In a process like Rolfing where we take clients through a somatic experience of themselves I am often at a loss for how to explain ideas like attention, sensation, and awareness. I can throw these terms out there easy enough, but the fact is there are meditative traditions that can make real experience of these things more meaningful. Through practices like meditation and mindfulness, a person can become more sensitive and take in more information (sensation) consciously, and this can help the body and the nervous system adjust, adapt and deal with issues like posture and chronic pain. Rolfing is not just knuckles and elbows, it is a journey through movement and sensation, that is how real change occurs. I have been involved in meditation and movement exploration for some time, but I am not a teacher of meditation, that is not my place. I encourage clients too seek out and experiment with different forms mindfulness training. Such things are best learned from an experienced teacher but books and videos can be helpful too, especially in the beginning. A book I have found recently very helpful is: The True Source of Healing- How the Ancient Tibetan Practice of Soul Retrieval Can Transform and Enrich Your Life- By Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche.
In this book there are concepts and exercises that could be quite valuable to both the beginner and the experience in terms of exercising consciousness and awareness, engaging in meditative practices and ways of developing a new relationship to negative emotions as well as pain. I find the latter very important. Sometimes we can not change what is causing physical pain but we can change our relationship to it and make life more bearable, even transform the pain. There are other important concepts explained in this book, like how to be grounded when doing things in life and around people, and also more esoteric concepts like how to interact with the elements and experience nature as a source of healing. I think this book is accessible to anyone who is interested in these concepts, and best of all it is available as an audio book on Audible.
Ida Rolf was influenced by a number of traditions that speak of awareness, attention, and consciousness as a means of transformation. Osteopathic medicine, yoga, and the practices of Gurdjieff's school of development via John Bennett. I have spent a fair amount of time working with Gurdjieff groups, and some time exploring yoga. Any deep progress with these things would require working with a group and people with experience personally. The same goes for Buddhist meditative practice as well, but lets keep things simple at first. Anyone could benefit from a little exposure to meditation. This book is a good place to start just for some of the ideas and principle stated, even if one is not necessarily interested in taking up meditation. The ideas speak for themselves.
