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. My personal perspective, from a background as a physiologist, is scientific and intellectual. My experience of the inquiry is an experience of the relationship between ideas and change, between concepts and miracles. For it has been said that it is ideas, and ideas alone, that can change a human being.

While this part of Comprehensive Studies is called “Applied Physiology”, it is, in fact, a search for healing concepts from all disciplines, concepts that can mend our separations, that can return us to our natural state of health and harmony, that can clarify the role of Rolling in the fabric of life.

I thank Ida Rolf and the Rolfers, particularly Peter Melchior, Jason Mixter, and George A. Hall, III, for introducing me to this inquiry, to ideas that continue to change my life and the lives of those around me. On another level, I acknowledge ideas really come from a higher world than the one we experience with our senses or that we can touch with our rational minds.

CONTEXT FOR OUR INQUIRY. We begin by defining the word CONTEXT, the part of a discourse which helps to explain its meaning. It is the whole situation, background, environment relevant to an inquiry. Our context includes:

what we think about.
what we read in the newspaper.
what has been discovered.
what we think is the truth.
what is unknown to us.

It is these things in relationship that form our context at any given instant.

CONTEXTURE is a weaving together, a texture, a fabric, a matrix, that joins parts together. Here we can be referring to the parts and processes of the human organism, the parts of our environment, the parts of our inquiry.

The study of the human being is a study of the fabric of the nervous system, the fabric of metabolism, the fabric of the fascia, the fabric of living fields, the fabric of ideas and emotions, the fabrics that connect and integrate these separate tapestries and bring them to life. The living body can be viewed as an onion-like series of layered fabrics, each partly transparent, that all can be partly seen at once. The whole of these fabrics form the cauldron of the alchemist, the matrix of the Sufi, the Tree of Life of the Qabalahist: that from which we are continuously becoming. What is valuable, sought after, is a vision of the pattern, the order within the matrix.

One tapestry is woven from the highly influential threads of thought that have always been joined together, although there has been an illusion that this is not so. Our inquiry brings together ancient wisdom, including the religious traditions of both East and West, and the traditions that go back before religions, to the dawn of creation. These lines joining with those of modern physics, which has now discerned that reality has to do not with things but with the invisible ties that join one thing to another. Modern physiology, the physiology of whole systems, integration, and wholeness join with psychology, medicine, and philosophy. The names we have given to the parts of our inquiry are footnotes to the experience of their coming together, the experience of the whole.

A ROLE FOR MODERN PHYSICS. The dawn of modern physics can be traced to a specific event that took place on December 14, 1900, when Max Planck stood before the German Physical Society in Berlin and introduced the concept of the quantum. Planck was studying an obscure physical phenomenon called “black body radiation”. A brilliant physicist and humble human being, Planck fully realized the deep implications of his findings, for they went against the prevailing ideas of the time. And these were dearly held ideas, for they represented a triumph of reason, a basis for understanding all of the phenomena of nature. This was a giant turning point in man’s intellectual development, for it led twenty-five years later to quantum mechanics and a revolution in the way we view the world.

The new view is summarized by Fritof Capra:

No object exists except in relationship to other objects. What we call things are in fact points of correlation in the interconnected network of events, motions, relations, and energies. Subatomic particles and all matter made there from (including our cells, our tissues, our bodies, our communities) are in fact PATTERNS OF ACTIVITY rather than things.1

The implications of quantum theory, relativity, and general systems theory have led us away from an experience of the body as a machine made of parts that can go wrong, to an experience of the body as a successful whole with remarkable powers to restore, revitalize, and regenerate itself.

LANGUAGING WHOLENESS. There is a language of wholeness, and the regular use of this language leads naturally to an experience of wholeness. It is a language that is different from the language we are taught from the first days of our lives. Our usual language divides the world, our bodies, into parts, each with a different name and function, and hinds the visualization of things working together, of wholeness.

The writings of Dr. Julian Silverman have been particularly valuable in introducing the language of relationship:

If you focus on the form or appearance, you will miss the underlying relationships, the lines which coordinate and connect the parts. If you can see how the parts interact, you have seen through the superficial form to the underlying relatedness of the parts.2

The language of wholeness emphasizes cooperation, working together, mutual nourishment, balance, harmony, integration of activities.

PHYSIOLOGICAL INTEGRATION. Physiologists have now begun to study living systems from this perspective with much success. Edward F. Adolph is one such physiologist:

The biology of wholeness is the study of the body as an integrated, coordinated, successful system. No parts or properties are uncorrelated; all are demonstrably interlinked. And the links are not single chains, but a great number of crisscrossed pathways.”

