On Hanging Tough Under Your Bushel Basket
Placing this article in the entrepreneur’s column” is a bit of a misnomer and for those of you with full practices, I bid you to move along elsewhere in this issue. The folks who are starving are the ones I’m interested in reaching. Newly certified Rolfers confront a very challenging paradox in starting up their […]
The Dorsal Hinge
For many years, I was confused about the dorsal hinge. My instructors spoke about it, but I never saw it in anatomy books. After a few years, I began to notice more and more in the mid thoracic part of the spinal column without really getting a conceptual handle on it. For a few months, […]
The Golgi Tendon Reflex Arc as a New Explanation of the Effect of Rolfing
About two years ago I wrote an article in Rolf Lines about two little experiments I did. I wanted to find out how much of my Rolfing work is based on what Rolfer Hans Flury calls “the physical mode” (which is working with the property of mechanical plasticity of connective tissue), and how much it […]
Applied Physiology
I have been privileged to introduce the Rolf Institute Comprehensive Studies classes to the scientific aspects of our inquiry, our on-going dialogue amongst ourselves, our students, our instructors and community concerning the nature of Rolling and related methods, and the significance of this work in the broadest sense. There are many perspectives on this inquiry. […]
Innovations in Back Work
One of the problems with success is that it tends to repeat itself. The back work we do on the bench in Rolfing is probably some of the most successful back work in the business. The client lets their head drop forward as we work downwards in the layers of connective tissue with our elbows […]
Rolfing and Pregnancy
Is it appropriate to Rolf a pregnant woman? From my point of view, the ideal situation is one in which a woman receives the basic tenseries before ever getting pregnant. Pregnancy and birth are so much easier for most women if they have been Rolfed first. And a Rolfer can be so much more helpful […]
Reading a Scientific Article
The Rolf Institute’s Research Committee has begun a project to survey the scientific literature that relates to Rolfing. Our plan is to provide Institute members with reviews of particularly interesting studies. Some of you have offered to help by serving as reviewers, but first we need to decide what we are trying to do. This […]
Understanding Rolfing
Like all material structures, the human body is subject to the basic laws of physics. The purpose of Rolling is to better balance the body around a vertical line in the field of gravity so that gravity begins to support the body, rather than tear it down. The “organ” of response of gravitational law is […]
The Effects of Rolfing on Running Economy and Running Mechanics
Summary The purpose of this study was to deter-mine the effects of Rolfing on running economy, the amount of energy required to run at a given velocity. Running economy is considered an important factor in distance running performance, improvement of which may be a key to improving performance. The hypothesis of this study was that […]
OptiComp Works!
The day was November 28, 1988, when Rolfer John Davis gave us a receipt for OptiComp system #0001. This day also marked the conclusion of Eva Jo Wu’s practitioner training in which she had ob-served the system in operation throughout the class. After spending about a day with John Davis and watching the OptiComp system […]