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I have lived in Denver since 2014 and dealing with the dry mountain air has taken some getting used to. Whether it is caring for my wooden instruments, house plants, or my skin, the lack of humidity means I need some special care. Fortunately I am blessed with oily skin, which felt like a curse when I lived in Texas, but with altitude and age, I now need to put some special care into my skin routines. As some of my friends and clients know, I have a background in Ayurveda, the traditional natural medical practices and way of life originating in India. From herbal medicine, to massage techniques, and dietary practices, one thing that Ayurveda has handed down to us is many ways of keeping your skin young and healthy. I will mention 5 of these practices below. They are: Stop Using Soap Use Oil not Cream Cleanse With Flour Use a Toner Moisturize Stop Using Soap This may be difficult to accept but easy to put into practice. Ayurveda recommends avoiding soaping yourself from head to toe on a daily basis because it strips our skin of the natural oils that keep it healthy. Also, we have bacteria on our skin, and in dirt for that matter, that metabolize ammonia and other things the make us smell bad. This is why animals like horses take dirt baths, i.e. roll around in dirt. By the way, if you are ever feeling down, look up a video of a chinchilla taking a dirt bath. I promise it will make you smile. Seeing clients as a Rolfer, I must wash my hands clear up to my elbows many times a day, but that is the idea. Soap should be used for spot cleaning and washing off grime. Use soap on problem areas, you will know and learn what those areas are if you stop using soap from head to toe every day. Give it a try, just take a shower with water and ask a friend that you trust if you smell any different. You may be surprised that you don't. We absorb vitamin D from the sun, this is done through the oil on our skin. This vitamin is absorbed over time gradually throughout the day. If I use soap, I strip off my ability to absorb vitamin D well and the time released mechanism that allows it to absorb slowly throughout the day. The first insult is bathing at all, the second insult is using hot water, and the third insult is using soap. So if you have a day that you feel ok with skipping a shower, go ahead and do so. Get outside and soak up a little sunlight as well. Even 10-20 min is good. Oil not Cream If you are a lady, you probably have an assortment of expensive creams. Women tend to take better care of their skin than men in the U.S. Many women at least understand that using soap on their face will dry their skin out and will use facial cleansers that are advertised as soap free. Most of these cleansers are primarily made of glycerin, which is essentially soap. After stripping all the skin's natural oil, then creams must be used to keep the skin from drying out, but instead of doing this, why not try oil? Creams don't have a very long lasting effect on the skin and are often formulated from questionable ingredients. Oils are messy but tend to stay on the skin better. Try oiling yourself BEFORE you get in the shower. A variety of oils can be used depending on skin type. For very dry skin, sesame oil, for hot inflammatory oily skin coconut oil, and for cold moist- even clammy- skin mustard see oil is traditional. Rub it in vigorously from head to toe, sparing no oil. If you don't look like a salad or a French fry, you have not used enough oil. Then get into the shower and let the heat open up your pores and rub the oil in some more. If you must used soap this will be a good pre-conditioner for your skin. Traditionally, you would use the flour of various food substances to take it off. Cleanse With Four Yes, you read that right. Flour. Not wheat flour though, I don't know if that would go over well. Traditionally chick pea, rice four, barley, or mung bean flour is used. After an Ayurvedic oil treatment, it would be used from head to toe. I don't recommend doing this in your shower though, as a lot of flour will quickly clog the drain, so I just use enough to clean my face. I use coconut oil on my face, and take off the excess with a clean cloth. I then mix rice flour with either lime juice or neem powder (also a good cleanser) and add enough water to make a paste. I apply it to my face in the shower, let it sit for a couple of minutes and wash it off. For problem skin, yogurt or milk can be used, and for acne you can add turmeric. I am oily skinned enough not to really need full body oiling, at least for moisture. Also depending on your skin type, you may only want to do it once to three times a week. If you are crazy dry, then try it every day, at least for a while. Tone So hopefully this has not dried out your face too badly. Traditionally in the east and the west we would want to use a toner to restore the ph to the skin. I use rose water. Other things that can be used are lotus water, and even which hazel, at least on the face. I use it to gently clean my face before bed, again rather than soap. Moisturize With all this, your skin should be feeling good, but some moisturizer is still a good idea, I simply use aloe vera for that. I would recommend finding something natural for this, even just a light coating of oil may will do. You will need to experiment, as with all of the above suggestions to see what works best for your skin type. Ayurveda focuses on beauty though health, and is less concerned with covering up things for appearance. The idea is that healthy skin will be beautiful and radiant, so nourishing the skin is the best practice, but different skin types have different requirements, so don't be afraid to experiment. If you would like to increase your knowledge of Ayurveda, I would recommend starting with Robert Svoboda's Prakriti- Your Ayurvedic Constitution. This is a great introduction to Ayurveda, and surprisingly comprehensive for being so concise. When I was studying Ayurveda in India and anyone was having trouble understanding some of the theory, I would grab them a copy from a local book store. Books are surprisingly inexpensive in India. One fellow undergoing treatments attested that every time he had a question about something he would just pick up that book and the answer would be there, and and thanked me repeatedly. Check out the link below. If you want more info on Ayurvedic skin care then you might check out this book too: #ayurveda #skin #skincare #naturalskincare #integrativebodywork

