Dr. Rolf speaks about Rolfing

Your body welcomes this realignment because you can now get up in the morning and not have chronic pain in your back.

by Deanna Melnychuk — 

In her book, Ida Rolf Talks About Rolfing and Physical Reality, (Rolf Institute, 1978), Rolf states: “In Rolfing, we work in terms of alignment. We align the myofascial structure, which is the connective tissue system. … [This system of] fascial layers comprise the organ of structure, the organ that holds the body appropriately [or inappropriately] in the three-dimensional material world. … This organ of structure is a very resilient, elastic, plastic medium. … It can be changed by adding energy.

“In Rolfing, one of the ways we add energy is by pressure. The practitioner deliberately contributes energy to the person with whom he is working. … This is energy as they talk about it in a physics laboratory. When you press on a given point, you literally are adding energy to structures under that point.

“You can change human beings. You can change their structure, and in changing their structure you are able to change their function.”

Your body, through habit, moves in ways that may not be beneficial. Rolfing intervenes in this habit by changing the myofascial system through a series of 10 sessions, two to three weeks apart.

Your body welcomes this realignment because you can now get up in the morning and not have chronic pain in your back. You are able to hit a golf ball; to walk a few miles; to clean the house or go shopping; to sit at a computer — to function at the high level our daily activities require without being exhausted or in pain at the end of the day.

Rolfing touch, rather than feeling like pain, can feel like “it hurts so good.” You can sense the release and relief in tightened fascial tissues. After the initial 10 sessions, it is recommended that you get a tune-up once every six to 12 months to keep your body in proper alignment.

Of course, if you have an accident or surgery, you would get that tune-up earlier so that your body is in optimum realignment. As you integrate the changes Rolfing creates in your body, you begin to function at a new and improved level.

As Dr. Rolf says, with a “change in function, [there is] a contribution to the health, well being, wholeness and function of a body…” — your body.

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 4, August/September 2012.