What is Rolfing®?
Rolfing® is a holistic method that helps the body to regain balance, promoting ease of movement by releasing tension and unnecessary stress. These effects are achieved through the use of manual techniques and specific movement and perception training.
Treatment of the connective tissue is central to Rolfing. Connective tissue, the so-called fascia, links all structures in the body. Fascia contributes to our internal organisation, allowing bodily elements to slide against each other (such as between the muscles), while lending structural stability through their tensional function. The fasciae are built up like a network and quickly adapt to external conditions.
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Injuries, incorrect movement patterns and stresses cause more material to build up in the connective tissue to better stabilize the body. Stress can add to this process. Often this stabilizing effect is so strong that it becomes a restriction in movement.
The fascia "stick" together but can be loosened again using the Rolfing techniques. As a result, the body finds its way back to a natural upright position, more efficient movement patterns and freedom of movement.
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As humans evolved, our bodies have gone from moving on four limbs to two-legged actions. As children grow and develop their progress generally takes course through action on all fours to upright movements. If this reorientation to upright alignment is impaired by injury, stress or inefficient movement patterns, the entire musculoskeletal system must compensate. Anyone may of course undergo strains and physical traumas in that unbalance their alignment and compromise their wellbeing.
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Some common examples, for instance, include jaw tension arising from stress, carpal tunnel syndrome and shoulder pains from overwork, whip lash as a result of vehicle accidents and various sports injuries. Restrictions arising through compensations and additional effort often create lasting tensions and pain unless they are systematically redressed. Rolfing is especially designed to do this.
The method and its name go back to Dr. Ida P. Rolf and her work more than 50 years ago. Guided by yoga, osteopathy and other schools of thought, the biochemist found the method "Structural Integration", a term that is still used today for this therapy and was later referred to as Rolfing after her name. The structure of the 10 sessions, which forms one of the foundations of the work, goes back to them. In each of these sessions, following a certain thematic sequence, a different body region is the focus, so the entire body can be influenced within this protocol. Rolfing sessions can of course also be taken individually without "committing" to a block of 10!