Some Third Hour Thoughts
During her basic practitioner’s class in Boulder, 1972, Dr. Rolf called the class over to look carefully at her Third hour model’s left side. The longer we looked, the more structural details we saw. Students began noticing that the model’s ribs were not evenly distributed and that some were deeper than others. They commented that […]
Direct and Indirect Techniques: A Conversation
Jan Sultan On the Direct-Indirect question; after all is said and done, you have to make peace with your own understanding of the terms, so you can make consistent observations. If you are talking to friends or colleagues, you have to define your terms. If other professionals are using the terms differently, you have to […]
That’s Better… But It’s Not Good
When clients ask me how I became interested in Rolfing° as a career, I usually reply “serendipity” – which I recall hearing Dr. Rolf once describe as being one of her favorite words. Serendipity – “the faculty of making delightful discoveries by accident.” This nicely describes my journey into Rolfing. This is beyond “a happy […]
Postural Release
Under the name of Structural Dynamics, and its implementing manipulative technique, Postural Release, a significant area in human experience is being explored. Subjectively speaking, it is a study in awareness. Objectively, its outline was delineated by Cuvier in 1821: his description, however, referred specifically to paleontology. “Every organized being forms a whole, a unique and […]
Responses to Article
THE BACK BONE OF STRUCTURAL INTEGRATI0N By Jeffrey Maitland Robert Schleip’s article “Lecture Notes on P’soa, and Adductors”` is very interesting; and helpful. It specially appreciate how he has allowed us to sharpen our evaluative skills through explicating the very important work of Vladimir Janda and I want to acknowledge him for bringing this work […]
The Smells of Fascia
During my basic training, Sally Klemm asked me once?Ray, how do you know when you are in the ‘right place’ when you are working?” My immediate answer was: “Oh, I just smell it.” Although rather surprised, she mentioned another Rolfer who processed fascial reality it that way and related anecdotal reports of his experiences. A […]
Plasticity and Flexibility in the Development of Organisms
What exactly is our true plasticity and flexibility within the physical and cultural environments into which we are born and in which we develop? Scientists from such diverse disciplines as molecular genetics, evolutionary and developmental biology, anthropology, neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, comparative developmental psychology, and sociology have for some time now been focusing their attention on this […]
Peripheral Nerve Work – Compare and Contrast
I attended Dr. Jean-Pierre Barral’s class on peripheral and cranial nerves in 2005. At that time I’d been Rolfing® twenty-seven years. The discovery that nerves were 1) palpable, 2) manipulable, and 3) the source of many skeletal distortions, made a sudden and profound impact on the way I interacted with tissue. Christoph Sommer has written […]
Including The Viscera in the Process of Rolfing
I intend this article to be a straight foreward description of a five series I completed this past year. This series included work will) the visceral fascia that proved to be significant in addressing a major structural issue. The before and after pictures of this client, who I will call Dave, are reprinted here. I […]
The Somatics Study Group
The second annual Colloquium on Somatics Inquiry, conducted by the Somatics Study Group, will be held at CIIS on Friday and Saturday, March 9th and 10th, 2001. It is open to the members of the Somatics Study Group, the panel of judges, and those whose papers are selected for presentation. At that time, the second […]