Rolfing

Rolfing, also called Structural Integration, is a deep form of bodywork. In Rolfing, we affect the body's connective tissue to mold and sculpt the body. Rolfing releases the body's segments, such as legs torso, arms, shoulders from life-long patterns of tension and bracing permitting gravity to re-align them.

Rolfing structural integration is an original and scientifically validated system of soft tissue manipulation and movement education. It releases the body’s segments, such as legs, torso, arms, shoulders, from life-long patterns of tension and bracing permitting gravity to re-align them. By doing so, it balances the body.

Unlike massage, Rolfing focuses not on the muscles but on their protective layer, called fascia (connective tissue). Muscles are contracting tissues that give the body and organs physical movement. The fascia surrounds the muscles, bones and organs in the body. The fascia gives muscles their shape and the body its structure. Rolfing stretches the muscles that pull the structure out of alignment, allowing the body to return to balance.

Most human beings are significantly out of alignment with gravity. Gravity is the basic shaper of the body. From birth until death, gravity is always working on us. Our bodies get pulled into unnatural positions which result in chronic patterns of tension, stress and pain. Patterns of mind and body become mutually sustaining and we can become rigid, inflexible and "set in our ways". We function better when our bodies are aligned with the gravitational field of the earth.

Much like a sculptor works with clay, a Rolfer works with the body's LIVING malleable myofascial system by lengthening and re-shaping the fascia, releasing restrictions that create life-long patterns of bracing and tension.

Professional athletes, dancers, musicians, construction workers, business people and folks of all ages and from all walks of life have benefited from Rolfing. Some people seek Rolfing as a way to ease pain and chronic stress and improve performance in their professional, artistic, athletic and daily activities; others come to Rolfing purely to enhance their lifestyles. It is estimated that more than 1 million people have received Rolfing work.

For more information on the practice and history of Rolfing, please visit the Rolf Institute's website at www.rolf.org