number of years you have lived by renewing your body’s strength and vitality. Seek out a Rolfer today.

Deanna Melnychuk, B.Sc., is a certified advanced Rolfer and Rolfing Movement practitioner, licensed massage therapist, Reiki master, cranial release practitioner, cranioSacral therapist and reflexologist. 602-404-8685 or www.rolfingcentre.com.

Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 31, Number 1, Feb/Mar 2012.