Rolfing alternatively enhances your well-being

By Judi Clinton

Rolfing/Structural Integration is about keeping the body organized for energy, balance and better performance. Our bodies reflect our whole history, not just our physical activities and accidents, but the emotional story of growing up and surviving our families and school.

The way we stand on the earth, our posture, and how we move are all a composite reflection of our experiences and our beliefs. As we get older, the stress of being a human on the planet at this time, and our continuing quest to be in several places at one time - i.e. over booking our lives - takes a toll on our posture, our ability to breathe more freely, our sleep patterns and our overall enjoyment of life.

As a barn ages, it begins to lean and sag as gravity pulls on the timbers. Gravity has the same affect on our bones. Rolfing is a very direct way to get our feet solid underneath us, and makes our legs a good support for the pelvis and spine.

If you hold your stress in your shoulders and neck, and feel tired in your back at the end of the day, moving is the answer. We are designed to walk. That is the best exercise for us, and basic to other activities and sports. Walking is a good workout for all the joints - all the way up to the top of the neck and shoulders. But even simple walking is compromised by old injuries, whiplash, surguries and stress.

Rolfing is a whole body workout, which involves stretching, soft-tissue manipulation, and education/homework to rework scar tissue, improve joint flexibility and muscle balance. Instead of shortening as we get older how about lengtening? Actually getting taller as the spine gets more flexible? Rolfing makes this possible, as it enhancesmetabolic efficiency to support the organs with good muscle tone, rather than having muscles pulling or stressing the organs. Many metabolic issuse are related to holding our breath, or having ribs that are too tight. Rolfing's goal is always to get the breath bigger, easier and effortless, so the body has plenty of oxygen to work with. We take approximately 21,000 breaths a day. If we can increase our lung capacity by even a small amount by opening up the rib cage and shoulders, it means a lot more oxygen. Oxygen is food for the brain and nervous system, hence we feel better ad have more energy with bigger breath.

The goal of Rolfing is to create strutural change through the muscles and tendons that will llow the body to function without holding the stress. Reworking old patterns of holding, and teaching the nervous system a different way to sit, stand and move allows a shift in our sensations. Hot spots get smaller, pain gets more specific, less generalized, and clients learn ways of releasing tension before it gets incapacitating.

Rolfing is traditionally done in a series of ten sessions, but many people will do the first three sessions to achive a solution to repetitive stress injuries, sciatic pain, headaches or jaw problems. Sessions are generally an hour to one-and-a-half hours... a small amount of time to make magnificent changes to your health and well-being.