A Note on Terminology
As Ida Rolf was developing her work, she went through a series of names to describe it.
By the 1960’s, she was calling it structural integration. However, her clients began affectionately referring to her work as Rolfing. While initially not enthusiastic about the term, she gradually agreed to adopt it, and in the 1970’s she legally servicemarked the term Rolfing and created the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration as a teaching and membership organization.
Over time, other schools arose to teach her work or derivatives of it. Since they could not legally call their work Rolfing (or their practitioners Rolfers, a term also owned by the Rolf Institute), all the schools teaching their variations of her work began to adopt structural integration as the generic term for the field.
Rolfing (more properly called Rolfing structural integration) refers to work done by graduates of the Rolf Institute. While graduates of other structural integration schools will sometimes mistakenly refer to themselves as Rolfers and their work as Rolfing, they are in violation of U.S. servicemark law when they do so. They are practicing structural integration but are not Rolfers or practicing Rolfing.
If you have doubts about whether your practitioner is actually a Rolfer, contact the Rolf Institute. (The practitioner should have a current Rolf Institute certifcate in their office). The Rolf Institute is affiliated with the International Association of Structural Integrators (IASI), the first and only membership organization for structural integration practitioners, and most RISI members are members of IASI.
About Rolfing
Rolfing is a system of soft-tissue manipulation and movement education, based on the life work of Ida Rolf, PhD. She developed a system of hands-on work to balance the body’s structure, or posture, more easily and efficiently in gravity. Dr. Rolf discovered over a 50-year career that it is possible to significantly change and improve a person’s structure by working with the body’s myofascial system.
A Rolfer is particularly looking at how a client has gotten “stuck in place” over time. Throughout our lives we encounter injuries, stresses and habitual activities that leave their marks on our structures. We typically adapt to these by twisting, shortening or bracing to compensate. As we deal with this compensation, over time the soft tissue (called fascia) in our bodies begins to shorten, get stiffer and less malleable, and lose its elasticity. As a result, our bodies get molded into a set shape that prevents us from sitting, standing, moving or resting efficiently or comfortably.
During a typical Rolfing session, we start by evaluating a person’s structure. A Rolfer is trained to see bodies and how the dynamics of standing and movement occur and to determine how and where the body is restricted. To a Rolfer’s eye, slouched shoulders, knock-knees or bowed legs, flat feet or high arches, sway back, spinal curvatures, a short leg, and/or hip problems all display complex patterns of strain, tightness, and thickening in the body’s soft tissues.
A Rolfer applies hands-on pressure to fascia, to lengthen, reposition, and free it where it is stuck. The client will often be encouraged to reach, stretch, or bring their awareness to the area, to discover new possibilities for movement. By doing this systematically wherever tissue has adapted to strain, a client can gradually rediscover more freedom of movement, improved balance and function, improvement in symptoms such as pain or muscle soreness, and a greater sense of well-being.
Rolfers have traditionally seen clients in a series of sessions (many people have heard about the “ten session series”). Ida Rolf developed this approach to allow time for the Rolfer to work with a client’s overall structure rather than focus just on specific problem areas. It is up to the practitioner and client to find an approach that is best for each client.
Why do people go through the Rolfing process?
Better posture: When we want to make a good impression entering a gathering, we tell ourselves to stand up straight, hold our head erect and move as gracefully as possible. However, as soon as our minds wander from concentrating on good posture, we find ourselves falling back into our habitual posture. What really has happened here is that our bodies have assumed the posture that our underlying structures actually support. Rolfers make a distinction between posture and structure. One of our goals is to organize your underlying structure so that it will support good posture naturally and easily.
Help with chronic pain: People come in with specific areas of chronic pain, lower backs, necks and shoulders, sore hips, legs and feet, TMJ, carpal tunnel syndrome, and others. In all of these conditions. Typically, a Rolfer will address the specific structures involved, but will also look at how those local structures affect, and are affected by, the overall body structure.
Support in the healing of injuries: Throughout our lives we experience injuries of all types, participating in sports, car accidents and occupational accidents to name a few. Even surgical interventions leave scar tissue that can contribute to the misalignment of our bodies. In addition to affecting the tissue in the area of the injury, we compensate for the injury by using our body in a way to protect the injured site. In doing so, we create other imbalances that need to be released.
Enhanced athletic performance: Many professional athletes. Olympians, serious and not so serious athletes have been Rolfed. Professional musicians also benefit greatly from Rolfing. Research has shown that bodies with Rolfed muscles fire more completely and rest more completely. There is a less “noise” in the system. This usually has a very positive effect on performance.
Overall well-being: A very broad term and category, but a reason many people seek out Rolfing. Early on, Ida Rolf observed that her clients that came to her for specific problems or aches and pains, reported much more general benefits than they had suspected. Increased energy, a greater ability to relax, better sleep, feeling more at ease in their body…all benefits of a body (and person) functioning with less effort and more efficiency and ease. Most Rolfers see clients who have been referred by a psychotherapist, or who are pursuing a personal quest for a greater degree of health and well-being.