The Client Who Doesn`t Feel Anything
Q: Do you have any suggestions for working with clients who have little body awareness (for example, clients who cannot feel any change from a session, even though as a practitioner you can see changes have occurred)? A: Most of us have had some experience with a client who doesn’t feel anything. As we […]
Intra-Innominate Distortions
The pelvis is a unique structure. It functions as (at least) the major site of load distribution in the human body, the transition point between thorax and lower limb, the container of the lower abdominal viscera and the origin of new life. Its shape is complex, bilaterally symmetrical and beautiful. When one looks about at […]
Shoulder Tension and the Gestures of Daily Living
Questions: How can I use movement to help a client who has chronic shoulder tension? I remember learning “arm drops” in my training, but I haven’t seen much benefit from that exercise. What are some other ways to use movement to help my client with the tension in her upper trapezius muscles? Answer: In teaching […]
Half Full or Half Empty?
When I was asked to write for this column I had the same reaction you see in the Cathy comic strip (“ACK!”). When the editor approached Matt Hsu and me to write for Structural Integration (née Rolf Lines), I didn’t know where to begin. Past issues had really interesting historical takes on what Rolfing was […]
More About Focal Dystonia and Rolfing SI for Professional Musicians
While reading the very interesting conversation between Tessy Brungardt and Carolyn Pike entitled “Rolfing for Professional Musicians” (Structural Integration, September 2008), and specifically the material about pianist Leon Fleischer and focal dystonia, I found a sentence that motivated me to write something about my own experience with focal dystonia. The sentence that got my attention […]
The Advanced Rolfing Training
Robert McWilliams: I wanted to ask you about the advanced trainings because of your long involvement as a Rolfer and a teacher, having assisted, then co-taught the advanced training three times already for the Rolf Institute. Could you tell me a little bit about why the course is structured the way it is? Michael Murphy: […]
Rolfing® SI with a Twist
Introduction In the classic Rolfing® Structural Integration (SI) Ten Series, practitioners work with clients in set positions – supine, sidelying, prone, and seated – as prescribed by the ‘Recipe.’ In the original advanced series, there were again set positions (e.g., ‘Inverted A,’ ‘C Curl,’ and ‘Z Position’) designed to support the goals of the particular […]
Case Studies with Yielding
Author’s Note: Carol Agneessens and I have been exploring how to apply yielding to Rolfing® SI and Rolf Movement Integration since my first Rolf Movement training with Agneessens and Rebecca Carli in 1999. Please refer to the article “Yielding: Engaging Touch, Presence, and the Physiology of Wholeness” that Agneessens and I have published in this […]
Ida’s Imprint Holds for Life
Back in the spring, my friend Ursula told me that one of her hospice patients on Maui, Ed Jeheber, wanted to meet me. Ed was dying of cancer. Ed had studied Rolfing® Structural Integration (SI) with Ida Rolf, and he knew my name from when I used to live on Maui. Ursula told me that […]
Flowing Wholeness
Imagine for a moment having access to a Hubble-like telescope. Not only can it block distortions from Earth’s atmosphere, but also it is able to record a deep view into space and time with laser precision. In addition, it captures the energetic blueprint of structure prior to coalescing into form. What might you see? Is […]