ABSTRACT The author discusses the history of the Japanese Rolfing® Association (JRA) and a vision for development of the Asia region and for increased East-West interchange whereby some of the unique developments from Asia can begin to have an interplay with Western Rolfing methods.
JRA’s Organizational History
In this article, I will discuss my perspectives and suggestions on how the Japanese Rolfing Association (JRA) and the Asia region can contribute to the global community of Rolfers and our profession. This has been one of the important questions for our membership for many years. Recent experiences of cultural interplay, East and West, suggest that we have unique perspectives to bring to the Rolfing® Structural Integration (SI) conversation, that will foster interchange in the global Rolfing community. I hope this article will deliver a voice representing not only Japan but the whole of Asia which encompasses ethnic backgrounds, living environments, customs, and cultures that are largely different from those of the West.
The JRA was licensed as a regional international organization (RIO) under the Rolf Institute® [now Dr. Ida Rolf Institute® (DIRI)] trademarks in December 2004, which authorized it to operate a membership and educational organization using DIRI curricula, methods, etc. In accordance with Ida Rolf’s wish that Rolfing organizations be established as nonprofits, the JRA worked toward this and was awarded nonprofit status by the Japanese government in 2006. The antecedents of the JRA trace back further, however, some twenty years, and at the time of the JRA’s launch, there were around twenty Japanese Rolfers who had been trained at the Rolf Institute. Support for the establishment of the JRA as one of the RIOs came particularly through the endorsement of Jim Asher and Cornelia Rossi, who wished to create a strong Rolfing community in Japan and more opportunities for Rolfers in Japan.
The JRA membership is dedicated to the development and sustenance of our organization. We have set up an educational division as well as a sufficiently functioning organizational structure. We have offered workshops, events, and other training and continuing education (CE) opportunities, all of which are an essential part of ensuring our financial stability. With this functional framework as an organization, I believe it is our responsibility now to start considering how to expand the Rolfing community in more regions of Asia, and to consider what the Asian countries and our perspective can contribute to the global Rolfing community.
Rolfing SI is not yet widely known in Japan, and hardly known in Asia as a whole, so we need to start with a clear vision. We must first gain recognition and trust for our work through the region. A good starting point would be the JRA building stronger relationships with Rolfers in neighboring countries so that we can share knowledge and information. In my opinion, this will require us to break free from the cultural restrictions and certain fixed ways of thinking that can easily be blind spots in more mono-cultural nations like Japan.
Rather than view the JRA as a uniquely Japanese entity, my view is that it would make sense to restructure our organization and our training programs to a more regional perspective to support the spread of Rolfing SI throughout Asia. Developing our Asian Rolfing community more broadly, then interacting with the RIOs and Rolfing communities in other areas of the world, will all be steps that will facilitate the integration of any uniquely Asian perspectives and contributions into our Rolfing practice.
While many of the JRA’s initial efforts were oriented toward developing and supporting Rolfing SI and Rolfers in Japan, there was awareness that we were the first Asian Rolfing organization, and that our work could be a template for further development in Asia. With this in mind, it’s useful to reflect upon what we have developed and accomplished so far.
Every organization requires financial stability, and the JRA has supported itself
through offering four Basic Trainings and a number of continuing education (CE) classes. These courses were initially developed to target Japanese students, and most of the participants have been Japanese. Before this, Japanese people who wanted to study Rolfing SI had to travel to the U.S. or Europe, often incurring additional costs to bring along a translator. Moreover, after becoming certified as Rolfers, it was a burden to have to travel overseas for CE. Although it is beneficial to offer trainings and CE classes locally in Japan, fees and tuition is typically higher than in the U.S. or Europe because of a lack of local instructors, the high cost of living, and the expense of bringing in instructors from overseas.
It is definitely desirable to modify our educational system towards a more regional perspective. Attracting more non-Japanese participants, especially students from other Asian countries, will bring in a wider variety of perspectives and add more depth to the courses. This was my experience when I participated in European trainings as part of my certification. I had the opportunity to study with a diverse group of students, and to learn from instructors of different nationalities, each of whom offered a truly creative learning space with their own unique personality and perspectives. This was not without a learning curve: since it was my first experience studying outside of Japan, it took me quite some time to get used to the new culture(s) and to feel part of the group.
From what I observed, classes in the West place much more emphasis on class discussion, allowing the instructor and students to create the learning process together. On the other hand, Japan education traditionally focuses more on students listening to the instructor to absorb knowledge. This conditioning, rooted in our culture and educational system, as well as students’ English-language limitations, can affect how Western instructors perceive Japanese students. To a Westerner, we may seem passive. Our culture’s view of what is considered acceptable leads to high value being placed on harmony and cooperation. While there is a beautiful side to this, it can also mean that people are sometimes pressured to accommodate others by suppressing oneself, which can lead to extreme altruism and habitual thinking.
Expanding our community into a larger community of Asian Rolfers will bring in both diverse, as well as, reinforcing perspectives. Japan and other Asian countries share much in common. There are similarities in educational styles, and for most Asians, English is a second language. These aspects may foster a regional unity for Asia within the global Rolfing community and support our intra- regional development and communication.