We do a Rolfing series to help develop a higher degree of organization and function in the body. This means addressing the individual's ability to find balance, heal, and go through life with a greater amount of body awareness. People are attracted to the idea of doing a 10 series so they can be more autonomous and independent from the constant need for professional help with aches, pains and issues, but even after a successful series is completed there are good reasons to see your Rolfer with some degree of regularly . Three of these reasons are General Maintenance, Getting in Shape, and Deeper work. General Maintenance As mentioned above, Rolfing helps encourage body awareness. Many people feel that seeing their Rolfer monthly continues to foster this. Some people come in a little more frequently than that and some people less, but either way, seeing a Rolfer with some degree of regularity after a series has been completed helps the body to find a healthy balance, and with this the mind will follow. The nervous system responds to careful attention, like a houseplant, it thrives under the right conditions, and the good intentions of the Rolfer along with the open relaxation of the client can provide this. It is a myth that Rolfing is all pain an suffering, it has it's moments, but we take care to encourage a relaxed receptive state in the individual, one in which healing can take place. Although the idea of maintenance is important, as a Rolfer we are always thinking of the future, and how to build something new. Get in Shape Exercise means different things to different people. I am happy to get in an hour a day walking, but with the advent of the seasons of great physical activity- sport, skiing, hiking, travel, Rolfing is just what a person needs to adapt to higher physical demand. The individual's ability to adapt is what the Rolfer encourages, we are self regulating organisms. You have to ability to adapt to new or increased activity, and your Rolfer is here to help you with this. Aches and pains along the way are normal to some degree, as long as they don't become debilitating. We can help manage those aches and pains by paying attention to restrictions old and new, and encouraging more efficient ways of using your body. When you have decided to get in better shape, don't hesitate to book a Rolfing session. Go Deeper When I mention going deeper I am not talking about using more pressure or working on deeper layers of myofascia, I am talking about working with greater detail. After a 10 series we feel like we have addressed most of the basics. This leaves room for focusing on other details. We have established a good degree of support and now more attention can be giving to anything that appears to be an issue. Slowing down, focusing on problem areas longer, joint decompression, tendon and ligament work, these are all on the table now, as we don't feel so pressed to cover most of the things we already addressed in the series. I would not classify post 10 series work as maintenance really, because there is always strategy being used to create a higher order structurally, rather than simply maintaining what has been done. We are always thinking about what's next, what would be the most beneficial at any given time. In summery, I encourage people to come in whenever they feel like they need some attention from their Rolfer, but deciding on some some recurring time period can be helpful so that good intentions don't get buried in a pile of things that need to be done in life. It is important to prioritize health and self care, and this can make one more efficient in life as well. So don't hesitate to book a session and start on part two of your journey, even if it has been a while. Rolfing is not a luxury, it is about experiencing the body more fully and learning about oneself. Hopefully we can all be interested in that. #rolfing #rolfer #structuralintegration #healthmaintenance

"You may take this for truth, that when a free mind is really disinterested, God is compelled to come into it; and if it could get along without contingent forms, it would have all the properties of God himself" Meister Eckhart In my Rolfing practice the topic of non-attachment often comes up. This is probably because it is part of my own path of development, but also because I see attachment as a hang up to the progress of the structural organization of my clients. When we become fixated on ideas of how our posture and movement should be, we try to control posture and movement with our minds- from the top down. This can only lead to neurotic and unnatural changes in our posture and movement, and stand in the way of finding a more graceful and natural expression of the body in movement and static posture. To find a better way, we must learn to let go of our ideas of how we should be. Being fixated on an emotion or an idea will show up in the body in some way. Attachment comes in many forms. One thing that comes up a lot is our identification with pain. Of course the Rolfer wants to find the strain patterns that are contributing to pain and address them, but sometimes the pain will continue even after many Rolfing sessions. Hopefully it will make the pain more manageable if not eliminate the problem, but pain management also depends on an individual's attitude toward pain, and the ability not to let it consume them entirely. I have covered this idea previously in blogs, but I want to point out that this all revolves around the idea of non-attachment. Non-attachment is an idea that is central in Buddhism, because it is believed that attachment causes suffering, but this idea turns up in many traditions in different forms. One does not have to be Buddhist, or religious in any fashion to benefit from working with the idea of non-attachment. The above quote from Meister Eckhart, a German Medieval monk and philosopher, shows that this idea can even be found in Christianity. His term being Disinterest, is really another term for non-attachment that he expounds upon in detail. When we give up having our minds tied up in things, then there is space for God to enter, because the unattached mind is more like the nature of God. Buddhists don't really believe in God, in fact some Buddhists claim the Buddhism is not even a religion but rather a method to gain peace, freedom, and clarity. What ever the case, one can see Meister Echhart is claiming that the mind needs to be free of attachment for something higher to enter, some sort of grace. Of course, no affiliation with any theology is need for structural integration to be successful, but these ideas are just as important to the atheist as they are to the theologian. I have to work on giving up attachment to old forms for a newer and more organized way of standing, walking, and sitting to take place. Something deeper within knows how to do these things better than I ever could with only my mind. The changes that take place with Rolfing are changes that occur through allowing, not doing. It is in that way we can enter into a new experience of ourselves and grace can come into the picture. This is what I aim for in my Rolfing practice. #rolfer #rolfing #structuralintegration #nonattachment #buddhism #meistereckhart