Total physiological integration implies total interconnection. Shift one system, and all of the others shift. No properties are uncorrelated; all are demonstrably interlinked.3

These ideas provide a basis for the successes of Rolfing and of some of the other somatic approaches. It is obvious any intervention that balances and revitalizes and regenerates the myofascial system will likewise benefit the other systems of the body: the circulation, the nervous system, the immune system, the excretory system, etc. “Shift one system, and all of the others shift.” Balance and harmony are contagious.

A SCIENCE OF WHOLENESS. The philosophers and historians of science have advanced our inquiry by describing how our ideas of what is true, and how we find the truth, have changed through the ages. There is no such thing as THE scientific method; instead, there have been a succession of NOTIONS about how to find the truth. Philosophers such as J.W. Ratcliffe from Berkeley 4 have shown how cherished dogmas, such as the superiority of quantitative and objective approaches over qualitative and subjective, are fundamentally unsound. For ALL inquiries involve qualitative, subjective decisions about what to study, how to study it, and how to interpret the results, that influence the results far more than the methodology itself. Rigorous collection of data and careful statistical analysis, long considered the hallmark of great research, are now seen as but a part of the process. Rigor is required at every step from beginning to end.

Ratcliffe has traced the evolution of inquiry systems. Each generation of scientists has had a RIGHT WAY to conduct research and a GUARANTOR OF VALIDITY that assures reality is being studied. The fact that these RIGHT WAYS and GUARANTORS have changed again and again through the ages shows the relativeness of truth.

Historically, the first approach was deductive (Aristotle, Leibniz). The laws of the universe were obtained by thinking about reality, not by observing it. The guarantor of validity was agreement among experts. In the seventeenth century, the inductive method was suggested (Locke), in which nature was first observed and then laws were formulated. Again, validity was guaranteed by agreement of experts. In the eighteenth century, these approaches were combined in a synthetic method (Kant), in which laws were deduced and then compared with reality. The guarantor was agreement or fit between the proposed laws and reality. This is the approach I was taught as a graduate student.

In the nineteenth century, a dialectical approach evolved (Hegal). This approach is based on the idea that only through CONFLICT can the real underpinnings of research be discerned. The dialectical approach brings out aspects of an inquiry not previously considered, such as:

who pays for the research?
who benefits from the research?
who suffers the consequences of theresearch?
who decided the question was important?
who chose the approach taken?
why was that approach selected?

For the first time moral, issues are brought into the inquiry. Scientists are no longer able to use scientific objectivity as an excuse to separate themselves from their social context, to hide themselves from the consequences of their discoveries. The Nuremberg Trials established this in a court of law: the scientists who developed the gases used at Auschwitz were held accountable for the consequences of their discoveries. All research has an ethical dimension that must be addressed by the researcher.

The most recent approach to inquiry is the relative method (Singer). This system is based on the premise that the rules of inquiry are creations of the mind, and are therefore goal-oriented. Hence the information gathered, the truth, reality, are only valid relative to the goals and objectives.

A relative inquiry gives a holistic, synthetic, trans-disciplinary view of a problem. It is holistic, because it recognizes science and inquiry cannot be separated from human and natural systems. The inquirer is a part of the process. His/Her psychological makeup and social context are factors in the outcome and are, therefore, part of the inquiry.

The relative approach aims to SWEEP-IN all considerations, populations, and disciplines, which are interconnected in the world system. Validity is guaranteed if ALL relevant information has been focused on EVERY aspect of the problem. Since this is impossible to achieve, the relative approach recognizes truth is never more than an approximation. And there is no ONE AND ONLY correct pathway to the truth. There are only NOTIONS of validity, and all of them are approximations. Following the rules at any point in history only proves one is playing by the current rules.

In our research on Rolfing we will, of course, play by the current rules. My experience of the relative approach is that it is not strange or far-out, but it expands the possibilities, the qualities, and the validity of any research effort by revealing aspects of an inquiry that are usually concealed or not thought about. To use a Rolfing term, the relative method provides a solid GROUNDING for a project. From the outset, we acknowlege we are Rolfers, the beneficiaries of research that documents the effectiveness of Rolfing, and that our clients will suffer the consequences of poor research. For these reasons we are encouraging outsiders to pay for our research, to choose the approaches to be taken, to conduct the investigations, and to analyze and interpret the results.

The relative approach has led to a set of guidelines that maximize the sweeping-in of all aspects of a problem. Of interest to us is that this approach allows, even demands, an inquiry include consideration of QUALITY and EXPERIENCE, which have not been allowed in previous approaches.

