About Rolfing® Structural Integration

Rolfing is a form of bodywork. The body is really one ubiquitous sheet of connective tissue, or fascia, and shortness in one area and long, tightness in another, creates pulling like a snagged knit sweater. These unbalanced areas are manifestations of patterns that we have developed over time.

Patterns are created by beliefs, habits, trauma, surgeries, genetics and our environmental surroundings. Through myofascial manipulation with fingers, knuckles, forearms, or elbows, a Rolfer can manipulate tissue and help to balance structure. Awareness is sparked and then the nervous system learns a new way to move and function through a changed perception.

Rolfing is done in a series of ten sessions. Each session builds on the next, and each session has a specific goal. The sessions are designed to allow certain areas of the body to support other areas and to stack components like blocks, each supporting the one above it. After a series, people have experienced freedom and ease of movement, increased energy, relief of chronic pain, a sense of themselves in the world, heightened awareness of their patterns and surroundings, increased breath, emotional stability, improved digestion or a complete cessation of issues such as sciatica, back or neck pain, headaches, plus many other wonderful benefits. Dr. Ida P. Rolf believed that the fascia, or connective tissue surrounding muscles, ligaments, bones, organs, etc., is the medium in which things get stuck. For example, if a person habitually slouches to one side, he or she will end up with shorter tissue on the side they slouch to and longer, tight tissues on the opposite side. When that person stands, these patterns are apparent to a Rolfer's trained eyes.

By manual pressure of the tissue, changing its form, a Rolfer can help to elicit a change in structure. This person, feeling how good it is to have freedom of movement, will become more aware. They will change the patterns because their tissue feels different. With this new sense of awareness, the changes are essentially permanent. In a session, I ask about your history. Have you had any accidents, traumas, surgeries or do you have any health issues? Then I look at your structure, how you stand, breathe, walk and where there is limited range of motion. I do the soft tissue work and then we evaluate movement and structure again. I may ask you to move or breathe into the tissue as I'm working. I may ask you to get up and walk in the middle of the session. Every session is different and every series is designed for each individual. It is like sculpting. It requires patience and listening on the part of both the practitioner and the client. It is a flow. It is movement and breath. It is profound, yet gentle. It is opening and letting go. This is the beauty and the magic of Rolfing.

The Experience of Rolfing® Structural Integration

The Basic 10-Series

The overall goal of the 10-session Rolfing series is to organize the body around “the Line”. The effects relate specifically to improvements in posture and more generally to improvements in self-awareness and well-being.

The basic series in Rolfing consists of 10 sessions that are about 75 minutes each. The sessions are usually spaced about 1 week apart.

You do not have to commit to all 10 sessions at the beginning. Sessions 1, 3 and 7 provide stopping places for those who, for whatever reason, do not wish to continue or wish to suspend the work for a reasonable period.

Your Rolf practitioner may interview you before beginning the first session. The purpose is to take your health history and screen for any contraindications, to agree on your goals for the work and to answer any questions you may have. Some Rolfers may ask permission to take digital photos, Polaroid shots or video images for before and after session or series analysis.

The actual work is performed with the client “dressed for Rolfing” which for men means underwear, running shorts or a bathing suit and for women, bra and panties, running shorts or 2-piece bathing suit.

The majority of the work is performed with the client lying on a padded table. The Rolfer applies skillful and intelligent pressure with fingers, hands, forearms or elbows to release strains and distortions in fascial structures and restore the body to balance.

Some sessions may end up with a brief period of movement education. Movement homework may be assigned to help the client integrate the new structural pattern into his or her functional pattern. Movement education also allows the client to take increased responsibility for his or her results.

The overall goal of the 10-series is to organize the body around the Line. The sessions follow a general pattern but are always adapted to meet the needs of a particular client’s unique physical structure. Therefore, there is no way to describe accurately how every client will experience the individual sessions. What follows are generalized and simplified descriptions of the ten sessions and each session’s goal. Depending on your unique needs, your experience of the ten sessions may or may not resemble the experiences described below.