I would like to take a moment to address the topic of meditation, as awareness is key to the transformative effects of Rolfing for both the practitioner and the client. It is by no means necessary that the Rolfer or client take up a meditation practice for success with the process, but it is very helpful in fostering and new and deeper awareness with the body, with movement and even with perception. Many people are drawn to meditation for it's benefits, stress reduction, clarity of mind, becoming more focused and productive in daily life and at work, but all of these reasons are secondary to what meditative traditions evolved to cultivate, which is the complete the transformation of the individual. That being said, what ever leads an individual to meditation can help open up this pathway, be it pain or stress management, but try to consider this idea- the primary benefit of meditation should be meditation itself and all other things gained from it are secondary. There are two overall approaches taken to meditative traditions I am aware of: that of Focused attention and that of Non-Focused attention or what I like to call Peripheral attention. Focused Attention One of the goals of meditation is to strengthen the attention. While studying at University, my History of Hinduism professor said that the yoga we see in gyms and yoga studios here is not yoga. Being able to stare at a dot until every one of our senses withdraw into each other to the point where the dot is the only thing that exists in the universe, THAT is yoga. So what were these people in gyms and yoga studios doing? I think it is the inner attention and experience that makes for yoga, rather than the exterior exercises. Which brings up the idea that meditation can be both still, seated and quite, or moving dynamic and audible. With the last idea in mind, let's start with mantra. Mantra A mantra is word or phrase that is repeated audibly or internally that gives the mind something to focus on. This phrase will usually have some meaning, either esoteric or exoteric. It may be an appeal to higher forces for help, it may be a wish for healing or peace, it could even be a spell for prosperity or a curse on one's enemy, depending on what sort of tradition one is in. It could be an idea or an ideal one is striving for. A mantra is essentially a prayer, and every prayer is a mantra. Keeping one's attention on the unity of the repetition of a phrase or word can not only strengthen the attention but allow one freedom from the thoughts and emotions that constantly run through the mind, causing agitation. In this way, chanting mantra can help one deal with stress in a healthy manor and refresh the mind again. Yantra A yantra is a geometric diagram meditated on in Tantric Hinduism, but I here use this term very loosely as any visual object or drawing meditated on. As in the previous explanation, a yogi may concentrate their attention on a single dot. Meditation on the breath through breathing exercises (pranayama) and simply keeping the attention on the breath without altering it (anapana breathing) are also exercises in focused attention, the latter being used more often in Buddhism. One may meditate on the image of a deity (taking Darshan in Hinduism) or simply on a letter, as is common in Tibetan Buddhism where it is a basic focused meditation exercise to hold the attention on the letter A- which also has esoteric significance. Keeping the attention focused on an object or illustration allows unity of mind, less intrusion of thought, and may even allow one to reduce unnecessary muscle tension. The same is true for focusing on the breath. Sensation Meditation on the sensation in the body is probably the most relevant practice for Rolfing. In drawing attention to sensation in the body one increases the mental map of the the body and proprioception, the feeling of where we are in space, both moving and being still increases. This can help develop a new sense of self in life, and a deeper sense of one's own being over time. Focusing on breath is perhaps better mentioned under this category than the last, but here we are referring to meditating primarily on the sensation of breath. Some traditional lineages of southeast Asian Buddhism give great importance to scanning thoroughly through the body taking in finer and finer sensations, traditions such as Vipassana. The sitting meditation practice in G.I. Gurdjeff's lineage is also similar. The nature of focused meditation is that the mind is given something to be directed to, so that every thing else can either be filtered out or given less importance to. This is sometimes referred to as seeded meditation. Generally speaking, seeded meditation is easier to begin with. It is not easy for anyone to muster up the attention it requires but the struggle is more overt and easy to approach. Seedless meditation, on the other hand, is more esoteric and harder to grasp, probably because it can not be grasped, it has to be let go of. Peripheral Attention When we consider peripheral attention we are speaking of a free attention that has no direct focus, we are practicing being present without a goal, or an anchor. This does not mean spacing out and allowing the mind to wander, nor does it mean forcefully directing the attention. This is the practice of allowing all impressions and thoughts to come in, but trying not to allow any of them to hook the attention and drag it away. Three aspects of this approach are seedless meditation, spaciousness, and once again sensation. Seedless Seedless meditation is very difficult for beginners and I view it as being an advanced form of meditation, though people in traditions that practice seedless meditation start with it right away. It is referred to as seedless because we are given nothing to focus on, but rather try to keep