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What is Rolfing?

Rolfing® (Structural Integration) is a comprehensive system of hands-on, connective tissue manipulation which releases both deep and superficial stress patterns in the human organism. The goal of Rolfing® is for the client to move and function with greater freedom, and effortlessly maintain a more upright, comfortable posture.

Rolfing® is a system of body restructuring and movement education. By releasing the body's segments - legs, torso, arms, etc. - from life-long patterns of tension and bracing, the body is able to realign and become balanced. Of all the forces affecting the human body, gravity is among the most powerful. Gravity misalignment can cause chronic strain, lowered vitality and impaired biological and psychological functioning.

After Rolfing® the body expends less of its vital energies against gravity because it is better-balanced. This biological energy-efficiency is often experienced as a higher level of alertness and vitality. Movement becomes easier and overall personal functioning tends to improve. People of all ages come to Rolfing® for help with neck pain, back problems, impaired mobility and other difficulties which originate with internal strains. Others seek to improve their appearance, to improve athletic performance, and to enhance personal growth toward a fuller realization of their potential.

Rolfing® results in a feeling of fitness and wholeness. People who have been Rolfed stand and move with more surety, stability and less strain, breathe more easily and more deeply, move with more ease and grace, and tend to develop a wider range of self-expression. Often even after the first or second session they report positive changes not only in the comfort in their bodies but also in their outlook in life.

Closely knit with the nervous system in every human body, the connective tissue network, or fascial net, unites the organism in a set of relationships that are characteristic of that particular individual. Rolfing® practitioners work with the human structure and nervous system through this fascial net, in such a way that the various parts move and fit together in an improved relationship to one-another in the gravitational field which we are all subject to.

The basic sequence of Rolfing® generally consists of ten sessions through which a new structural order is established and developed in the body, along with a more efficient and natural movement pattern.

The gravitational field of the earth is a force and a presence we are all subject to. Gravity is our constant companion and a primary influence and shaper of the body. From birth until death, gravity is always working on, with, or against us. It is a simple fact that most human beings are significantly out of alignment with gravity. All human bodies get pulled into unnatural positions which result in chronic patterns of tension, stress and pain; often predisposing us to negative emotional states and sometimes fostering psychological beliefs. Emotion leaves its imprint on the body and postural habits and limitations influence emotion. Patterns of mind and body become mutually sustaining and we can, in some regards, become rigid, inflexible and "set in our ways". Simply put, we function better when our bodies are aligned with the gravitational field of the earth.

Over a series of ten or more sessions, both client and Rolfer® work together to "lift" head, shoulder, thorax, pelvis and legs into vertical alignment. Chronic discomforts often disappear immediately or soon after the series is completed. A sense of lightness and internal rightness, along with more energy and greater mobility are very often the result.