James Bardot

What is Rolfing?

 

Rolfing is a manipulative therapy that frees bound fascia and restores healthy musculoskeletal functioning. The name derives from the founder of the discipline, Ida Rolf, Ph.D., a research biochemist at the Rockefeller Institute, who developed the concept.

 

Why does Rolfing get results when other therapies don’t?

 

Most therapies  focus on symptoms.  Rolfing goes to the core of the problem and treats the entire body. The reason is simple. Chronic pain is rarely the result of a single incident. Rather, it’s the  result of countless injuries, accidents, misuse, and other traumas that have been building up in our bodies for years. Only by treating the body as a unified whole can we rid ourselves of these complex, deep-seated imbalances.

 

Is Rolfing deep-tissue massage?

​

No. The term "Deep Tissue" has no medical meaning. It simply describes a more intense form of massage. Rolfing frees bound tissues and restores healthy functioning. The difference will be clear to you within a few minutes after the start of the first session.

Why is alignment so important?

 

We are the only creatures who carry all of our weight-bearing segments (legs, hips, torso, arms, head) in a single line. This vertical “stacking” allows us to operate with extreme efficiency. Picture a bullfighter in the ring. To turn, the matador simply pivots on his foot, while the poor, lumbering bull must expend enormous amounts of energy making the same turn and quickly exhausts himself. Guess who wins?  This balance, however, is delicate: The moment our bodies shift from vertical, gravity begins pulling unevenly on our structures, distorting our movements and often resulting in chronic pain.   

​

Can you give an example?

​

Say, at age seven, you fall from a tree and injure your ankle. Your parents rush you to the hospital, the doctor finds nothing broken, and you are taken home. But while the injured ankle is healing, your weight shifts to the opposite leg, and you start to rely on it. Years later, after the fall from the tree has long been forgotten, you find you have a “good” leg, the one you push off with when jumping, stand on while waiting in line, and so on. The imbalance, however, doesn’t stop there. Being vertically aligned, it sets off a chain reaction of compensations that ricochet throughout the body.

 

To compensate for the leg imbalance, your pelvic girdle shifts, causing your spinal muscles to pull unevenly, which in turn affects your neck and shoulders. With nowhere further to go, the tension starts to build there. Tension headaches develop and affect your thinking. You begin to feel “stressed.” You rub your neck, but the pain doesn't go away. Desperate for relief, you go to the gym, take yoga classes, get weekly massages, and visit every health care specialist you can think of, but nothing can fix the problem. Why? Because everyone is focused on your neck when the problem goes all the way to your ankles!

​

This is one small example. Now start adding up all the sprains, falls, injuries, car accidents, bad habits, repetitive motion injuries, and other traumas to the body that have been building up for decades, and you can see why so many people have trouble functioning. What’s worse is that after a while, these dysfunctional patterns start to feel normal. Thus, we lose not only the ability to function properly but the memory of that ability as well. We no longer remember what it feels like to be healthy.

​

How does Rolfing correct imbalances?

​

Rolfing frees bound connective tissues, which envelop and connect virtually everything in our bodies. They cover our bones, nerves, and organs, wrap and permeate our muscles (myofascia); connect muscles to bones (tendons); bones to bones (ligaments); and weave all these elements together into a single, unbroken support system that runs from your head to your little toes. This is why trauma in one part of the body can affect other areas distant from the original injury, and it’s not limited to our kinesiological function. It can impact our breathing, digestion, elimination, continence, mental health, and other bodily functions.

 

How does Rolfing do this?

 

The primary constiuent of connective tissue is a protein called collagen, which becomes pliable above body temperature. Hold an empty plastic water bottle over a flame. Once the bottle melts, it will never return to its original shape. This is what happens to our bodies due to injuries, accidents, and other traumatic events. It’s also the same principle Rolfers use to restore balance in the body. After a client’s structure is assessed, a Rolfer begins applying precise, focused pressure to restore healthy functioning throughout the body.

​

Are the changes lasting?

​

Yes. Research studies at UCLA were still able to measure changes in the bodies of Rolfing test subjects after five years with no additional work!

​

My hip pain went away after three sessions. Should I still continue?

​

Just because a symptom goes away doesn’t mean that the problem has been resolved. There are more dysfunctional patterns in the body than most people realize. You may get lucky, but your best chance of staying pain-free is to complete the program.

​

Can you describe the ten sessions?

​

Yes, but this is only for general reference. Each client has different needs, and I will modify the format, sometimes considerably, to achieve the best possible outcome for that individual.

The first three sessions free up the outer "sleeve" muscles and myofascial sheaths to prepare the body for sessions 4, 5, and 6, which address deeper “core” movement patterns.

