Rolfing Structural Integration

Rolfing® Structural Integration is deeply effective hands-on soft tissue work and movement education. Through a series of sessions, we work with your body's inborn tendencies and your compensatory patterns around accidents, sports and work, repetitive movement, trauma, modern sedentary life, etc. In your Rolfing sessions, we'll work together to open, soften, lengthen and balance soft tissue restrictions throughout your body. 

Every body has tremendous capacity for change. I feel it under my hands every day. I make contact...and bodies shift and change. Hard places soften, dormant places engage, and the body feels different and moves in new ways. 

What are the results of Rolfing?  You can expect to experience some combination of less pain, less tension, better posture, more flexibility, more body awareness, ease of movement, and more access to calm, clear, optimistic mental and emotional states. 

Rolfing includes your whole body. You have a seamless web of connective tissue (fascia) throughout your body, and this web is an important part of your body's adaptions to the events and actions of your life. Trouble in a specific area is usually part of a pattern that involves the whole body. As a Rolfer, I work with the patterns of connectedness throughout your entire body. 

Our bodies have great reasons for doing what they do. Bodies are constantly adapting. They cope with life's injuries, shocks and losses, with chairs and restrictive footwear, not enough movement, lots of screen time, and high everyday stress levels. Tension is one of your body's tools for support and protection, and your body uses it wisely. Bodies are brilliantly adaptive, and Rolfing works WITH your body's adaptive genius to help you find more comfort and functionality. 

While we work toward more ease and comfort in your body, it's important to remember that our bodies haven't failed. They aren't "doing it wrong." Our bodies are wildly successful, even when pains and problems are present.  

Rolfing includes your whole self.   Rolfing helps connect you to yourself in a a very deep way, helping you digest and understand experiences, and align with your true needs and larger sense of purpose. 

Some things that Rolfing isn't:

Rolfing isn't the last thing you will ever need to do.  Lifelong, we all have the responsibility to actively prioritize and act to uphold the integrity of our bodies, with regular varied movement and ongoing self-care. 

Rolfing is not a painful massage.

I have a lot to say about Rolfing's reputation as being painful. You can see my blog about it here.  Is Rolfing painful? My shortest answer is: No. There are times where has been painful, but it doesn't need to be, and is more effective when it isn't. 

The reputation for pain stems from Rolfing's early days, and from client/practitioner beliefs that more pressure always equals more change.  But we've learned that people's bodies change more, and the changes are more stable, when we give the body an experience that it likes and genuinely wants to receive. Ida Rolf was a genius bodyworker not because she was forceful, but because she was a master at making contact. As a Rolfer, I am trying to help with the body's patterns of bracing and protectiveness. It doesn't make sense to give the body an experience to brace against and protect itself from! 

I use a spectrum of touch, everything from very light to firm and steady. This is how I was trained at the Rolf Institute, and is what I have experienced while receiving wonderfully effective work from many colleagues through the years. Sensations can range from mild to more intense. We don’t need to make things intense to be doing valuable work. When intensity is there, I am ok with that…as long as it feels truly wonderful!!! If not, I need to change what I’m doing and find a better way to make contact with you. And I have lots of options if one way isn’t working.

I bring patience, sensitivity and curiosity to my touch, and I listen for tissue responses and make subtle adjustments to speed and pressure, especially if my touch is firm, and especially if the sensations are more intense. This listening and adjusting makes a huge difference in how Rolfing feels. I can't emphasize this enough. If I do Rolfing to you without listening and adjusting, I might force the tissue, and it will hurt. When I listen and respond to the tissue, and listen and respond the the feedback you give me, Rolfing feels wonderful! My clients regularly tell me this.

Some details about receiving the work:

A traditional Rolfing experience is 10-15 sessions that thoroughly address your entire body. This works great for a lot of people, and is frequently how I work with people.  Occasionally, people get what they need with handful of sessions, or even a single session. And some people do more than 15 sessions. Many people get  occasional tuneups after their initial series. and some even settle in to regular, ongoing sessions. 

So really, you can do as few or as many sessions as you wish, and we can figure this out as we work together. If you want a traditional Rolfing experience, think 10-15 sessions. Age, height, and medical/surgical complexity can increase the number of sessions someone needs in their initial series. 

Every Rolfing session is different and the process is cumulative. Over time, the sessions can add up to create significant and lasting changes. You should be able to tell early on (within 1-3 sessions) if Rolfing is a good fit for you. 

For most of each session you will be lying on the table, but sometimes you will be sitting or walking. During the session, I like to be able to see your body and have access to your skin. Women can wear bra and underwear or shorts and a tank top. Men should wear a comfortable pair of gym shorts.

Please reschedule if you have a cold or any other illness, even if mild. It is a strain on your body to receive a session when your immune system is working with an illness, and I don't want to get sick too!