Aikido
From ancient Japanese systems of self-defense and unarmed combat, Aikido has evolved into a modern discipline for mind-body training. Aikido might be translated “The Way of Spiritual Harmony.” The Chinese characters used for Aikido literally mean harmony (ai), mental energy or spirit (ki), and the way do). There are three major aspects to Aikido training,1) […]
On Pain
For me, the pain associated with rolfing comes in three nearly distinct levels. On the first level, I hide out from the pain, usually in my head, perhaps fantasizing another place or time to forget a portion of what is happening. On the second level, I begin to accept the pain and its location, but […]
On Being Rubbed the Right Way
This morning I’m going to share with you a growth process I’ve been through recently. A few nights ago a friend and I went over to the Veteran’s Auditorium in San Francisco to hear someone speak. This large hall was filled with people of all ages. However, it appeared to both of us that there […]
Pneumatic and Tensile Structures: The Work of Frei Otto
Fur nearly thirty years German architect Frei Otto has devoted himself lo the theoretical and practical development of tension based and pneumatic structures. Ottos reputation as a visionary and as a remarkably adept technician rests on the fact that his lightweight structures are radical depart in design from the dominant architectural style. <img src=’https://novo.pedroprado.com.br/imgs/1981/205-1.jpg’> All […]
The Farther Reaches of Rolfing
We know that Rolfing impacts more than just the physical being. Many of the words we commonly use to describe our work speak to phenomenon that exist at many levels of experience. For example, we can apply ideas such as balance, center, integration, space and lightness to body structure as well as to psychological and […]
Childbirth Reconsidered
In this age of super medical technology the human animal does not often get born or die in the simple, time-honored way. More often than not those important rituals are stripped of their dignity by an impersonal medical professionalism. The private, mystical event is transformed by the presence of strangers and a highly artificial environment […]
A Rolfer Describes His Work
In response to your request for a few words about my work, I will try, in as few words as possible, to give you the picture. A person’s body and set reflects his emotional past as well as physical trauma that may have happened to him. These factors, combined with the other experiences of living […]
Rolf, Alexander and “Body – Ego”
I would like to share some observations, as case historian, on the development of my body as “ego” over the course of the last few years. I hope these may somehow resonate or be a spur to some teacher or to some seeker like myself, even knowing that each must come to these things in […]
The Fence or the Ambulance?
It was a dangerous cliff, as they freely confessed, Though to walk near its crest vas so peasant: But over its terrible edge there had slipped A duke and many a peasant: So the people said something would have to be done, But their projects did not at all tally: Some said, “Put a fence […]
The Second Journey
“We are but fumblers of a quick evolution. The animal we call man has had but the blink of the cosmogonic eye to adjust to the reality the existing in a vertical perpendicular to the earth. It will lake thousands of more generations to master this reality as the cat has mastered the four-legged. […]