Energy Work
Re-conceptualizing an Inclusive Spectrum of Interventions within an Informational Model of SI Preamble: Two Interventions Looking for a Home Personal history: In 1979, a friend who practiced homeopathy did an experiment to see if he might affect elevated blood pressure using his newly acquired acupuncture doll – a two-foot-high model of the body with labeled […]
The Energetic Taxonomy
Q: Ida Rolf was a scientist, but she also had an interest in how Rolfing® Structural Integration (SI) affected human beings on many levels, including the energetic. How do you relate to the energetic taxonomy and see its impact on SI outcomes? How can we represent that dimension of our work in a plausible manner […]
Grounding Structural Concepts in Physical Reality
Ida Rolf consistently stressed the importance of „gravity, an unexplored factor in a more human use of human beings“. Examining this contention more specifically and concretely immediately leads to realizing that gravity as a physical force permanently interacts with other forces. These are normal force which acts from the ground up on the body and […]
Structural Analysis – a Diagnostic Six-step Schema
There is one belief that is shared by most practitioners of Structural Integration: the idea that everyone‘s body possesses its own individual structure, different from the structure of every other person. Although this proposition is generally not challenged but, on the contrary, taken for granted, there seems to be great reluctance, resistance even, to consciously […]
Introduction to Structural Integration
Summary: Sometimes people interested in the field of structural integration like to be informed about the conceptual background of the field. This is done the easiest way by lining up the most important and relevant questions pertaining to the field. Definitions of the basic concepts are necessary. They allow to formulate pertinent questions and possibly […]
Does Normal Function Integrate Structure?
If it is true that tension rather than pressure changes fascia, movement can be expected to change fascia, too. The conditions for such a change through movement are discussed as well as factors which would make this change integrative. Four models were photographed before and after doing Folding on one leg in a stretching mode […]
‘Burned from Within’ and Droop Neck Syndrome
I learned a lot about bodies and about Rolfing SI in my training at the Rolf Institute®. But I learned a great deal more from my clients and their bodies through the practice of the art and science of Rolfing SI. This article is about what I learned from two particular clients. People and […]
Closure
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. Viktor Frankl Author’s note: This was written in August 2016 and read to my graduating class. I just finished my third ever Ten Series with a client from the public. The completion of these sessions goes along with the […]
Human Doings of Human Beings
Anne Hoff: Heidi, you’re active as both a Rolfer and a lawyer. Aren’t those radically different professions? Heidi Massa: Not really. Right after finishing my training as a Rolfer, I mentioned the new career direction to a medical psychiatrist I know. His astute reply: “It doesn’t matter. Either way, you straighten people out.” AH: So […]
Melding Interdisciplinary Fields
The Pieces of My Puzzle People are diverse. Lives are complex. Interests diverge and intertwine as people gain wisdom and experience. This shows up in peoples’ lives through how they educate themselves, where they live, and what career(s) they pursue over a lifetime. Personally, my convergence of all of these areas can be defined as […]