the attention open and allow all things to come in. The thoughts will pass through the mind, but we try not to allow them to take our attention away, when they do we simply try to let go. This type of meditation is central to Zen and it is usually practiced with the eyes open, so this also means taking in all the senses but not allowing them to distract us. Beginners usually practice facing a wall so their visual field does not distract them too much. The Buddha is often depicted meditating with eyes just slightly open. Spacious The concept of spaciousness is important to many traditions. Rather than tightening up the attention to focus on something, it is a widening of the attention to allow all things in without preference. The concept of spacious attention is important in Tibetan Buddhism, where a practitioner may go to a high place like a mountain and meditate on the sky. The concept of spaciousness and allowing impressions in comes into Rolfing, where we try to encourage a spacious experience of the body, one that is expansive rather than constrictive, one that has to do with extension into space rather than unnecessary muscle tension leading to being stuck in flexion. With the experience of the spacious body comes a different relationship with pain. Not allowing oneself to be taken entirely by pain gives one some freedom from it, remembering that there is a whole realm of experience in the body that is not just the area one is experiencing pain around. Also allowing for a relaxed and freer movement when walking, rather than moving with force, is a way of working with spaciousness. Sensation And now we are back to sensation again. A person can work with a focused attention on sensation. This can help us divide our attention between what is going on outside and feeling of inner sensation. That can add another dimension to conscious awareness. Gurdjieff would often give exercise like this to practice while out in daily life, something like sense your right hand every time you walk through a door. An exercise like this is only good for a little while and then becomes automatic and a new exercise must be tried. Also other examples of working with sensation while not seated are practices like Tai Chi. This is a slow martial art and moving meditation that is probably best done with a light peripheral sense of the whole body. Likewise in Buddhism there is walking meditation. These examples are good because they show how meditation can be done in other ways than still and seated and are good training on how to be mindful in life while moving about, but I will stress the importance of seated meditation too. In Tibetan Buddhism the concept taking three magic pills to restore equanimity is often referred to. These pills are like medicine for the mind, they are: Stillness, Silence, and Spaciousness. They allow us to go deep within. As one focuses attention gently to the sensations of the body, the power of perception becomes finer, and softer quieter sensations become apparent. It is important to try to relax unnecessary muscle tension when meditating, otherwise all one will sense is tension. Training yourself to become still, relaxed and quite is an opportunity to go deep within, when the attention is available. The thoughts do not usually stop, but we can practice allowing them to pass by, and when we are snagged by a thought we can gently let go and come back to being present again. Here we are coming into contact with different states of mind. What the thoughts are that pass through the mind do not matter, it is the state that matters. It is, in my opinion, the failure of western psychology that more importance is placed on the contents of the mind rather than the state of mind, but traditionally psychology has not even really recognized higher states of mind. With the current interest in eastern psychology, this is slowly changing though. As Rolfers we are encouraged to be present and mindful while working. The client's body and nervous system responds to this, if only subconsciously. If the client is able to relax, feels safe and can be open, more can be done. Rolfing not only depends on what is done in the session but where the client is at presently. Practicing meditation, coming into sensation throughout the day, and trying to be present will help facilitate the changes the Rolfer is trying to bring out, changes that are already inherent in the client and waiting for encouragement. When both the Rolfer and the client are in a state of calm presence, there can be a resonance, like two strings of the same tuning, octaves apart. None of these practices are necessary for a successful Rolfing session or series but those who practice mindfulness and sensation may benefit even more from Rolfing, so I encourage anyone who is interested to explore the great traditions that have been kept alive for so long. #rolfing #rolfer #structuralintegration #meditation #mindfulness #sensation #hinduism #buddhism

"All this metaphysics is fine, but be mighty sure you've got physics under the metaphysics." Ida Rolf All Rolfers have some training in craniosacral holds that we often use during a Rolfing session. These methods are known as subtle energy work, but energy work in general is a loaded term. When it is used one must question what a person means when they use it. Because most practices under that term have not been really investigated by science, it often evokes the idea that it these practices are imaginary and not real. Due to the subjective nature of energy work practices, it would be difficult to study them scientifically, but what can be observed is how the client's body responds and how they feel afterwards. Here are five aspects of the energy work to consider, at least as it pertains to a craniosacral approach. We take in more Information than we are aware of We are continually taking in information from the outside world through our senses. Only a very small part of this information is apparent to us consciously. The information that is taken in through our peripheral vision is processed faster than the information taken in through focused vision. When we are looking at things out in the world we are engaging our sympathetic nervous system, which is linked to the predator/prey areas of the brain. This touches in on the fight or flight aspect of our autonomic nervous system. A wider vision not only allows more information to come in and be subconsciously processed, it encourages the parasympathetic nervous system to take over again, the rest