​

 Session 1

This is the most general session and begins by releasing the superficial fascia surrounding the rib cage to improve a client’s vital capacity. Afterward, the Iliotibial (IT) bands and hamstring muscles are addressed, followed by work on the long spinal muscles. The session usually finishes with work around the neck.

Session 2

Session 2 focuses on the feet and lower leg muscles to improve foot function and ensure proper contact with the ground. Quite often, pain in the hips or low back is caused by improper foot alignment and compartment syndrome, which limits the body’s ability to transfer weight upwards. Once the feet, ankles, calves, and backs of the knees have been addressed, the remainder of the session is spent lengthening the long spinal muscles, with clients in prone or seated positions.

Session 3

The third session addresses the lateral (side) aspect of the torso with the client lying on their side. The primary areas of focus here are the axillary region (armpit), shoulder girdle, lateral ribcage, abdominal wall muscles, quadratus lumborum, gluteal muscles, and hip joint to improve functioning between the hip and shoulder girdles.

Session 4

The fourth session focuses on the adductor muscles (the ones on the insides of the thigh) and the medial aspect of the lower legs to create more direct contact with the ground and encourage the pelvic girdle to rock more freely.

Session 5

This session focuses on the abdominal wall muscles and the hip flexors (iliopsoas group) to initiate proper forward leg movement and disengage agonist-antagonist conflict in the quadriceps, hamstrings, and hip flexors. A stilted, penguin-like walk clearly shows the hip flexors are not functioning correctly. This is one of the most important sessions in the series and a turning point for many people.

Session 6

Session six covers the entire dorsal (back) side of the body from the feet to the base of the skull, emphasizing the lateral rotators (the buttock muscles responsible for turning the legs outward). For many clients, completing this session marks the beginning of a more systemic understanding of how their bodies function and self-management.      

Session 7

The seventh session concentrates on the thoracic outlet (shoulders, neck, and skull). Now that we’ve established a relatively stable platform below, we can align the head with the other parts, something we would not have been able to do previously.

Sessions 8 & 9

These two sessions work in tandem to bring all of the work done previously into harmonious alignment. One session will usually focus on either the upper or lower half of the body, while the other will address the opposite half. The goal of these two sessions is to ensure that all of the body segments are integrating smoothly.

Session 10

This is the closure session. Any areas still needing attention will be addressed here to complete the series and create a uniformly functioning whole.

 

Do some people need more than ten sessions?

Typically, a racecar driver who’s been in multiple accidents will need more work than an office worker who has experienced little trauma in his or her life. That said, most people seem satisfied with the ten-series.  

​

What do I do after the 10-series?

It’s up to you. Some people find the relief they were looking for in the ten sessions and stop there. Others may want to further their freedom and flexibility through advanced work. A healthy, functioning body is your greatest asset, and Rolfing is an excellent way of keeping you looking young and feeling vital.

 

Does Rolfing hurt? 

Although some pressure is needed to free bound tissues, most people liken Rolfing to a good massage. If you feel the pressure is too great, simply tell me, and I’ll adjust the work. My clients have ranged in age from 13 months to 96 years, and all do well.

​

What can I do to achieve the best results?

 

Be involved. I can’t stress this enough. Rolfing is not something that is done to you. It is a process in which you are an active participant, and the more engaged you are, the greater will be the benefits.

 

The higher goal of Rolfing

Once, when I was working in Geneva, Switzerland, I asked a colleague  who I was thinking of partnering with, why he’d given up his lucrative medical practice to take up Rolfing. “Internal medicine bored me,” he replied. “All I did was hand out pieces of paper. Rolfing excites me. Each day brings me new challenges and possibilities.” It is these possibilities that I would like to address here.

​

In our culture, we often see health as the absence of illness, but health is a much broader spectrum, ranging from death, on one end, to  joyful existence on the other. Why is it that so many people stop when they are simply free of pain, when they could be enjoying life so much more?

 

Perhaps it’s because we don’t know what that higher level of existence feels like. Most of us carry around a lot more physical and mental baggage than we realize. Sometimes during a session, a client will start shaking, sweating, weeping, or recalling long-forgotten traumatic experiences. These events signal trauma being released from the body, and it leads to a very important question you might want to ask yourself. How many things might you be carrying around in your body without knowing it, and how heavily might they be weighing you down and keeping you from really enjoying life at its fullest?

 

To me, this is the greatest gift of Rolfing: having a body that is not just free of pain, but one that sings with aliveness, where just going for a walk can fill you with sensation. Once you experience this, you’ll know what I mean. This is why I wrote this booklet: to encourage people like you to try Rolfing and catch a glimpse of that higher level of existence. The truth is, you have very little to lose and a lot to gain, so why not give it a try? It could prove to be the best investment of your life.

​

​

​

​

​

​