Under the name Dance in Rehabilitation Dr. Alma Hawkins, chairman of the dance department at U C L A , and vary Whitehouse, leader in the field of movement awareness, have created a highly stimulating and somewhat experimental graduate seminar. This year students interested in relating their knowledge of movement largely gained through the experience of dance as an art form to the expanse of human behavior explored many approaches to their subject simultaneously. During the spring quarter they participated in movement sessions led by Mrs. Whitehouse, kept journals of their experiences, led groups of their own in hospitals, and gathered for informal evening lecture conversations. Follow is a (slightly edited) piece of one evening talk by Mary Whitehouse.

EDITOR’S NOTE: It seems especially fitting this month to share this article which is in response to the Autumn 1980 issue of Somatics. I say “fitting” since Dr. Rolf was born May 19, 1896.

Charles G. Siemers is a Certified Advanced Rolfer with a private practice in Marina del Rey and Manhattan Beach, California.Martha B.Eaton, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Santa Barbarba and Pasadena, California, specializing in schizophrenic and psychotic clients.

The following two “chapters” by Dr. Rolf and Laurence Davis appeared in the Bulletin for Structural Integration. As noted in the original preface to the material, these were to be the first chapters of Dr. Rolf’s book. This archival material is interesting in light of the fact that it differs from the early chapters of the book that was eventually published by Dr. Rolf, Rolfing: Re-establishing the Natural Alignment and Structural Integration of the Human Being for Vitality and Well-Being.

The use of hands in therapy creates some touchy problems for the “underlying unity of the client and therapist.”

Editor’s note: the following is an edited version of an interview that comes to us anonymously. It is dated November 26, 1977.

The first portion of this paper will summarize the theory of Ida Rolf known as Structural Integration, as propounded in an article entitled “Gravity, an Unexplored Factor in a More Human Use of Human Beings.” Following the precis, the contribution of the theory to the general knowledge about body image will be discussed. The final part of the paper will set forth the implications of structural integration for dance therapy .

The work of F. Matthias Alexander brings us, in the words of George Bernard Shaw, to “the beginnings of a far reaching science of the involuntary movements we call reflexes.” The technique Alexander devised involves a re education of the kinesthetic sense to provide for correction and self control in each and every movement act. Alexander described his technique most precisely as a “psychophysical re-education with conscious control in the use of the self.”In the three articles which follow we are attempting to show how the work is being applied and carried on presently nearly 15 years after Alexander’s death.

Since the “blue book” (Gravity, an Unexplored Factor…) came out, many people have sought a brief presentation of Structural Integration which would give as good a feel for what rolfing’s all about but in less technical language. The following article may well be it. I’d like your reactions: shall we reprint this article separately, leaflet style?(K.H.)

Preliminary to the Making of a RolferfThe training of Structural Integration practitioners has been evolved deliberately according to a careful plan designed by Dr. Ida P. Rolf, and presently carried out in training programs conducted by the Rolf Foundation for Structural Integration. Classes convene principally at the headquarters in Boulder, Colorado, but also at those locations throughout the country where needed Florida, California, Illinois, New York. Merely meeting the prerequisites for consideration insure that candidates for rolf training are an elite group. In addition, they must be unusually dedicated to hard work and capable of those leaps of imagination and intuition across the peaks of scholarship, dogged physical preparation, and professional responsibility that mark the creative person. Each candidate is at least 25 years old, has a college degree or demonstrated professional equivalent, has a license to practice as a medical, osteopathic or chiropractic doctor, or has a massage license applicable in the state of residence. The person must have the proper physical aptitude to be accepted, and will have completed a series of at least 10 sessions of Structural Integration.Before the final step (selection in an interview to determine the emotional maturity and psychological aptitude), each candidate submits an extensive paper demonstrating his understanding of the basic functions of the various systems of the human body. Candidates have been instructed that the paper should discuss the manner in which these systems work together and how they may be affected by the processing called Structural Integration. They are assured that the viewpoint held before training will be expected to change during and after training, and are encouraged to write freely and in the individual style unique to each.Samples of some papers, or portions of papers, submitted by prospective candidates in the past are being published here for their intrinsic value, to inform those who want to know more about the rolfers practicing, and to demonstrate the calibre of candidate accepted for training in Structural Integration. It should be understood that the excerpts here are only portions of candidates’ answers to complex questions. These particular selections are presented to demonstrate the unique character of each applicant, yet sparing us the repetition of facts of anatomy and physiology.

Preliminary to the Making of a RolferThe training of Structural Integration practitioners has been evolved deliberately according to a careful plan designed by Dr. Ida P. Rolf, and presently carried out in training programs conducted by the Rolf Foundation for Structural Integration. Classes convene principally at the headquarters in Boulder, Colorado, but also at those locations throughout the country where needed Florida, California, Illinois, New York. Merely meeting the prerequisites for consideration insure that candidates for rolf training are an elite group. In addition, they must be unusually dedicated to hard work and capable of those leaps of imagination and intuition across the peaks of scholarship, dogged physical preparation, and professional responsibility that mark the creative person. Each candidate is at least 25 years old, has a college degree or demonstrated professional equivalent, has a license to practice as a medical, osteopathic or chiropractic doctor, or has a massage license applicable in the state of residence. The person must have the proper physical aptitude to be accepted, and will have completed a series of at least 10 sessions of Structural Integration.Before the final step (selection in an interview to determine the emotional maturity and psychological aptitude), each candidate submits an extensive paper demonstrating his understanding of the basic functions of the various systems of the human body. Candidates have been instructed that the paper should discuss the manner in which these systems work together and how they may be affected by the processing called Structural Integration. They are assured that the viewpoint held before training will be expected to change during and after training, and are encouraged to write freely and in the individual style unique to each.Samples of some papers, or portions of papers, submitted by prospective candidates in the past are being published here for their intrinsic value, to inform those who want to know more about the rolfers practicing, and to demonstrate the calibre of candidate accepted for training in Structural Integration. It should be understood that the excerpts here are only portions of candidates’ answers to complex questions. These particular selections are presented to demonstrate the unique character of each applicant, yet sparing us the repetition of facts of anatomy and physiology.

The following article Is taken from a speech Dr. Rolf made at the Annual Meeting of the Guild for Structural Integration. – Ed.

Ida P. Rolf, Ph.D. received her Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from Columbia University in 1919. Following her graduation from Barnard she was a member of the Organic Chemistry Department of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research where her special assignment was investigating the chemical structure of nervous system lipids. The conclusions of her and her colleagues were published over a period of a decade in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.Seeking an answer to personal and family health problems, Dr. Rolf started intensive personal investigation into the effect of structure on well-being. The methods available at the time seemed inadequate for actual structural change. Slowly the technique known as Structural Integration 1″rolfing’I was developed. It became obvious that the method she had designed primarily for postural improvement was also a clue to better functioning in a human being. Soon the patent fact that structural improvement of the physical body contributed generously to psychological well-being was recognized. That fact is being subjected to scientific validation at this time.Dr. Rolf has, for the past two decades, been training rollers and has completed work on her forthcoming book rotting: The Integration of Human Structures being published by Denn is-Landman Company of Santa Monica, California.Editor´s Note: The measure of a personality is more than noting chronological event, in an individual’s life or even recounting accomplishments as much of the world notes achievement We offer here a personal narration about who Ida Rolf is – as written by Jack Downing, M. D., a certified roller, member of the ROLF INSTITUTE and a respected friend of Dr. Rolf.