structuralintegration.info

Well, they are and they aren’t. Ida Rolf, the person from whom the term “Rolfing” is derived, used a few different names over the course of its development. The name that she finally settled on was structural integration, but people liked calling it “rolfing” or describing the experience as “getting rolfed over.”

Today, the use of the word rolfing and its derivatives is a bit more touchy because of intellectual property rights and philosophical issues. Keep reading →

Executive editor of Real Health - the black wellness magazine, Hilary Beard, shares her experiences with Rolfing:

When I got up, the pain was gone and I haven’t experienced it since. At the end of the session, when I went to put on my shoes, he told me I’d need to throw out my orthotics (that she had gotten from a podiatrist when she complained of heel pain).

“But I paid $500 for them!”

“They will lock your feet into the painful position,” he said. “I just freed you of the pain. Why would you put yourself back in it?”

His explanation kind of made sense, but I wasn’t convinced. My motherwit told me not to throw out something I paid $500 for. So I held onto them for years. But I never needed them—I never experienced any pain again!

Blogger chaska shared her 10-series experience on her blog “Turkey’s Soul Adventure.” Her observations after completion:

- I have much better alignment in from my knees to my ankles. This may not sound breath-taking at first, but before all of this, if my feet were in ballet first position (think a ‘V’ shape), then my knees would go out straight. If I placed my feet together, facing straight, my knees bent in toward each other. This made yoga, Pilates, skiing and rollerblading all but impossible to do without some sort of corrective for my foot pronation. Not any more. Now everything works the way it is supposed to. Knees and feet go out straight - together! Keep reading →

For the visually inclined, I’ve created a graphic showing you the parts of the body that you can generally expect will be worked on in any given session. Some practitioners may deviate depending on your individual needs, of course. It is also available as a PDF here.

Rolfing 10-Series Visual Overview

Interesting find on the ‘net today. I’ve never heard of Randy Gage, but he wrote an interesting bit about his Rolfing experience on his website. He went in with concerns about his deviated septum and a herniated disc. Randy’s Rolfer was Jorge Gonzalez in Florida. Click through to read an excerpt. Keep reading →