and digest aspect of our autonomic nervous system. It is this rest and digest aspect of the clients nervous system we are trying to foster when doing energy work. The Rolfer must be aware that when we are doing assessment and work, they have taken in more information about the client's situation than they are consciously aware of, so intuition can be a key factor in figuring out what the client needs. Our system are always communicating subconsciously with one another. Change will occur through the receptive attention on the part of the client and the Rolfer. So the intention is almost more important that what the Rolfer does. Intention and Attention makes the change The nervous system controls what muscles are tight and what muscle are loose. Tight (hyper-tonic) or loose (hypo-tonic), the tone of a muscle is held in place because the nervous system is responding to a need. So if a Rolfer tries to lengthen a hypertonic muscle, the nervous system may respond by simply tightening and shortening the muscle again, if it is necessary for support. The Rolfer does gentle holds in highly innervated areas in order to down regulate the nervous system in order to be more open to change. Even if the Rolfer's observation about certain structural changes is not correct, and even if the intervention done is wrong, the client still might have a positive response merely to the Rolfer's good intentions and attention. Attention itself has the power to produce change. Our nervous system is self regulating Our bodies have the ability to heal themselves and strive for balance, but this self regulating system often needs help. We tend to blame persistent aches and pains on age, but it is possible that it is all the baggage we are carrying that is not allowing us to heal. Subtle energy work helps to down regulate the nervous system so that healing can start to take place. The body has the ability to sort out all of this extra baggage. Health and Balance are our natural state When the system is brought to a state of peace and quite, we achieve balance once again. This is our natural state. Disease is an aberration of our natural state, just as aches and pains associated with structural imbalance. The body has the ability to heal and find balance. Through energy work the Rolfer helps to bring out the self correcting mechanisms of the body. Energy is sensation "What do you mean by energy?!" is the a question I have had thrown at me a number of times when approaching the subject. If you put your hand next to a burner you should feel heat. That is energy. The nerve impulses that register it and send it to your brain operate on electricity. That is literally energy. So the feeling of the wind on your face is also the perception of energy, that is registered and delivered to the brain via energy. All sensation is energy, weather it is subtle or not subtle. The conscious reception of sensation feeds and informs the nervous system. The body will respond to the touch and attention of the Rolfer just as a houseplant might feed and thrive when given the right attention. It has been said that all bodywork is energy work. It is true we are continually exchanging stimulus from one another when we are in the same room. When intentionally doing energy work we are trying to consciously participate in the exchange, with presence and attention. Healing will take place in the calm nurturing environment that energy work provides. The power of healing is within the individual, the Rolfer only provides support. #rolfing #rolfer #structuralintegration #energywork

In my Denver office, I see a lot of clients dealing with chronic pain. This pain is often the motivating force for coming to see a Rolfer in the first place. Although we want to try to find the source of pain and restriction, this can not usually be dealt with sufficiently until we establish balance and support in the individual's entire structure. More so, pain is a subjective experience for everyone, and it may or may not be affected by one's attitude towards it. Here are few ways of working with pain directly and without medication. Focus on your health, not your pathology If the pain one experiences is fairly intense, it can be quite consuming. It may be easy to neglect other aspects of health and wellness when in pain, though it is important to understand that the signals interpenetrated as pain are processed in the brain, not in the nerve receptors that send the signal. If a person is tired, has not eaten, and is under a lot of stress, and then they stub their toe, it may a very painful experience. This same person may not be much bothered by stubbing their toe if they are well feed, rested, and dealing with stress in a healthy manor. The same can be true with chronic pain, so neglecting your health because you are in pain creates a feed back loop that can be hard to get out of. The other aspect of focusing on your health is to try to bring your awareness to the sensation of the whole of your body. Hopefully your whole body is not in pain, so if it is not, try to have a wider more global sense of the body so that the one or two spots giving you pain does not consume all of your attention. This pain is not the whole of your identity, try to stay in contact with the whole of the self, try to focus on your health not your pain. Don't Take the Second Arrow There is a Buddhist analogy that I like very much. It says, when you are in battle and get struck with an arrow, it could do quite a bit of damage, but getting hit with a second arrow in the same region could do 10X the damage, so don't take the second arrow. This analogy is really about negative emotions arising, which any honest Buddhist will have to agree is simply part of the human condition. So the real danger is either reacting to the negative emotion and feeding it with more fuel. This can be true of emotional reaction to pain as well, which can intensify pain. We view pain as an enemy and an intruder that we have to fight rather than just a segment of the experience of one's self. When experiencing pain, it can be helpful to try to acknowledge it without being sucked into it. Try to relax the unnecessary tensions in the body rather than tensing up as a reaction to pain, otherwise you will have two types of pain, one physical and one emotional. Allow yourself some space Pain and stress usually ends up as muscle tension in the body. Our muscles and joints end up stuck in flexion, it's a trauma response. This unnecessary muscle tension can tend to further aggravate