SESSION 1:

The focus is on releasing restrictions in the fascial “body stocking” especially around your shoulders, chest, lower back and pelvis. As a result, your ribcage can expand, reducing pressure on your heart and lungs. The improvements in circulation and respiration mean that your body can deal more effectively with toxins released by future sessions. A sensation of “lightness” and a feeling of increased energy are common after this session. Many clients also gain an improved sense of the vertical in their posture.

SESSION 2:

The focus is on freeing fascial restrictions from the feet to the knees. By improving the horizontality in your foundation joints (feet, ankles and knees) this session increases your connection to the earth and gives you a feeling of groundedness. You will gain awareness of your walking patterns and begin to sense how these effect structure and function in your entire body. After the session you may feel your weight distributed more evenly in your legs and feet and you may find a new ease ion walking. In this session many clients gain an improved sense of horizontal lines in their posture.

SESSION 3:

This is an integrative session that begins to invoke the Rolf Line at your body core. By releasing restrictions along the sides of the body, it removes tensions between the shoulders and pelvis so the major segments of the trunk can begin to move toward proper alignment. This session gives you the feeling of being put together, of resting more comfortably on the earth and of having a more elongated body. You may have a sense not only of verticality and horizontality in your body but also of front-to-back depth and a clearer perception of your three dimensionality.

SESSION 4:

This is the first of the deep sessions (deep does not imply painful or more pressure), a junction between the surface layer work of sessions 1-3 and the core work of sessions 4-7. Session 4 improves weight transmission along the inner line of the legs to bring grounding up through to the pelvis and liberate restrictions in muscles connecting the upper and lower body. This session gives a strong sense of increased length and freedom in the legs and may clients report a new feeling of energy, harmony and integration in overall body movement. It also helps to bring people into their lower center of gravity.

SESSION 5:

This session creates an appropriate relationship between the superficial abdominal muscles and the deeper leg and hip flexors located at the core. It releases fascial restrictions on internal organs, creating proper space for each one and arranging them around the internal vertical line. This session provides increased mobility for the pelvis and begins to create balance and congruence in the spinal column. It also helps to bring people into their upper center of gravity. Many clients report that this session leaves them with a new sense of internal space and a deep feeling of energy, peace and centeredness.

SESSION 6:

This session secures foundations. Work focuses on the back of your body, from the heels to the back of your head in order to create sufficient space in the hinges between body segments. At the end of this session, all major fascial restrictions below the neck should be released. This session especially liberates muscles along the spine and releases two subtle hinges, the sacroiliac joint (at the base of the spine) and the cranial at the top of the spine. For people who have been blocked at these hinges, the effects can be profound, for they affect how we perceive the world and ourselves in it or, our “stance” both physically and psychologically. Some clients may report a stronger sense of clarity and ease with improvements in self-awareness, self-acceptance and self-confidence.

SESSION 7:

This session continues and integrates the work of the previous six sessions. It relates your head and neck to the rest of your body all the way to the ground. You may experience greater mobility in your neck in relation to your head and shoulders. This session often produces powerful changes in what most clients describe as their energy flow as a result of the body wide freeing of major fascial restrictions. Most clients report a feeling of general lightness throughout the body and their faces and jaws appear noticeably more balanced and relaxed. You should now have an improved awareness of the integration of all the parts of your body and sessions 8-10 will further this sense of integration. For some, the sense of increased integration may extend beyond the body to include other aspects of the self.

SESSIONS 8 and 9:

One of these sessions will focus primarily on your lower body, the other on your upper body. Which half of the body is the focus of session 8 depends on your structure and your responses to the preceding sessions. The goal is to bring your body to the next highest level of order possible to achieve better side-to-side, front-to-back and inner/outer balance. Most clients report a feeling of improved lift in their bodies after both sessions. In the days following they usually report a sense of lightness and ease in all physical activities as they experience the benefits of higher energy levels, improved mechanical efficiency and better coordination.

SESSION 10:

This final session “polishes” the balancing and integrative process of the previous sessions. It fine-tunes the relationships between segments of your body, thus bringing it as close as possible to optimum balance. Your body should now be aligned or on course toward alignment. The effects of the Rolfing series will not end with this session, but will continue for 6-12 months as your body undergoes its own unique adjustment process to the changes initiated by Rolfing.