Rolf Rhythms
[:en]Early on, Rolfing® Movement was taught primarily through a sequence of quiet, centering movements-including core breath, pelvic rock, psoas movements, arm and leg rotations-called by some “the Rolf yoga.” In 1980, Megan James 1 and I and some of the other Movement Teachers were concerned that there were people who were simply not attracted to […]
Weightlifting and Rolfing
Bill: You lift weights? Judee: I do. Not the way I used to. I’ve been part of the weight training world for quite a few years. That’s what I did actually before I started the training to become a Rolfer. Bill: Did you compete? Judee: That was a partial goal actually. I ran a fitness […]
Rolfing and Aerobics
I became a Certified Aerobics Instructor while in the midst of my Rolfing training in 1992. Today I have a full-time Rolfing practice in Seattle, Washington and am the Aerobics Director at a major gym. My passions for Rolfing and aerobics have paralleled one another over time. Rolfing has sparked more ideas of how to […]
Pilates and Rolfing
When I think about the Pilates Method, I rarely think of it as “exercise.” This is a Method, a systematic approach to changing and supporting body structure and function. If I am designing a session for a client with a specific need, I ma) think in terms of anatomy – muscle groups, etc., but, for […]
Gyrotonics, Chinese Internal Exercises and Rolfing
Bill: As I said before, the prevailing attitude of the founder of Rolfing® structural integration toward exercise was ambivalent and it seems that at least the senior faculty are not known for their vigourous exercise routines. And so that leaves this huge area of how exercise can effect structure and how it interacts with Rolfing […]
The Jungle Gym: An Inquiry into Fitness
This article is an introduction to an on-going inquiry into what we know and can say about fitness. The inquiry is the Jungle Gym, developed by Emilie Conrad Da’oud. The Jungle Gym is a contribution to the evolution of a biologically based, self-reflexive model of exercise and fitness. The Gym has evolved out of the […]
Exercise and Balance
From the sessions that Rolfers and Rolf Movement Practitioners actually do with their clients to the time when a client fully discovers and continues to rediscover the pleasure and stability that come from living in her structurally integrated body, many factors come into play. One element that might positively affect the outcome and the benefits […]
An Evolutionary Perspective on the Body-Mind Relationship
The goal of my talk is to present review of some recent trends in evolutionary and theoretical biology, mainly with reference to those biomedical aspects that could be also of general, but I hope are of special interest for an audience of Rolfers. Some preliminary statements outline the topics I want to cover: Humans are […]
Posture and Gravity
As bodies, we live in the field of gravity. Whatever other activity we are engaged in, be it sitting and reading this paper, walking, or playing, we also have to keep ourselves from falling over-we have to address the problem of the pull of gravity on our body. How we come to terms with this […]
Rolfing as Sonata Form
INTRODUCTION In a famous TV broadcast, Leonard Bernstein elucidated the mysteries of classical sonata form to his young audience.’ What I vividly recall about this program over thirty years later is the marvelous visual device Bernstein employed to “cue” his audience to the movement’s main structural events (the piece was Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony, K. 551, […]