structural issues in the body and lead to more pain. When we are tense, rushed and anxious we experience constriction. When you experience this, see if you can let go of unnecessary tension, allow the breath to be a bit freer and try to experience the body as something spacious rather than constricted. When in pain I know this is easier said than done, but if you try you may have some success. Realize that nothing lasts forever, and so pain can not be forever, but it can be perpetuated either by the environment or by the individual experiencing the pain. Sometimes the brain just stops sending the pain signal even if the issue is still there. Also, sometimes the brain interprets perfectly ordinary signals as pain and there may not be anything perceptibly wrong in the area in which the pain is perceived. What ever the case, developing a better relationship with the body can help one deal with chronic pain better and avoid pain killers. As a Rolfer, we don't simply address a problem, we address the individual and their whole structure. This often means, going around the problem rather than fixating on it. The problem is not your hip, your neck, or your shoulder, it's your relationship with your hip, your neck or your shoulder that is the problem. When the body has balance and support, it has a chance to heal. It is this natural ability to heal that the Rolfer tries to assist in the individual by working to build structural support and ease of movement. No one likes to live with chronic pain, but it is a chance to listen to the body, and develop a new relationship with it. If we can not help eliminate chronic pain then maybe we can help make it more manageable. Either option is going to take some work. #rolfing #rolfer #pain #chronicpain #painmanagment

Have you ever told someone that you were seeing a Rolfer and then had to try explaining what it is? Let's face it, that's not easy even for a Rolfer. Because the process is complex and people don't really understand it, all Rolfers must become educators. There are a few books out there detailing what Rolfing is, and a couple of them are for the general public. Owen Marcus' book- The Power of Rolfing is one of those. Practicing Rolfing for many years alongside naturopaths in a wellness clinic, as well as holding meditation classes for stress reduction and working with professional runners, Marcus has some good insight about Rolfing, what it is and how to apply it to various individuals. Owen Marcus has been a Rolfer since 1980, and spent time running a wholistic medical clinic. He worked with professional athletes, especially runners. This has given him a good perspective on the proper mechanics of the body when running and even walking. Realizing that the biggest pathology in our culture is stress, he also held meditation classes regularly. I personally believe that Rolfing and meditation go hand in hand, an highly recommend finding some sort of meditative practice, weather sitting meditation or moving meditation like Tai Chi. In addition to explaining some of the ins and outs of how Rolfing works, Owen also addresses some of the history of Rolfing and how it has changed. Some schools of structural integration, the original term for Rolfing, try to adhere to a rigid model of what Ida Rolf left behind, but the Rolf Institute believes that Rolf left behind a developing path and not a religion to be preserved and unchanged. Owen discusses some of the different ideas and divergences that have developed over time and how Rolfing has changed with scientific research. This book not only addressed how Rolfing can help with the structural organization of the body, but also with personal health in general. He talks about how Rolfing can help with issues like TMJ or plantar fascitus, but also with metabolism, insomnia and over all stress management. If you are looking for a good introduction to Rolfing, the Power of Rolfing by Owen Marcus is a great place to start. And a nice plus is it's on audible as well! Audible gives you a free 30 day trial and one audio book for free, which you can keep and continue to listen to even if you halt your membership. Both the paper copy and the audio book can be found at the link below. Enjoy! #rolfing #rolfer #structuralintegration #running #runners #bookreview

Hips, knees, and toes. What is their relationship to one another? They are all gears in one very important part of our machine, the machine that is our body. The hip can be thought of as a girdle, just like the shoulder, meaning it is composed of quite a few different structures that come together to create a larger structure. What drives the hip girdle? The foot! Articulating with the ground, each step the foot makes drives motion up the leg to the hip girdle, so what happens in the foot and the ankle will appear in the hip. But now let us consider the opposite end. The hip socket articulates with the top of the leg, the greater trochanter. A baby does not really have a hip socket until it begins to crawl, and then the head of the femur actually starts carving a hip socket in preparation for walking at some point. The muscles of the hip that attach to the greater trochanter govern the orientation of the leg. If these muscles, the lateral rotators of the hip are short and tight, the legs will be rotated laterally and the feet will not meet the ground straight on, they will also be rotated out laterally, we will not get full use out of our arches and likely develop restriction in our ankles. Walking with laterally deviated legs ( rotated outward) and feet can even further the development of bunions, as over time the big toe is essentially being dragged in towards the other toes. If we have a problem with our arches or ankles, we may avoid them when walking by roating the foot outward or inward, or fall in on our medial arches when we have flat feet. This may also cause lateral deviation of the legs. If the legs are chronically held rotated outward like this, the lateral rotators of the hip will be held in a short and tight position and this can lead to hip restriction. So the foot/ankle affects the hip and the hip affects the ankle. What is affected in between? The knees. It is no wonder that so many people have knee problems. If the feet are not articulating well with the ground or the hips are rotating the leg medially or laterally, there will be strain on the knees. The knee joint is really designed to allow for movement forward and back, so any side to side strain really stresses the muscles and the ligaments of the knee. The Rolfer's job is to try to address the hips and feet so that the knees can track more easily forward and back, and minimize side to side movement. The relationship between the feet and the hips are analogous to the relationship between a set of tires and the car's alignment and suspension. When we buy new tires, we must also adjust the alignment, because it was adjusted to the wear on the previous tires. If we have uneven wear on our tires, and we adjust the alignment, the tires will pull the car's axle out of alignment. So just as with a car, we must replace the old tires and adjust the alignment, a Rolfer will want to address a client's hips and then their feet, and then their hips again, until there is a greater since of balance. #rolfing #rolfer #structuralintegration #hip #hippain #hipgirdle