Even within Asia as a region, however, there are different cultural backgrounds, historical backgrounds, and economic conditions. Thus, there may well be cultural constraints that will interfere with the sort of pan-Asia Rolfing community that I envisage. In order to prevent such problems, I think it is desirable that we respect each other’s cultures and styles. The JRA sharing its expertise may be merely a step to coming up with new concepts within a multinational organization for the Asian region. For example, it could be important to hold trainings elsewhere in the region. Someone organized a Basic Training in Indonesia in the past, and the draw of such a location that offers both a rich cultural and natural environment with lower local costs would surely also attract students from outside of Asia (e.g., Europe, North America).
Overall, the JRA expanding its activity as an organization would bring Rolfing training to a more diverse group of Asian students and
create opportunities for cultural exchange and nurturing friendships. According to Marius Strydom, Rolfing trainings in South Africa have attracted an increasing number of students from Asia in recent years. Creating more opportunities for those who would like to study to be Rolfers and who would like to do CE closer to home in Asia would be a wonderful way to nurture a sense of regional community and rapport.
A longer-term goal of regional training opportunities in Asia will be future teacher development. Currently, we have only one Japanese faculty member, Hiroyoshi Tahata, who is a Rolf Movement instructor. He conducts regular CE classes for Rolf Movement work, but other CE workshops require the JRA to invite instructors from other countries, as we have done for the four Basic Trainings held in Japan so far. (The only other Asian faculty member is Ashuan Seow, who lives in Australia.)
Future growth in the region may to some extent hinge on training experienced local practitioners as faculty, as a regional teaching pool to draw on would help reduce training costs.
Just as Rolfers in the U.S., Brazil, and Europe have brought forth unique approaches and important developments in our work, we can expect the same from regional development in Asia. We are already seeing manifestations from this in Tahata’s work, which has been profiled on various occasions in this Journal. Tahata devised a unique method called the Art of Yield (Agneesens & Tahata 2012, and Tahata 2012) or yielding that diverges from conventional Rolfing methods while working within the Principles of Intervention and achieving standard Rolfing goals. The method draws on his knowledge and experience as a cell researcher and was developed through comprehensive research and clinical experience. It also draws on Asian culture/ traditions, particularly how he has extended his work with yielding to include the Japanese concept of ‘ma’ (Tahata 2018). His method, which many Rolfers in Japan integrate into their practices, can be considered a particularly Japanese approach to Rolf Movement.
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Another Japanese Rolfer bringing in unique cultural influences is Tsuguo Hirata. He and other Japanese Rolfers have studied with a traditional ninja martial artist and are considering how those ideas can be brought into our work (Hirata 2019). He has also written for this Journal on other matters related to Japanese culture or his own unique perspective (Hoff & Hirata 2017, and his latest article on page 73).
Notably, Tahata and Hirata both are a to communicate their work in articles
written in English. With resources to cover translation costs, we would no doubt have a larger pool of Japanese and other Asian practitioners who would have unique ideas and perspectives to share, both now and as the regional community grows.
Unconventional and unique methods like Tahata introduced with yielding and ma may take some time to be accepted in other cultures or into the standard Rolfing canon. The creation and cultivation of Asian concepts and contributions will help our global community grow, adding new perspectives and more creativity in the field as a whole, just as we have seen with contributions from Brazil and Europe.
As an interesting example of the cross- cultural interplay that is possible, I’d like to share the story of an educational project the JRA held last year – a workshop where two instructors who had never met offered an impromptu East-West collaboration based on a theme and keyword. Nicola Carofiglio, Rolf Movement instructor from Italy, had long been intrigued by Asian cultures and traditional ways of thinking. We invited Carofiglio, who was inspired by Tahata’s Art of Yield approach, to teach two workshops with Tahata. The first was called Em-body Orient/Occident; the second was called Ultimately Rolfing Is for the Rolfer (based on a quote from Ida Rolf). Both classes had
mixed groups of Japanese and European students. Workshop photos are shown in Figures 1, 2, and 3.
Carofiglio seemed to be aware that Japanese learners expect an instructor to teach, as he told us right away, “I’m not here to teach. I’m here to share with you what I know.” He made sure to add that thoughts and suggestions were more than welcome, as they would be very useful reminders and inspirations for the instructors, as well as present different and valuable perspectives for collaboration. His words definitely helped all the students feel safe and comfortable. While I have experienced similar thoughtfulness from instructors in other courses, it felt especially meaningful as Carofiglio’s clear intention was to create a safe space in line with the theme of the workshop, to offer a token of respect and appreciation to a culture where he was teaching for the first time. The groups seemed to appreciate the way of teaching: offering a space that focused on sharing thoughts, knowledge, and exploring together as a group.
