When it was first introduced in the early ’60s, structural integration – or rolfing, as it is more commonly known was considered a revolutionary method of aligning the body with gravity through direct, hands-on manipulation. Gradually developed and refined over several decades by Dr. Ida Rolf, a biochemical researcher at the Rockefeller Institute, rolfing quickly became one of the pillars of the human potential movement, along with Gestalt therapy and transcendental meditation.

In those days, radical disciplines like rolfing were for the majority of their adherents the first step in the process of spiritual awakening. No wonder that the first generation of practitioners was so zealous, or that the aggressiveness and forthrightness of rolfing in the mid-’60s was so positively received. It matched the needs of people at that time.

Also, as Rolf’s health declined, she became increasingly urgent in her desire to transmit her understanding to her student practitioners, and her students inherited her sense of urgency. “Get in there!” she coaxed them, referring to the tension-ridden fascia of the bodies they worked on. Not until her death in 1979 did her senior teachers revise the system she had spent so many years developing. It was Dr. Rolf’s wish that the work be carried on in this way.

Today, after over two decades of mostly supportive though sometimes critical response, rolfing has claimed its rightful niche in the holistic mainstream of our culture. Regular trainings are sponsored by the Rolf Institute at its national headquarters in Boulder, Colorado, as well as in other U.S. cities and in several European countries.

Rolfing is far more caring and sensitive now than in the earilier days, when it was somewhat notorious for the pain it caused. Many clients still do experience pain in the process, but much depends on the style of the practitioner, some of whom are naturally softer and more nurturing than others. One way to look at the pain issue is that the rolfer does not inflict pain on the client but rather finds the storehouse of pain that already exists in the body. As these deep-seated holding patterns are uncovered and released, the client experiences pain in proportion to the amount of resistance that was already there. The subsequent relief felt is testimony to the efficacy of this process.

Like yoga teachers and others in the human potential movement, rolfers help people to live freer, fuller lives. We understand that holding patterns in the body indicate holding patterns elsewhere in the personality and psyche of the individual. Rigidities in the myofascia are metaphors for resistance on a nonphysical level. The rolfer’s job is to assist people first to confront and then to move through these blocks. As people’s bodies change, so do their lives.

<img src=’https://novo.pedroprado.com.br/imgs/1985/233-1.jpg’>

Rolfing in the ’80s is a refinement of the original purpose of the technique: to structurally align the body within the field of gravity. Through the release of chronic holdings in the myofascial webbing (a network of connective tissue whose function is to support and connect most of the components in the body’s recesses), the muscles are liberated to function with greater ease. As the result of injury, trauma, scarring, improper usage, and poor posture, this fascial material bunches up to compensate for the torques and twists that occur. Once soft, this tissue gradually hardens and literally begins to stick to itself, feeling like glue to a rolfer’s hands.

As any afficionado of movement knows, the body pays a high price for this type of internal resistance. Pain ensues, habit patterns develop, and the individual learns to function with limited options in moving. The more a person becomes habituated by such shortness and tightness in the connective tissue, the more bound he or she becomes. In rolfing, this is called a random body.

Rolfing attempts to counteract this tendency by teaching clients to lengthen and stretch the body as they move – an approach that is very much a part of yoga as well. Of course, deep relaxation and increased body awareness are also crucial for optimal functioning, but the fascia is not responsive to relaxation the way muscles are. By manipulating these blocked areas, a rolfer can help the practitioner of yoga move to a new level of freedom, balance, and organization. Yoga students often report that the rolfer helped them open pockets of holding they had not been able to contact through asanas.

The rolfer’s task is not only to palpate this tension but also to draw it out of the client’s body. Besides manually “scooping out” these pockets, we offer visualizations and breathing cues custom-tailored to the needs of the individual, plus plenty of movement designed to bring even more length to the musculature.

The emotional release often associated with rolfing is a by-product of working the body deeply. As rolfers, we understand how the fascia and musculature tell the story of withheld emotional trauma. People have their personalities wrapped up in clenched fists, stiff necks, collapsed ribs, and tight abdomens. No wonder that a person changes from the inside through rolfing. Given new-found freedom in their bodies, they gain alternative ways of expressing themselves through posture, speech, and movement. For some the process is purely physical; for others it can be a deeply spiritual awakening.

The Format

Rolfing is a single session divided into 10 segments, each of which lasts between 60 and 90 minutes. On the average these segments are spaced one week apart, although the interval may vary considerably. Each treatment focuses on a different part and perspective of the body. The first three sessions treat the first layer of resistance in the fascial planes. The next four work very specifically on deeper layers of holding. In every segment the rolfer analyzes the person’s structure, assesses his or her needs, and manually applies the recipe tailored to that body. Changes are experienced by the client throughout each treatment, with the most dramatic results coming as an integration at the end of the series.

Rolfers are trained to evoke movement from their clients in order to observe the results of the hands-on work. Movement also gives the rolfer more information about where the holding patterns lie – a body lying passive and still reveals no more than the most basic information about tension patterns.

Testing the range of motion in the joints and having the client sit, walk, and bend tell the rolfer much about the secrets buried in the body. In addition, the movement work teaches the client to be increasingly aware when moving outside the session, and serves also to engage the client in the rolfing process. The more active a person is in his or her bodywork, the more responsible he or she feels for the changes that ensue.

<img src=’https://novo.pedroprado.com.br/imgs/1985/233-3.jpg’>

The “Line” and Tadasana

The “line” – the central vertical axis of the body – is our internal cue or reminder in rolfing (see drawing, right side). Although the line is said to be imaginary – an ideal to be worked toward but never fully achieved – yoga practitioners will recognize it as similar to Tadasana, the mountain pose, a standing position in which the major hinges are relaxed and loose, the body upright and allowed to lift effortlessly through its midline. There is equal openess in the front and the back. The left and right sides match. The head and torso balance vertically over the pelvis and legs.