January, being the month of his birth, people in Gurdjieff groups all around the world gather together, in person or on zoom, to celebrate Jan. 13, the day the spiritual teacher G.I. Gurdjieff was born. To use the word spiritual is not ideal though, as it conjures to mind the idea that it is not real, or something imaginary. Gurdjieff taught a system of development where one tried to bring into harmony the mind, body, and emotions through the cultivation of attention and consciousness. I suppose that may sound more real than the term spiritual. If you read my blogs, then you may already know that Ida Rolf was influenced by Gurdjieff's ideas and practices, as she was a student of J.G. Bennett, one of Gurdjieff's well known students. The primary idea in Gurdjieff/Bennett's teaching is that we go throughout our days not being conscious of ourselves. We are either identified with things outside ourselves or with thoughts, emotions, and even urges of the body. This being so, our day to day lives are lived in a very low degree of consciousness, we sleep walk through our daily lives. To wake up from sleep, there must be some sort of shock. We can apply this shock to ourselves by Self Remembering. Self Remembering is the act of bringing a dual attention to the self and what we are doing in the outside world at the same time. This allows for a greater sort of consciousness. Over time this will allow energies in the body to develop and transform, and the transformation of these energies will transform the individual over time. Ida Rolf had many influences. She worked and studied with osteopaths, she practiced yoga, and she was a biochemist by education, but we know she was deeply influenced by Gurdjieff's ideas as she spent her summers in a retreat-like fashion with Bennett at his center. Also, Ida gave lectures and presentations to the Gurdjieff Society of London and other centers as well. This all came together during the rise of the human potential movement of the 60's, so it was good timing. Gurdjieff had passed away by then but left groups and leaders of those groups behind all over the world, and Bennett was a well known leader in America and the England. Lets talk about how some of these ideas pertain to Rolfing specifically. First there is the idea that attention and consciousness has a transformative effect of its own. We can dig into muscles, stretch them, exercise them, but it is bringing the conscious attention to the sensation of the body that allows things to begin to find their proper place, their right relationship. The use of excess force and unnecessary muscle tension works against us. It waists energy and does not allow our vital energies to flow. For Gurdjieff it was important to be relaxed, as it allows us to store up energy. For Rolf, it was important to allow a proper relationship to gravity. Ida Rolf also taught developing a relationship with the body through movement. Gurdjieff and Bennett also did, but through Gurdjieffs elaborate and difficult choreographed temple dances, refereed to simply as The Movements. Ida's movement exercises are less extravagant and might be compared to Moshe Feldenkrais' system of movement develpment. Feldenkrais was also a fellow student of Bennett. Gurdijeff brought a system of eastern ideas to the west well before any other eastern ideas had taken hold, Theosophy being the exception. He died before the human potential movement of the 60's, but left a thriving tradition behind that would be eagerly swept up by that current. Although most of that current was about self help, which really just serves the ego, Gurdjeff's teaching is about transformation, not into what we want to be, but into what we really are. In many ways, on a physical level at least, Rolfing also serves to put us in touch with what we really are, helping us to unload much of the baggage we have be carrying around in our bodies. We live in a world were we commonly believe that spiritual ideas are not practice, but perhaps you can see that there are exceptions. To Gurdjieff, everything is material, the body, the emotions, even thought, so working with these things is practical. It is not necessary to study Gurdjieff's ideas to have success with Rolfing, Ida's system is it's own thing, but anyone who is interested may want to take a look at P.D. Ouspenky's book In Search of the Miraculous, originally entitled Fragments of an Unknown Teaching. People generally find Ouspensky's writings easier to read than Gurdjieff's. Also, Bennett has put out a substantial body of writing as well. To those who feel called by these writing, there are many Gurdjieff groups throughout the world that work with his ideas together. The Gurdjieff Foundation in the U.S. and Europe have been put together from the largest body of his surviving students after he died and is considered to be the strongest lineage. There are Bennett groups still going strong as well, though Bennett and his groups certainly have their own spin on the tradition, bringing in lots of other world traditions as well. There are other groups too, some of them with less benevolent and or confused intentions, so use your better judgement when exploring them. And finally, the film Meetings with Remarkable Men directed by Peter Brook is a great story produced from Gurdjieff's autobiography of the same name. It illustrated his search for wisdom throughout the East and the Middle East, and has one of the few fully developed video renditions of the temple dances simply known as The Movements. Of all the things that he was, and the the people he influenced, he referred to himself as, a teacher of dance. #gurdjieff #bennett #idarolf #rolfing #structuralintegration #feldenkrais

