Reminiscences of Dr. Rolf
Anna Hyder was a model for Ida Rolf in a class in 1973. Anna had had polio as a young child, spent 15 months in the hospital, and had surgery on her left foot and right achilles tendon at the age of 8. In a 1991 interview with me, she described her experience of being […]
A Few Things We Need to Know About Diabetes Mellitus
Diabetes Mellitus a serious chronic metabolic disease will cause people to die earlier than they would without it. Diabetes Mellitus, is a greco-roman word that actually means: excessive and sweet urine. In the past, before labs existed, devoted Doctors did not only look at their patient’s urine, they must have tasted it too. How else […]
A Conversation on Licensure
BILL HARVEY: You are the Rolf Institute liaison to the world of legislation and licensure throughout the country. This is something you’re very excited about. Why is that? MICHAEL MURPHY: Because I think that the world of licensure is going to be increasingly interested in us. I want to make sure that they understand who […]
Normal Function
Everything we hear today about movement culture is based on the myth that only muscles are moving and holding the body. As long as muscles are strong and not disturbed by dysfunction, the human movement is at its optimum and we are healthy, we believe. Reality shows another picture. The muscle system alone can never […]
Gravity, Motility and Rolfing Theory and Practice
Gravity is central to all aspects of Rolfing theory and practice. The principles of Rolfing that have become manifest in the past decade are an attempt to language not only the science of Rolfing but also the experiential phenomena that the givers and receivers of Rolfing have always reported. This combination of including both objective […]
Posterior Cervicals
Anonymous: Cervical straightening comes from an “attitudinal” contracture atop the foramen magnum, around the basal brain in front of the occiput. It is like a riveting shut of the dural tube from above. I help people monitor/inhabit the top of their throat for tension while I end feel by cradling the occiput, scanning the dorsal […]
Creativity, Art and Rolfing
ART “…what makes the artist is primarily the formative power that enables him to give them shape, to weave them into an organic aesthetic whole.1” There were three questions posed to the Art Panel at the Annual Meeting. The first question was, “How is Rolfing an art form?” Before saying why I think Rolfing is […]
Orthotropism and the Unbinding of Morphological Potential
Q: HOW WOULD YOU REFORMULATE THE CONCEPT OF SUPPORT IN RELATION TO THE IDEA OF ORTHOTROPISM1? First let me thank you for insisting on more clarification about the nature of support and its relation to the concept of orthotropism. Unfortunately, in our discussions we have not clearly distinguished between a number of ways of understanding […]
Practice Building Resources
This index lists some resources available to Rolfers and Movement Teachers for support in practice-building. ROLF LINES’ articles, products, and services are reviewed for the years 1987 to the present; Rolfing advertisements, to 1985. There is also a section of references and brief descriptions of magazines and books I have found useful in stimulating my […]
The Subject of Pain
June 17, 1982 Dear Rolfers & other Interested Persons, I wish to open a dialogue in Rolf Lines concerning the topic of pain. I want us to consider if pain should be associated with Rolfing as we know today. If not, then how do we change the image of Rolfing from a painful experience to […]