About 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. We'll explore and improve your movement patterns. We will slow down and help your nervous system integrate unmetabolized experiences.
What are the results of Rolfing sessions? You can expect to experience some combination of: less pain, less tension, more comfort, better posture, more flexibility, ease of movement, more body awareness, and more self awareness.
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. Our bodies support and protect us. They are constantly adapting to what's happening. They cope with chairs, restrictive footwear, not enough movement, lots of screen time, high everyday stress, injuries, shocks and losses. They help us feel, and they protect us from feeling too much. Tension is one of your body's tools for support and protection, and your body uses it wisely. While we work toward more ease and comfort in your body, it's important to me to remember that our bodies haven't failed. They aren't "doing it wrong." Bodies are brilliantly adaptive, and that adaptiveness is what makes it possible for Rolfing to help you.
Rolfing includes your whole self. Rolfing is fundamentally about contact. I use my hands to make contact with the textures and tissues in your body. Your body can make use of this contact to shift and change. In the process, 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 sense of purpose.
Some things that Rolfing isn't:
Rolfing not a painful massage. My touch is nuanced, responsive and respectful, not bossy and insensitive. I want your body to truly welcome my touch. I use a spectrum of touch, seeking the pressure and pacing that your body needs.
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 integrity of our bodies.
Some details about receiving the work:
Most people have 10-15 sessions spaced 1-3 weeks apart (this is the traditional Rolfing format), although some see me for more or fewer sessions. 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. This was true even pre-covid. I don't want the exposure, and it is a strain on your body to receive a session when your immune system is working with an illness.