Take a look at an anatomical chart and consider the muscles of the back. What do you notice? There are many layers, and many of these muscles span over much of the territory of the back. Now look at some of the most far reaching muscles and you will realize, they are the most superficial, near the surface. And then what else do you notice? They are somewhat like thin sheets compared to many other muscles in the body. What else? Most of the large superficial muscles of the back attach to the shoulder or the shoulder blade. Yes, that's right, most of the larger muscles of the back are shoulder muscles. So how could we expect to address a shoulder problem without addressing these back muscles too? We all too often overlook just how far reaching our issues might be, but simply looking at a muscle diagram can help put things into perspective. Looking at more detailed drawings, we can see that many of these already far reaching muscles feed into each other through even farther reaching sheets of connective tissue. Consider the latissimus dorsi, for instance. This muscle originates from the illium, the top of the hip, and attaches to the top of the humerus. How do you think we can address a long standing shoulder problem without addressing the entire sideline down to the hip? Now take a look at the neck. Many of the larger superficial muscles of the neck run down to the shoulder. How can we address a shoulder problem without addressing the neck? Likewise, how can we address a neck problem without addressing the shoulder, or even the arm which links up to the shoulder, which links up to the neck? And then we must consider the physics of the situation, what are the factors like in motion? The arms need to be able to swing freely when walking, and the bones of the forearms need to be able to rotate freely around each other while the arms swing. This kinetic energy of walking should flow down the arm, and even through the wrist, hands and out the fingers or it will remained trapped in the shoulder and the neck, so even having restriction in the hands can affect the neck and shoulders. Keep in mind that just because we may have moved from series work into more specific localized work down the road, does not mean that we do not still have a bigger view in mind. This is what makes Rolfing what it is, unique, holistic, and far reaching. This is also why we need to avoid getting stuck in doing just one approach over and over again. The answers may be very far away from the perceived problem, so we must be open to a greater view of the whole. #rolfing #rolfer #structuralintegration #shoulder #shouldergirdle #back #backmuscles

"Go around the problem; get the system sufficiently resilient so that it is able to change, and it will change, It doesn't have to be forced. It's that forcing that you have to avoid at all costs." Ida P. Rolf It is important to recognize that most physical complaints are not simply local to where the pain, restriction, or discomfort is being experienced. Often the site where the pain is experienced is the end of a sometimes long strain pattern, and that is why it is important not to fixate on the problem area. Rolfing is about working with relationships, and every part of a person exists in relation to another, and the all parts exist in relation to a greater whole. This is why it is generally not wise to get stuck focusing on just one or two areas. Rolfing, also known as structural integration, is about relating and integrating structure into one greater and better functioning whole. Work done in one area can affect other areas, and it can even affect the whole. This can be through the vast webbing of connective tissue the envelopes nearly everything in the body, or through the system of nerves that run through nearly all the tissue in the body. Either way, challenging a problem head on is the overt approach, but does not take into account the interrelatedness of all aspects of the physical form. So rather than getting stuck in a problem, we go around it until we discover the relationships that are holding it in its state. This is the holistic perspective of a Rolfer, and what make our approach unique. #rolfing #rolfer #structuralintegration #wholism #holism #wholistic #holistic

I would like to bring up an idea that we have all heard before. The idea that the way we perceive the world can change and/or control us. I am not just talking about positive thinking, though this can sometimes cause valuable change. If simply changing our thought was all we needed to do, then every teenager would either be a rock star or a super model. No, I am talking about a perception that is our ability to sense ourselves and the world around us. Our ability to sense ourselves, and various parts of ourselves both in static posture and in movement can be quite skewed. Even if it is pretty good, it can be improved. As we bring our attention to sensation in the body, we will find that there are areas that have a lot of feeling and some in which we basically have little to none. We have gaps in the mental maps of the body. With all the hands on work we do with people, what Rolfers are primarily doing is helping one to expand the mental map of the body, giving the nervous system input, helping the individual's system inform itself through sensation and proprioception (sensing where one is in the space around them). When this ability is compromised, the system does not feel safe and limits movement, providing muscle tension and drawing things in toward the mid-line. Likewise traumatic experience can do this as well. If this is addressed in the body, a person may be able to gain some freedom from the feeling of being unwell or unsafe. In that way the individual's structure can change perception. So there it is, perception affects structure and structure affects perception. There are paths of spiritual development that revolve around being in contact with the sensation of the body. G.I. Gurdjieff's teaching, which did influence Ida Rolf comes immediately to mind. Certain lineages of Southeast Asian Buddhism, like Vipassina do as well. They aim to use contact with the sensation of the body to help develop the mind, rather than becoming identified with the body. One does not really need to take up meditation to work with sensation, although it could be very helpful. We have the opportunity at any moment, keeping the idea in mind that our structure is not static, it is a dynamic event, like the flowing of a river, always changing but maintaining a recognizable form.