Christina Tufano, LMT, Certified Rolfer - (516) 610-3011 - christina.tufano@gmail.com Lic#MA100220
WHAT IS ROLFING®?
What is Rolfing® Structural Integration?
The term “Rolfing” refers to a system of body education and physical manipulation called Structural Integration.
It was created by Dr. Ida Rolf over 70 years ago to balance the body in gravity. She observed that over time, the field of gravity actually accentuates the body’s imbalances and diminishes its flexibility. Based on these observations she eventually created her ten-session series to reduce gravity’s adverse effects on the body.
Rolfing® Structural Integration is different than massage in a couple of ways. The first, and most important, is its focus. While massage concentrates on the musculature of the body, Rolfing®SI works with the connective tissue, called fascia, that wraps the body. A wonderful example of fascia is on raw chicken. If you have peeled that thin, clear, slightly white layer off chicken before cooking it, you too have touched fascia!
Fascia is actually intertwined throughout the body, starting with an outermost layer that can be called a bodysuit. It covers the body from head to foot. Beneath that, other layers of fascia cover and are interspersed within the muscles themselves, as well as being connected to bones, nerves and organs. In this way Rolfing can have a dramatic systemic effect.
Another difference is client participation within a session. Massage is a more passive form of bodywork where the client is invited to lie down and enjoy an hour of therapy without needing to focus on what is occurring in the session. With Rolfing, it is a much more active process where the clients are asked to participate with movements and focus on the parts of the body being worked.
Rolfing®SI is a very effective technique. Because of its focus on connective tissue rather than musculature, there is a long-term change in how the body moves. This means that it works well for chronic pain and postural problems, as well as for those who wish to have their body work more efficiently, such as athletes, dancers and those who perform manual labor.
“One individual may experience his losing fight with gravity as a sharp pain in the back, another as the unflattering contour of his body, another as a constant fatigue and yet another as an unrelenting threatening environment.
Those over forty may call it old age; yet all these signals may be pointing to a single problem so prominent in their structures and in the structures of others that it has been ignored: they are off balance; they are at war with gravity.”
- Ida P. Rolf, Ph.D.
Photo courtesy of the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute®
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