Learning, Seeing, and the Continuity of Practitioning and Practice
In last year’s poll on Rolfing training, two reported phenomena struck me. One was students’ reported discomfort with saying in class that they don’t see what is being talked about. The second was some Rolfers’ expressed lack of confidence. I see these two as closely related. What underlies the discomfort with not seeing is an […]
Definition and Principles of Rolfing
In the June/July 1991 issue of Rolf Lines, we provided a provisional statement of the principles of Rolfing. We asked that our statement of principles be regarded as a work-in-progress. Since the publication of those articles, we taught an Advanced class together and worked out what we believed to be a much more satisfactory statement […]
Notes Along the Path
It is now ten years since I have completed the Rolf training and I appreciate this opportunity to share some of the thoughts that I’ve gathered along the way since I began on this journey of being a Rolfer. It’s like walking along a path and writing down personal truths on scraps of paper and […]
In Profile… Jeff Maitland
BILL: What wonderful anecdotes do you have to tell us about Ida? JEFF: I never met Ida; I can’t tell Ida Rolf stories. (Ha! Ha!) BILL: Well, you could… JEFF: Well, I could try…. BILL: Okay, so how long have you been Rolling and how long have you been on the faculty? JEFF: I’ve been […]
Ethics: Defending Our Codes and Practices
For the past three years I have been in the unenviable position of overseeing the ethical considerations of the Rolf Institute. I have read many letters and articles pointing out how ineffective and meaningless our codes and standards are, many stating that if only we were to make the policing of our ethics tighter it […]
Freedom Versus Integration
Much is made about the difference between theory and practice. Pragmatists will assert that all that matters is how you get he work done. That is certainly true, but equally trivial. Rolfers work according to an overriding paradigm they have. Of course, everyone always feels that they are doing “just what this client needs”, as […]
Preliminary Considerations for a Theory of Core
When I read that this would be the First Annual Science of Rolfing Lecture, I thought this a little bit incongruous with what I have to say: I have chosen the theme of core, because I thought “this is really one of the issues I don’t know anything about.” It reminds me a little bit […]
An Interview with… Louis Schultz
How did you begin teaching anatomy? At the time I was in practitioner training, I was living with Peter and Susan Melchior, and of course Peter and I would talk nightly. There was no anatomy before the training, and what I realized, having taught traditional anatomy and done anatomy dissections was that once people got […]
In Profile… Jim Asher
Bill: We know all kinds of stuff about you, and most of it I think should not be repeated at this time. Jim: That’s a good start. Bill: Well, were you already Rolfing when you started figuring out that cranial work might be something interesting for you? Jim: No. I started studying cranial when I […]
Rolfing Research
In October 1990 I accepted the position as Director of Research for the Rolf Institute. Based upon meetings with the President of Institute, Alan Demmerle, we have agreed that I will structure a plan of research for the Institute. This will focus on an overall vision of identifying what research should be done, how the […]