Rolfing the Room
For most readers, this title will most likely foreshadow a certain energetic flavor, evoking morphing fields emanating from the table as those sensitive enough to perceive said fluctuations reorganize sympathetically in response to the work while those less skilled at riding these gently beckoning waves sit nervously waiting for other more obvious indicators that the […]
Remembering Ida Rolf with the Tradition of Children’s Clinics
On her 80th birthday, Ida Rolf offered a children s clinic to demonstrate the positive impact of Rolfing on children. This was the beginning of a tradition that has been carried on by numerous Rolfers and at times by the Rolf Institute, with many of the clinics held as free or low-cost events around May […]
Letter to My Children
February 21, 1996 Dear Children, Two of you are barely six years old, my dear twins, Camille and Meredith; and Willie, you have just turned two. I have no idea when you will read this or be able to extract any meaning from it, but I do want you to know about someone who was […]
Blue Lu and the White Witch
The year is about 1986, and it all centers on a wonderful Southern gentleman named Al Rose. I will relate a few of the highlights I remember of Al, my time in New Orleans, and how I came to rolf a legend of jazz. I was working in Maryland practicing Rolfing® Structural Integration. My husband, […]
The Relationship of Acupuncture Points and Meridians to Connective Tissue Planes
In a recent compendium of her own research and existing literaturea, Dr. Helen Langevin hypothesizes that acupuncture needling transmits information primarily via the connective-tissue matrix. Acupuncture meridians run along connective-tissue planes; and acupuncture points are embedded in connective tissue, tending to be located on fascial septi. Continuous throughout the body and responsive to mechanical stimulation, […]
The Rolfing Experience: Integration in the Gravity Field
It happened more than once: A group of bright, creative people who were drawn to leave behind other careers to come and learn structural integration, and who were struggling to attain fluency in anatomy, physiology, biology and other complicated sciences, would fall silent, noticing that Ida Rolf was studying them, and she would firmly remind […]
And They’re Off!
The Rolf Institute Research Committee (RIRC) was formed in 2005 with the overriding goal of building a research infrastructure within the structural integration (SI) community so that SI will be recognized in the larger arena of complementary medicine. The Committee, directed by Advanced Rolfer Tom Findley, M.D., and composed of academically accomplished practitioners involved in […]
Rolfing: Information for Clinical Healthcare Practitioners
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This document is for the purpose of familiarizing clinical healthcare practitioners with Rolfing structural integration. Rolfing is named after Dr. Ida P Rolf. After receiving her Ph.D. in biochemistry from Columbia University in the 1920s, Rolf began devoting her energy to creating a holistic system of soft-tissue manipulation and movement education that […]
A Veteran Rolfer Begs the Question:
Each day, when I’m confronted with the reality of the work that I do and the questions of strangers who want to know what Rolling®/Structural Integration (SI) is, I have to face the obvious answer: what I do, and what we do as structural integrators, is not rocket science. We may make it sound more […]
Enrolling Clients in Perception-Based Movement for Self-Care in the Context of Structural Integration
What does a movement-oriented approach offer the SI client? Traditionally, good posture has often represented the goal of SI. Although reference to static posture can be a good didactic or marketing tool, no one stands (or wants to stand) absolutely still. Good posture is a limited goal for SI because it does not represent true […]