These ideas about inquiry are important to us, for they expand our possibilities as practitioners and as researchers. They open up avenues that science has limited or discouraged in the past. Physicists are now citing John Lilly’s 1972 statement:

What we believe to be true is true, within certain limits that are, themselves, beliefs to be transcended. In the province of the mind there are no real limits.5

ENERGY FIELDS. In discussing biological fields, we begin with the writings of Harold Saxon Burr, the Yale physiologist who made extensive studies of the fields of life. Dr. Rolf always wanted her students to read Burr’s works:

All living things, from mice to men, trees to seeds, generate electric and magnetic fields that can be accurately measured and that correlate with growth, development, disease, degeneration, regeneration, and orientation of the organism’s molecules. Every physiological process, every event in the body, generates a field that can be detected in the space around the body. All of the universe, both living and non-living, is organized and maintained by fields that determine the position and movements of all particles of matter, which are, themselves, condensations of fields.

The pattern or organization of any biological system is established by fields. The fields are produced by the components and at the same time determine the orientation of the components. Fields maintain the pattern in the midst of a flux of components. This is the mechanism whose outcome is wholeness, organization, continuity.6

Until recently, Burr’s theories have been given little attention by the scientific community. But the development of a very sensitive detector of magnetic fields (called the SQUID or superconducting quantum interference device) has made it possible to measure minute biomagnetic fields, and many of Burr’s concepts have been confirmed. A whole new area of research called energy-field medicine is being explored in universities and medical schools all over the world. We now know that virtually every physiological process, every event in the body, produces biomagnetic fields in the space around the body. The strongest field is that of the heart, recorded as the magneto cardiogram, and it can be detected a meter away from the body. While the SQUID is unable to detect the heart field at a greater distance, this does not mean the field ends here. Instead, it means the signal becomes lost in the surrounding noise. Someday more sensitive detectors will enable us to detect the field at greater distances. The boundary between that which is ME and that which is OUTSIDE OF ME has become blurred. Living fields extend my being indefinitely into the space around me.

The second strongest human biomagnetic field is the field of the eye, first recorded in a log cabin far from electric power-line interference. Somewhat weaker are the fields of the various voluntary muscles. Each movement of the body, even of the most minute muscles, produces biomagnetic fields in the space around the body; and these fields are characteristic of the movements. Even weaker, but still detectable, are the fields of the brain. Eventually we may be able to detect the field produced by a single thought.

The electric and magnetic fields of the body interact to produce electromagnetic radiations (radio waves) that rapidly propagate information about body activities far beyond the surface of the skin.

To us, the most interesting discovery made with the SQUID is that the “therapeutic touch” technique developed by Dolores Krieger is associated with the production of strong biomagnetic fields. Therapeutic touch does not actually involve touching, but the focusing of attention on the hands while passing them over the patient’s body. Dr. John Zimmerman 7 of the University of Colorado School of Medicine has detected strong pulsating biomagnetic fields associated with therapeutic touch.

These discoveries suggest that science could benefit from a re-examination of the observations of individuals down through the ages who have reported an ability to see an ever changing field or aura about the body. I suspect the human eye, the most exquisite sensor ever created, has the capacity to detect minute variations in the pattern or polarization or coherence of light rays as they interact with biomagnetic fields.

CONNECTIVE TISSUE. In presenting the connective tissue and fascia, we begin by recognizing these collagenous fabrics form a mechanical continuum, extending throughout the animal body, even into the innermost parts of each cell. 8 & 9 All of the great systems of the body-the circulation, the nervous system, the musculo-skeletal system, the digestive tract, the various organs-all are ensheathed in connective tissue. This matrix determines the overall shape of the organism as well as the detailed architecture of its parts.

All movements of the body as a whole or of its smallest parts are created by tensions which are conducted through the connective tissue fabric.

All of the connective tissues are piezoelectric crystals, giving them a remarkable ability to generate electric fields in response to mechanical distortion. Because of this property, each tension, each compression, each movement causes the connective tissues to generate bioelectric signals that are precisely characteristic of those tensions, compressions, and movements.

The connective tissue is a semi conducting communication network that can convey bioelectric signals between every part of the body and every other part. This fascial communication network comprises the meridian system of traditional Oriental Medicine with its countless extensions into every nook and cranny of the organism. The elusive Chi in its various forms, the source of energy and information for all parts of the organism, is revealed to consist, at least in part, of bioelectric, biomagnetic, biomechanical, and bioacoustic signals moving through collagen fibers, ground substance, and associated layers of water molecules.

As signals flow through the fascia, they induce biomagnetic fields that extend the stories they tell into the spaces around the body. The resulting electromagnetic symphony provides each living cell with essential information on the activities of other parts. This information enables each cell to adjust its functions appropriately, to form and reform the surrounding tissue architecture to accommodate the tensions, compressions, and movements of the whole. These adjustments provide connective tissues and the body as a whole with some truly remarkable properties: an ability to ADAPT patterns of structure to patterns of movement; an ability to PREDICT what the ideal structure will be, assuming past holding and movement patterns will be repeated; and a MEMORY of movements and tensions, recorded as a pattern of fibers laid down to strengthen the tissues in the directions in which they have been stressed.

