On her 80th birthday, Ida Rolf offered a children s clinic to demonstrate the positive impact of Rolfing on children. This was the beginning of a tradition that has been carried on by numerous Rolfers and at times by the Rolf Institute, with many of the clinics held as free or low-cost events around May 19th, Dr. Rolf’s birthday.

I recently spoke to Jim Asher, Advanced Rolfing Instructor, about Dr. Rolf’s interest in working on children, as he was present for many of her sessions and shares this interest. He reports that Dr. Rolf always enjoyed working on children and babies, and would work with any children brought to her, often through her students. During her long career, Dr. Rolf worked on children with scoliosis and other structural anomalies resulting from physical injury, emotional trauma, poor posture and/or disease. One of the emblems of that legacy is the “little boy logo” used by Rolfers worldwide and based on the actual structure of one of her young clients (now middle-aged and still enjoying receiving Rolfing).

According to Asher, Dr. Rolf was intrigued early on when she saw the impact Rolfing could have on more than a physical level. She felt that Rolfing laid down a matrix for physical and neurological change, as evidenced particularly in children with cerebral palsy. Asher recalls the little curly haired boy whose photos appear in Dr. Rolf’s book. He received Rolfing in 1971, and the improvements were dramatic – to the extent that the boy’s father came back to Dr. Rolf with a list enumerating 26 different improvements he observed, including better balance, better gait, speech improvement, and behavioral changes. While the results are often most evident when there is a developmental or structural issue present Asher says that rolfing children frequently brings about some kind of maturational shift. He says that “when you take the physical stress out of their bodies, children can be more themselves, more relaxed in their skin.”

Dr. Rolf felt that structural integration sessions at a young age could help resolve birth trauma, improve coordination and athletic performance, enhance self-esteem and posture, and mitigate emotional trauma. She also believed that they would prevent many of the emotional and physical problems that most adults complain of, as these are often rooted in an early imbalance. Asher also emphasizes this. He remembers working on one child with flat feet, which may have been a family trait as the father also had flat feet. In working on the child, the structure of the legs shifted and arches developed. In cases like this, Asher notes, “They don’t grow up with that problem, you’re stopping it early” – not just the flat feet, but other structural problems that would come about as compensations.

Children s clinics have been held a number of times at the Rolf Institute, both one-day and three-day events. Asher notes that the main challenge is the organizing involved to line up the parents and kids. But the results are often highly rewarding. Asher has supervised four children s clinics in Japan in recent years, and the most recent one had a large turnout of thirty children over three days, giving the 10-12 Rolfers present ample opportunity to work. (Yoshitaka Koda assisted Jim and also handled interpretation.) Asher observes that some children initially stay on the sidelines of the clinic, indicating no interest (toys are essential to keep them occupied), but that eventually “they get jealous and want what the other kids are getting.” These clinics are great learning opportunities for newer Rolfers to experience working with children in a supervised setting.

The Brazilian Rolfers’ Association (ABR) has been particularly active with children’s clinics. The ABR started by having children s clinics at the end of every class in Brazil, as a closure to a training segment on Rolfing for children. For more than 10 years, the ABR also joined the tradition of celebrating Dr. Rolf’s birthday with children’s clinics. Initially clinic participants were Rolfers’ children: a party balloons, popcorn, and a nice gathering of colleagues.

In 1996, to celebrate Dr. Rolf’s 100th birthday the ABR organized clinics in several cities around the country. This evolved into a social project to provide Rolfing sessions to children from the slums of Salvador, and a video documenting the remarkable results was shown at the Rolf Institute annual meeting later that year in Berkley. Children’s clinics were offered in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, and Salvador in conjunction with classes taught by German Certified Advanced Rolfer and MD Anne Koller-Wilmking circa 1997. Currently, a children s clinic takes place monthly at the Sao Paulo Ambulatory (NAPER) -an ongoing project in which Rolfers study together and deliver sessions in a group setting to clients of moderate and low incomes.

Advanced Rolfing and Rolfing Movement Instructor Pedro Prado notes that Brazilian Rolfers pioneered the use of Rolf Movement with children in the 1990s, both in clinics and as group work, trends he hopes other Rolfers will be inspired by. He relates the experience of working in Salvador in a group setting, using movement cues to have children explore sensory “recognition of their bodies”, the relationships of body parts, and their experience with different postures. Prado says the highlight of the work was the children s increased connection to their bodies and how that led them to an experience of dignity that enhanced their self-esteem and changed the way they carried themselves – so that they expressed a greater pride and “right to existence.”

The key to working with children is to have fun, knowing that kids will generally enjoy the experience. Have plenty of toys on hand, and come up with simple ways to relate what Rolfing is about.

Asher remembers that Dorothy Nolte, a student of Dr. Rolf, developed a series of games for kids to experience their Line, so that they could have fun while learning something useful. Prado notes that personal attention to each child is a key factor.

Included here are both archival and recent photos of children?s clinics. Figure 1 shows Dr. Roll working on a young child, in the 1970’s. Figure 2 shows Liz Gaggini and Jim Asher, Certified Advanced Rolfers, with Tim Barrett Law, our logo boy now grown up, at the Rolf Institute in 1996. Figure 3 shows Certified Advanced Rolfer, Maria Helena Orlando and baby client at a clinic in Sao Paolo, Brazil in 1996.

Figure 4 shows Rolfing Instructor, Luiz Fernando Bertolucci working on a young child at a children’s clinic in Salvador in 1996.

Figure 5 is from the second annual children’s clinic in Portland, Oregon, which was held this year on April 25. Five children received work (and had abundant attention from five local Rolfers), while another three were curious observers. The photos are by Certified Rolfer, Karin Edwards, who organized the event, while Juan David Velez was the clinical director. The photo shows five-month old Aviva Stein receiving work from Jan Rizzo. Jan and Karin worked on Aviva’s skull to relieve cranial compression resulting from the birth process. Karin reports that the session resulted in significant expansion of the entire skull, and that the young client was an extremely joyful baby who seemed to receiving Rolfing. Aviva was brought to the clinic by her mother, Jenny Dempsey Stein, who had received Rolfing from Karin in advance of her pregnancy.

Figure 6 is a photo of Certified Advanced Rolfer, Micheal Maskornick and baby client from Bellingham, Washington, where Advanced Rolfers Russell Stolzoff and Michael Maskornick organized a free ongoing children’s clinic that is held every six weeks throughout the school year. The clinic began in 2001, is staffed by a group of Rolfers and other structural integrators, and has provided more than 550 sessions to nearly 200 children.

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