When going through a Rolfing 10 series three cycles are completed. We begin with a sleeve cycle, in which the outer layers of muscle and fascia are addressed, then move into the deeper core sessions, and eventually try to strive for a greater unity across the body during the integrative phase of the series. The order in which we proceed is important, so we can develop lasting changes that can be adopted and integrated into daily movement, posture, and the individual's way of engaging in life. If support or space for change is not achieved before it is asked for, we are very likely to just slip back into our old habits, postures, and our experience of pain and restriction will likely be perpetuated. When seeing a new client, Rolfers typically want to start at the beginning, and for us the beginning is the sleeve cycle.
The bigger superficial muscles that form our outer shell is known as the sleeve. These muscles have evolved for power and action. They are strong and burn oxygen quickly, therefore are prone to tire faster than our deeper muscles of posture. The sleeve muscles are composed of more fast twitch fibers than core muscles, meaning that they will help you run from a bear, which maybe you are not supposed to do anyway, but they are not fit for ordinary posture and movement. We generally need very little muscle effort to stand, sit, or move about in an ordinary fashion unless we are compensating for not being aligned well in gravity, either because of injury, pain, or just a poor sense of embodiment. It is the Rolfer's job to help people achieve a better sense of embodiment, better posture, and better freedom of moment so that injuries can have a chance to heal, and chronic pain can subside, but none of this can occur if the sleeve muscles are doing the job of the core muscles, so the first step is to get the sleeve muscles to back off.
These muscles have usually become overactive, chronic muscle tension is a reality that many of us face. If we use excessive force to open a door, walk, or even stand we not only lack the graceful movement we are suited for, we burn energy and interfere with our system from working optimally. To make things worse, we have often been told that we need to tense or fire this or that group of muscles to stand with good posture or walk around, an in such cases we will almost always incorporate extra muscles that are not needed and use excessive force, we will almost certainly to it poorly, do it wrong. Many of these muscles and the fascia that governs them will be adhered and bunched together in ways that do not allow for independent movement and they will likely bear down on the muscle groups below them, limiting those deeper muscle in activity and often leading to muscle atrophy. So the Rolfer's job in the beginning is about differentiation and separation, about creating space and then moving on to activating the deeper intrinsic muscles at the core.