Obviously the openness of these communication networks will be a key to the experience of the body as a sensitive and delicately responsive whole. The “thrill” we have when we observe perfect, effortless performance, whether it be athletic, artistic, or intellectual, is a response to the experience of a body that is completely connected to itself and its environment, so all can participate in harmony.

Blocks in the network called “myofascial constrictions” by Rolfers are places deficient in movement, elasticity, length, energy flow, warmth, awareness. All these properties can be enhanced by appropriate interventions, restoring communication and returning parts of the body to the whole.

VERTICALITY. Finally, we discuss the vertical stance in man as an example of a whole-system physiological integration, involving many parts of the sensory nervous system. This material comes in part from the work of Dr. Roger Thies. 10. Roger pointed out that we are able to maintain our uprightness because the body integrates a variety of sensory stimuli, the most important of which are visual. However, in the absence of vision, we can still maintain our vertical orientation. Most people think the vestibular system of the inner ear is the key, but this is not so. Individuals who have no input from the vestibular system due to accident or disease still know which way is up, even if they are blindfolded. For them, sensory input from the bottoms of the feet and from leg muscles, tendons, and joints provided the necessary information for orientation.

Roger even shows how sound can be used for orientation. If you stand on one leg, you will, after a period of time, start to wobble and lose your balance. If you close your eyes, this will happen sooner. However, if someone plays music or produces some other sound from a particular direction as you begin to wobble, you will be able to regain your balance. The nervous system is able to use the acoustic information to locate the vertical.

This is a wonderful example from Roger Thies, because it shows how something that seems as simple as standing up can involve many different parts of the sensory nervous system. Vertical orientation is of such importance to the organism that a variety of signals can be used for reference. Should one system be unavailable for some reason, another can take over to preserve the function. Uprightness is a whole-system phenomenon.

Finally, we consider how balance about the vertical influences the physiology of the organism as a whole, drawing on the work of J.E. Goldthwait 11 and others. One of Goldthwait’s remarkable conclusions, from years of observation as a highly successful physician and surgeon, was that each organ and each muscle in the body is designed to function at a particular orientation to the vertical. He repeatedly observed chronic problems with the kidneys, liver and other visceral organs in individuals whose bodies were out of balance. Goldthwait repeatedly observed improvements in organ function when equipoise was restored. As far as I know, Goldthwait’s ideas were never followed up or even acknowledged by medical research.

This has been a brief outline of the material presented in Comprehensive Studies under the title of “Applied Physiology”. I recognize the approach that has evolved during this teaching is but one of many that could have been used. To a large degree, it arose in response to interactions with the students, whom I acknowledge as a rich source of inspiration. Fortunately the approach that continues to evolve seems to work-many who have experienced this material report a change in their perspective, in the ease and potential of their own practice and inquiry.

References Cited

1. Capra, F. The Tao of Physics. Boulder: Shambhala, 1975.

2. Silverman, Julian. The Musculo Skeletal Research Project. Berkeley, California: Aspen Research Institute, 1981.

3. Adolph, E.F. ‘Physiological Integrations in Action”, A Supplement to The Physiologist, Vol. 25, No. 2, (April 1982).

4. Ratcliffe, J.W. “Notions of Validity in Qualitative Research Methodology”, Knowledge: Creation, Diffusion, Utilization, Vol. 5, No. 2 (December 1983),147-167.

5. Lilly, J.C. The Center of the Cyclone, An Autobiography of Inner Space, New York: Bantam Books, 1972.

6. Burr, Harold Saxon, The Fields of Life New York: Ballantine Books, 1972.

7. Zimmerman, John Z. “New technologies detect effects of healing hands”, Brain/Mind Bulletin, September 30, 1985, p. 3.

8. Oschman, James L. “The Connective Tissue and Myofascial System”. Boulder, Colorado: Rolf Institute, 1981.

9. Oschman, James L., 1984. “Structure and Properties of Ground Substances”. American Zoologist 24(l):199-215. Available from the author for $5.00, 31 Whittier Street, Dover, NH 03820 USA.

10. Thies, Roger. “Which Way Is Up?” A discussion at the Rolf Institute in Boulder, Colorado, published in Rolf Lines,1985.

11. Goldthwait, J.E., et al. Body Mechanics in the Study and Treatment of Disease. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1934.

James L. Oschman, Ph.D. is the Chairman of the Rolf Institute’s Research Committee as well as being an Instructor in its Comprehensive Studies Program.Applied Physiology