FAQ

What is Rolfing®?

Rolfing® is a systematic approach to body rehabilitation, pain elimination and increased body movement efficiency and ease. Throughout our lives accidents, falls, injuries, surgeries and trauma happen. Our body is designed to provide our body with a quick first aid response by stabilizing and protecting us as much as possible. The stabilization often takes the form of scar tissue and adhesions. Unfortunately, after our injury or trauma has healed, the protective tissue remains intact and limits our movements and can result in discomfort or pain. Rolfing® provides a way for our bodies to release that holding pattern and restriction. Increased movement, range of motion and decreased pain and discomfort are the result of Rolfing® sessions.

The standard model for treatment can be 10 sessions. However, I often work on a specific area that is problematic while incorporating the elements from the 10 sessions as appropriate to you. At the beginning of a series, I will discuss with you your health and personal history. You will be asked to provide information on accidents, traumas, surgeries, conditions and diseases as well as medications and diet information. Your movement patterns will be observed while standing and walking. At this time, I will discuss with you what I notice in your standing and walking, alignment pattern and balance levels.

Is Rolfing® just a form of deep tissue massage?

One of the most common misconceptions about Rolfing® is that it is merely a form of deep tissue massage. We are trained to palpitate or touch the tissue to feel the imbalances in tissue texture, quality and temperature to determine where work is required.

We discriminate or separate the fascial layers that adhere to each other and muscles that have been pulled out of position by strain or injury.

We integrate the body, incorporating the area of the body that has received treatment into balance with the entire body.

Rolfing® is a holistic technique because the changes that occur in the physical structure of an individual can impact the whole person, physically, emotionally and energetically.

Massage and Rolfing® are both therapeutic; however, the approach is significantly different.

The training process to become a Certified Rolfer is rigorous and extensive. Practitioners are trained in anatomy, must pass an anatomy exam, learn the principles and methods of Rolfing®, go through three levels of training, meet the criteria in the academic, practicum, personal development and techniques through all three levels of training. At any point in the training, if the faculty and board deem that you are not suitable to be a Rolfer®, you will be dismissed from the training. It is time-consuming (from 1.5 to 3 years to completed), expensive and requires dedication, tenacity and commitment to complete. Continuing education is required of all practitioners after certification is completed.

What is a standard Rolfing® session like?

Each Rolfing® session focuses on a different aspect of the body. Throughout a session, as I work I am focused on connecting the body together and how each change affects the whole. I consider how and if an individual can accept and incorporate the changes into their body as a priority in the session.

Rolfing® is a very personal process and the affect and experience of each session is very different. Some individuals may experience a variety of sensations including a warm and pleasant releasing sensation up to burning and some discomfort. It is important to remember that a Rolfer® is well trained and will only apply pressure at a level that each individual is able to tolerate. A practitioner may use slow, deep, stretching strokes or constant applied pressure.

Many individuals experience feelings of spaciousness, ease, fluidity, and at times emotional releases after a session

Is Rolfing® Suitable for Children?

Rolfing® is not just for adults who have long standing structural issues. Rolfing® can also serve as a preventative measure to reverse or reduce potentially problematic patterns in the young. These can include scoliosis, growing pains, trouble breathing, reducing lung restrictions due to asthma or allergies, and rebalancing the body after injury. In addition, children model their families’ patterns of movement. Rolfing® can aid in the reduction of the patterns to create greater fluidity, ease of movement and elimination of dysfunctional movement patterns for future generations.

It is important to remember that although children heal on the outside at a rapid rate from the spills and falls that occur during childhood, the compensation patterns that resulted remain. Rolfing can quickly help remove those patterns so that the child can develop as balanced and functional as possible.

The importance of receiving loving supportive therapeautic touch is also immeasurably important to the developing child. Rolfing® adolescents during and after puberty, a time of great insecurity and emotional turmoil for many, can provide comfort and confidence in their rapidly changing body and mind as well as the obvious physical structural benefits.

To find out more go to www.rolf.org