Ida Rolf pointed out that the root of the word posture is ponere, “to put” or “to place”. As bodies we took this meaning literally. We put our shoulders back, we placed our hips anteriorly, and we put the weight forward on our toes to compensate for the whole imbalanced mess.

<img src=’https://novo.pedroprado.com.br/imgs/1985/233-2.jpg’>

The “line” posture is actually the opposite of this. As we allow our heels to support us, the legs are free to rise vertically from the ankles. The pelvis naturally balances over the hip joints, providing a flexible and supportive base for our spine. The vertebral column lifts effortlessly so the head floats over the neck. The shoulders drop easily, free in the front as well as in the back.

With the proper guidance, this ease in standing naturally translates itself into a wide spectrum of freedom in movement. Gravity becomes an ally, rather than an adversary against which we are constantly struggling.

Arms, Hands, and Elbows

Rolfers and yoga teachers – despite fundamental agreement on many important points – seem to hold divergent views on the ideal position for the arms, hands, and elbows. Rolf taught her students that the elbows rest with the inner creases facing the body, the hands pronated, and the palms facing backwards. According to B.K.S. Iyengar – whose method of yoga is one of the most effective for correcting imbalances and treating structural problems – a relaxed arm has its entire inner border facing the front. This is a key aspect in Savasana, the pose of deep relaxation. To clarify this issue, Larry Hatlett, a prominent yoga instructor from the Iyengar Yoga Institute, and Michael Murphy, a rolfer in Palo Alto and anatomy instructor from the Rolf Institute, were asked to comment.

<img src=’https://novo.pedroprado.com.br/imgs/1985/233-4.jpg’>

Larry Hatlett first spoke of the position of the arms in Savasana. Since this is the pose of total relaxation, one might logically conclude that the open palms in Savasana indicate the ideal resting position for the hands and arms. Hatlett agrees, observing that the palms of his students open naturally – apparently this is gravity’s reaction to a neutral position.

There are certain anatomical considerations in Savasana as well. The pathways of nerves, blood vessels,dermatomes, and bones seem to lie in a more organized pattern with the palms up. The lower arm bones (ulna and radius) remain uncrossed. The pectoralis muscles receive a slight stretch. Almost all bodies can afford some openness here.

However, the psychological aspects are even more far-reaching, according to Hatlett. The open palms encourage receptivity, an openness to the present moment, a subsiding of thoughts of the future and the past. Hatlett describes the body with the palms turned upward as vulnerable, like a flower. Our defenselessness after our asana practice is a metaphor for peace.

Rolfer Michael Murphy’s ideas concerning the arms are both interesting and illuminating. Murphy does not believe in an ideal position for the arms and shoulders. “Elbows out, palms back” was one way Ida Rolf used to describe the arms and hands. However, as rolfers continued to observe bodies over the years, it became apparent that this description was not meant to apply universally.

Murphy says that his goal in rolfing is to allow each shoulder girdle he works on to hang freely, to balance easily. The nuances of this position vary from person to person. In positioning his client’s arms, Murphy’s motto is “Do whatever works.” The old model is only useful sometimes.

Yet Murphy does work to approximate a describable standard. The shoulder girdle floats on the rib cage in an organized body. The humerii (upper arm bones) hang from the scapulae (shoulder blades). The lateral and medial rotators and the flexors are equally relaxed. The deltoid muscle lies as a cap over the humerus, not displaced anteriorly or posteriorly. The muscles that move and affect the forearm originate in the upper arm. Thus the position of the humerus determines the position of the lower structures. When the humerii are balanced and easy, the radius falls across the ulna, bringing the thumbs slightly in front of the thighs, palms facing back. This position means easy accessibility for the hands when the arms bend in everyday activities such as eating or holding the phone.

<img src=’https://novo.pedroprado.com.br/imgs/1985/233-5.jpg’>

Commenting on some typical aberrations found in the shoulders, Murphy notes that people who are protecting their chests and attempting to avoid vulnerability often hold and move their arms in front of their body. This pattern corresponds to a collapsed chest and flexed thoracic vertebrae, the opposite extreme from Savasana. For such persons, rolfing, yoga, and exercises designed to openthe arms are remedial.

Other individuals carry their arms way back. Shoulder blades are pinched together, the thoracic spine is chronically hyper extended, and the lateral rotators of the arm are working overtime. This posture is characteristic of persons pushing themselves out into the world.-These subjects put on a good front, figuratively speaking. Here the job of the rolfer is to release the area between the shoulder blades, around the upper back, and directly behind and under the arms, as well as any other muscle groups that are accomplice to this holding pattern.

Murphy’s notion of surrender is a balanced body. A relaxed and organized structure is ready and able to do its work in the world. As we live life with our bodies, our physical strain becomes a literal description of how we perceive that life. How a body moves away from resistance and toward life depends on where it is holding. The rolfing ideal is intangible until it is given unique form within the body of each individual.

Rolfers, like yoga teachers, are facilitators for people who wish to learn about themselves. We are agents for change and evolution. To evolve, according to Darwin, is to become more vertical – and rolfing gives people the freedom to become upright. In the long run, then, the ultimate goal of rolfing is the original goal: to structurally align the body to balance within the gravitational field.. Only when this primary purpose has been achieved can the other benefits be realized.

Rose Bank is a certified rolfer, a certified Iyengar yoga instructor, and a teacher of bodywork and yoga at the Biocentrics Institute in Mountain View, California. She is a graduate of the Iyengar Yoga Institute and has studied extensively with Mr. Iyengar in India.The Art of Rolfing