Anonymous: Rolfing® attracted me because it created changes, and especially changes in aliveness, openess, pain, awareness and embodiment. So I’m not opposed to change per se. My concern is more about how I go about creating these changes and whether the changes are welcomed or not. Does the change come from “complying” with someone else’s (or my own) “wish” to change me, or does it come from an inner shift and relaxation, which in my case was the realization that I am good the way I am. I don’t HAVE to change to become “whole” for example. It has a lot to do with the feeling of accepting myself and my clients. I realize that I probably made the mistake of relating this attitude directly to the Rolfing technique, which sometimes feels more forceful of invasive than, for example, the craniosacral touch or Trager® Work. But perhaps it has more to do with attitude than with what technique is used.

Russell Stolzoff: One thing I have found very helpful in deciding what kind of change my client and I are going for, is to talk specifically about what kind of change the client wants for himself. Then changes are created together. This may seem elementary, and it is, but Rolfing has had various kinds of implicit and explicit assumptions about what kind of change is useful. These assumptions have elements of truth, but without agreement between practitioner and client about their goal, the practitioner must contain all the goals and hope that somehow the client will “get it.”

I use the principle of an agreement on goals which can be renegotiated any time to see that we are on the same page. Of course, this does not mean that I withhold my perceptions or opinions when forming an agreement about change, or as the work goes along. I find that it takes time to fill the shoes of a relied-upon helper, but I think it’s important to remember that people come to us for help, and while we can’t know it all, we do know some things and we mustn’t say we don’t.

One more thing about wholeness which may be a paradox: we seem to be both whole and striving to realize wholeness at the same time. If there wasn’t a need for something no one would want our services. Part of the trick when working inside of a “holisitic” discipline, is how to use one’s abilities to help in the next piece of what’s needed at the time.

Jan Sultan: One thing to remember is that the client has heard about Rolfing and in particular has found you!!! As a practitioner you have some options which range from “doing the recipe” at one end to referring them to someone else at the other. I like to use the taxonomic divisions in considering the way to apply myself to the project. We have structural, functional, geometric and energetic areas to consider. Obviously, there are overlaps but it may be that one aspect of this taxonomy will be central to my approach.

I ask each client in my initial interview, “What brings you here?” and, “What do you think I need to know to work with you?” I think that pacing and timing are everything in discovering how a client can receive the work. That means that once they are on the table I start slowly and feel my way in. I start every session on the neck to check in with the client and establish contact. This allows me to feel the client’s rate of response and gauge their ability to let go. There have been many people that I have worked with where I cannot see the change at the end of the series, only to have them come back months later and report deep, positive responses that were not on either of our agendas.

Anonymous: There seems to be a similarity in this unease about “forcing changes” and an uneasiness that I experienced for years that had to do with not following up on client’s comments about traumas relevant to the tissue that we were working with. They would say “this place has to do with my abuse when I was a child.” I would think that if they wanted to communicate more about that experience they would do so, and if that comment was all they offered I had no right to ask them if they would be comfortable explaining what they were experiencing relevant to the abuse, because I didn’t want to pry into their personal stuff. Over the years I have realized that they probably wouldn’t have mentioned their awareness of the connection if they weren’t willing to be asked about it and given an opening to speak out or not.