Despite the fact that it was the first time for the two instructors to meet, let alone work together, the outcome was incredible. Presented with the theme Em- Body Orient/Occident, they generously and spontaneously shared the fruits of their research and experience as if in an improvisational play. It felt like witnessing life itself, everything coming together organically without a script. I wonder what impressions have been left on the bodies and minds of the others who were present in that special time and space. For me, every moment we shared is still vividly present, which I attribute to the sense of awe and fundamental oneness the two instructors held within themselves. While Tahata’s approach focused on space, Carofiglio’s emphasis was on the physical senses and how the body as a medium experiences oneness. It was a remarkable workshop where two teachings constantly echoed each other perfectly.
I was not alone in being inspired. Another participant, a Rolfer from the Netherlands, praised the way the two instructors inspired each other in their demonstrations, saying that he could find in their exchange the type of friendship that the Ancient Greeks considered most valuable – referencing Aristotle who wrote, “Perfect friendship is the friendship of men who are good and alike in virtue” (Book VIII, Nicomachean Ethics).
Looking Forward
These workshops with Carofiglio and Tahata certainly offered a new and unique experiment of demonstrating the importance of not only sharing knowledge, but also perceiving sensation through the body in order to be truly present as oneself, from the different perspectives of East and West. I felt we took a significant step toward the integration of Orient and Occident, East and West, and this inspires me in my thoughts of what the Asia region can contribute to global Rolfing SI, which has so far been more of a Western development.
Carofiglio has long been seeking to find a universal key for all human beings by integrating perspectives of Asian traditions and cultures into his practice. Since his visit, which prompted new insights, he continues his inquiry and speculation. We all look forward to his next visit and his new findings. We hope that other Westerners will also find that integrating unique perspectives and concepts from the East, whether traditional elements or new developments in our Rolfing community, will be helpful to further develop their practices.
The attendance by several other participants from Europe indicates increasing interest from Western Rolfers in Tahata’s methods, which have already been gaining popularity in Japan. There was interest in bringing Tahata to Europe to teach, which would be another wonderful cross-cultural exchange. As the coordinator for this particular JRA workshop, I fully support any arrangements to nurture this budding trend. Interest in one of the methods developed in Japan is already a positive indicator for the Asian development proposals I make in this article.
The JRA recorded an interview with the two instructors, and published their feedback and comments in the Journal of The Japanese Rolfing® Association. While the article is in Japanese, and may not be accessible to most readers of this Journal, you can view some videos with English subtitles on YouTube at this link: http:// www.nicolacarofiglio.it/mediateca.
Throughout human history and cultures, we see that people value their own traditions but also thrive when exposed to new perspectives from different cultures and their unique perspectives. Creativity is the driving force behind the development
of modern society as well as human evolution. Cross-cultural exchanges such as I describe have the potential to foster creative evolution in our Rolfing work. As we cooperate to turn those ideas into reality, we will nurture a sense of community and enable more possibilities to develop. We at the JRA hope to take part in creating a mature society, in both the Rolfing community and society at large, where everyone feels pride and respect for their own and others’ identities, and where harmony and trust are valued.
Adopting a global perspective and staying up-to-date with changing circumstances will be essential for our profession. Closer collaboration of the JRA with Rolfers and prospective Rolfing students in other Asian countries has the potential to celebrate our diversity of cultures and share our experiences to build a stronger Rolfing community in Asia. With that development, we have a broader platform for regional contributions to the global Rolfing community. It is my hope that we will continue to learn and grow as part of the global community, and that someday this wonderful method/culture called Rolfing SI will reach throughout the gravity field on this planet.
Author’s Note: I would like to thank Rolf Movement Instructor Hiroyoshi Tahata for encouraging me to write this article. I would also like to thank Anne Hoff for her editorial help in bringing the English manuscript to its final version.
Masahiko Kushizaki is a Rolfer and Rolf Movement practitioner living in Fukuoka, Japan. He has been certified for about three years, and incorporates in his work the yielding work developed by Hiroyoshi Tahata, as well as exploring the integration into Rolf Movement and Rolfing methods of Tahata’s concept of spatial somatics employing the concept of ma. He fosters professional development by coordinating various workshops. He enjoys surfing and trail running in the mountains to pursue various states of physical sensation and perception.
References
Agneesens, C. and H. Tahata, 2012 June. “Yielding: Engaging Touch, Presence, and the Physiology of Wholeness.” Structural Integration: The Journal of the Rolf Institute® 40(1):10–16.
Hirata, T., 2019 March. “Ninja Movement Exercises and Vertical Bone Alignment.”
Structure, Function, Integration: Journal of the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute® 47(1):67–71.
Hoff, A. and T. Hirata, 2017 March. “Body, Speech, and Mind: An Interview with Tsuguo Hirata.” Structural Integration: The Journal of the Rolf Institute® 45(1):26–27.
Tahata, H. 2018 March. “Working with Ma: Further Refinement of the Yielding Approach through Time, Space, and Intersubjectivity.” Structural Integration: The Journal of the Rolf Institute® 46(1):44–51.
Tahata, H. 2012, June. “Case Studies with Yielding.” Structural Integration: The Journal of the Rolf Institute® 40(1):31–33.
Tahata, H. 2012, June. “Case Studies with Yielding.” Structural Integration: The Journal of the Rolf Institute® 40(1):31–33.
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