Integrating the Fourth International FRC
Earlier this year I had the good fortune to be awarded a scholarship from the Ida P. Rolf Research Foundation and the Rolf Institute® Research Committee to attend the Fourth International Fascia Research Congress (FRC) in Washington, D.C. I would like to start by expressing my gratitude to both organizations for their support. My report […]
An Overview of the Fourth International Fascia Research Congress
I begin with a disclaimer and an apology. Since I did not attend the three previous congresses, this overview of the Fourth International Fascia Research Congress, which I attended on a scholarship from the Ida P. Rolf Research Foundation and the Rolf Institute® Research Committee, lacks historical perspective. One of the principal organizers of the […]
Turning Our Lens Inward
The unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates Introduction Well, here we are folks, in this crazy little thing called Humanity. It could have been different. The current über species could have (with a different twist of fate) been more reptilian. Yes, 65 million years of dinosaur evolution could have altered the life-scape so […]
The Long Body
Brooke Thomas: Today I am having a conversation with Frank Forencich about the ‘long body’. I’m quoting Frank here: “Our perception of the human body as a singular, isolated unit, strong as it may be, is actually an illusion and a dangerous one at that. In actual fact, we are massively interconnected with the […]
The Reptile and the Mammal Within
Three and a half billion years ago, life began in the oceans. A pond scum called cyanobacteria started to capture energy from the sun and spit out oxygen. Then, 1.85 billion years ago, oxygen levels were high enough to cause an increase of several magnitudes of complexity in living organisms. Eventually the ‘Cambrian explosion’ occurred, […]
Polyvagal Theory for Rolfers™
It is hard to know what Dr. Rolf would have said about polyvagal theory. I think she would say that Rolfers need to know about this wiring that governs the state regulation of the human animal. As Rolfers, our hands are making contact with the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and our interventions are impacting the […]
Refining Dr. Rolf’s Lateral Line
During Dr. Rolf’s class in 1972 I took careful notes. Having recently learned calligraphy, I wrote my notes in a freshly minted italic hand (see Figure 1). Figure 1: Page 2 from my calligraphed 1972 class notebook. Dr. Rolf was introducing her ideas about plasticity, gravity, and alignment. Rolf’s lectures began with a discussion of […]
The Three-Dimensional Animal
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook […]
The Human Animal
“Karma no!” Carli’s exclamation overlaps the immediate din of cat-dog conflict by the food room’s door. “Bad girl!” Swiftly admonishing the dog and swooping up the cat, Carli seizes control of the situation. She parents and socializes our pets as naturally and spontaneously as any mother would her rather geriatric children. It had to be […]
Beamer: The Chihuahua That Somehow Knew
[:en]I don’t work with animals very often. They just don’t seem to come my way. There was one time, however, that I did work with a small pretty dog, Beamer. This has remained an experience of some wonder for me. About eight years ago, I was staying at the comfortable and artistically nurturing home of […]