Here’s a testimonial from a yogini, a blogger going by the moniker donutszenmom.

From her post “Rolfing works:”

The verdict is in, after this morning’s practice: Rolfing works. I first noticed something when I got to Prasarita Padottanasana B. I usually sail through A, because I can pull with my hands to get my head on the floor. But B and C pose more of a challenge. What I noticed today was 1) my head was on the floor, no problem, in all Prasaritas, and 2) I was strangely, and just slightly, off-balance. As if my shoulder/neck area was “too light.” It took me a few moments to figure it out, but I realized that usually there is a ball of tension in my upper back, between my shoulders, and it kind of makes this tangled ball of tension that “sticks” my shoulders, upper back, and neck all together. And all of that was missing. It was like I was empty inside, and lighter. And it affected my balance ever so slightly… » Continue reading “Testimonial from donutszenmom”

Owen Marcus over at Rolf Blog has written a nice two-part article on dealing with back pain from a Rolfer’s perspective. He offers a simple, straightforward explanation of back pain in part one and goes on in part two to talk about how to work with the pain…

“I have not seen a back that was muscularly weak; I see many that are structurally weak. Our bigger back muscles are not meant to be posture muscles, they are designed to move us, not hold us. The constant holding makes them tighter. Rather than getting stronger form sit-ups or back extensions, practice breathing and stretching…”

Rolfing is a brand of structural integration. Ida Rolf, the person from whom the term “Rolfing” is derived, used a few different names for the therapy now known as structural integration 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.”  So you had a proper name (structural integration) and a colloquialism (rolfing).

Today, the use of the word “rolfing” and its derivatives is a bit more touchy because of intellectual property rights. » Continue reading “Are Structural Integration and Rolfing the same thing?”

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! » Continue reading “Testimonial: Wordpress blogger chaska”

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