Emotional Healing
It can be pretty astonishing what memories emerge in a bodywork session. Clients who come to me at first with vague and seemingly uninteresting body histories may open up to a whole other vista of awareness when we work on certain key areas on their body. This experience is of course different for everyone since our individual histories are so unique.
I once had a client who came to me with nothing apparent going on, she just wanted to develop more body awareness. After we worked for a while she was feeling good about the sessions, but I hadn’t seen any dramatic difference in her structure. When we got to a session where I spent most of my time on the back of her legs she suddenly broke out in a cold sweat around the hamstrings. This is a sign that her fight or flight (sympathetic nervous system) had kicked in, which happens in times of duress. As we worked she spontaneously recounted abuse she had suffered as a child from her mother. They have long since reconciled and she has no bad feelings toward her but this trauma was still in her body.
I’ve studied many traditions of healing that speak about areas of the body that hold emotion. They say we can store emotion in our connective tissue as a way to cope with trauma, for some reason that serves us at the time. When I say trauma I don’t only mean big and life changing things, it could be small or seemingly inconsequential to us at the time. While this dissociation does provide a respite from uncomfortable experiences it leaves those emotions raw.
There are many reasons given for this phenomenon, some more scientific than others. I don’t know if the science is always solid, but I can tell you from the direct and subjective experience of my own body that this is a reality for some.
I make a point not to lead my clients to this, maintaining a certain level of neutrality. There are practitioners who make it a part of their practice to coax these experiences out of their clients. I’m sure if I did this I would have more of these experiences in my treatment room. The fact remains that although I stay open to it, I in no way lead my clients there. Spontaneous and organic emotional expression is an amazing phenomenon to me. I can only sit in awe and do my best to maintain a safe space for my clientele when they undergo this type of transformation.
What happens on the table is a powerful way to consciously move through some emotion that was previously turned away from. As a practitioner I seek to provide a safe and judgment free space where such expression is okay. A space where my client can be themselves, without fear of reprisal.
Sometimes this manifests itself as spontaneous laughter or just seemingly random memories. I cherish these moments, even if we know not where they come from or why they happen. It seems to me that this is necessary, our body is expressing something it’s held onto.
My treatment room is a space where it all is okay, where you can be what you need to be in that moment. Allowing my client to be what they need to be creates an atmosphere of open neutrality.
Vibram Five Fingers
I just bought a pair of these “shoes”, well they are more like a foot glove. These shoes give you the ability to walk or run with the feel of being barefoot, but with the protection of a thin sole beneath your feet. There are separate pockets for your toes and they afford a freedom of movement not possible with traditional shoes.
The most noticeable difference that I found in walking with them at first was the increased movement in the bones of my feet. I specifically was aware of my heel rolling subtly backward with every step while walking. This allows the medial arch (instep) to expand fully in response to the ground. This is an interesting feeling and became more apparent when I put regular shoes back on and felt the heel cushion absorb this pressure rather than allowing the heel to respond dynamically.
My toes also felt stretched out and much more responsive to varying terrain. The day after I wore these for a full day I felt a soreness under my toes from them being stretched out beyond their norm. They felt longer and more open.
Over time, as my arch opens in my foot I also feel like my spine is allowed to open up at the upper thoracic level. This allows for my diaphragm to fully open and relax, leaving me with a feeling of abdominal openness and spinal stability that I have never quite felt before. When my arch is allowed to open up that stability provided at the ground level effects my entire structure! How cool is that?
I think these shoes offer a great way to allow the feet to behave as they are intended. They aren’t for all situations by any means, and anyone with feet problems should be wary of aggravating a condition. But they are a great experiment and are a real treat to experience.
http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/
Awaken the Spine
It is amazing how the journey through an embodied life is full of surprises. I have recently embodied a new way to wake up my spine at a deeper level than ever before, enlivening lethargic muscle tone and finding a clear horizontal. Ida Rolf liked to call this embodiment “The Line”. Over the years I have learned to know it and show others ways to find it, but The Line is a fleeting and illusive experience. Embodying The Line means to embrace fluidity and unimpeded movement with the adaptability required to navigate what life throws your way.
It not only is a way to move closer to geometric symmetry in my body, it is also a way of embodying the concept of tensegrity in my structure. I am feeling parts of my spine open up that have truly been contracted for a while; other parts of my spine are gaining tone and recovering from the chronic lethargy that they have been accustomed to for so long.
I started this journey towards improved alignment and function in my body consciously in 1999. That is when I received my first 10 series of Structural Integration. I had caught wind of this technique when I heard Ed Maupin, Ph.D. speak at an open house in Pacific Beach at IPSB, I was 18. As a trained psychologist as well as a product of the Human Potential Movement in the 70s, Ed spoke words that got me interested in bodywork in a very real way. He connected our physical structure to our psyche and he presented the idea that they are one, inexorably linked. I was amazed at the concept, it spoke to me and I immediately began to know it more and more in my own body.
He was of course speaking of Somatics, the study of the entwined and inseparable mind/body relationship. The concept that the body was a reflection of who we are in our internal world intrigued me. I had grown up thinking of art making in this same way, as a way to communicate with your own subconscious. Could the body also be a vehicle for this same type of communication?
I have come to understand that Structural Integration is first and foremost an exercise in developing self awareness. As a practitioner I can only guide my client through this process of self discovery, but it is their journey of awareness. With awareness comes change in the body, the more we listen to our own internal signals of distress the more power we have to change unhealthy and habitual patterns. This can happen on so many different levels, but the body is a great starting point.
It’s so easy to get caught up in the business of bodywork. After so many years of working with others I can get distracted from my own process. I experience their triumphs and frustration and at some point inevitably plateau in my own awareness. This is a natural cycle that I do my best to embrace, but it feels so good to return to that sense of increased awareness. This new realization in my body is a return to my roots, it reminds me why I started this work and why it matters so much to me.
I’m tearing up a little right now as I write, because I can feel the gratitude flowing out of me. I want to say thank you to all of my clients past and present. You are the reason I do what I do and you are also the impetus for me to continue to look inward and move forward. You are my inspiration.
Vogue Features Rolfing
“Back In Style”
By Heidi Julavits
This past year has been, for me, a period of intense personal searching. I asked myself the hard questions. What Kind of Person Am I? How Do I Want Others to Perceive Me? And Will My Computer Fit Inside? For months, I pitilessly self-scrutinized as I scoured the earth for the perfect handbag.
And then I found it. A faux-reptile, space-age grommetted Marni tote, “a work of art” as the saleswoman said. Righto, but let’s see what it holds, I thought as I emptied the contents of my current Sad Sack (laptop, books, pens, wallet, diapers, wipes, emergency baggie of bread sticks) into the work of art. Everything fit, and the work of art, not only stunning but sturdy, seemed structurally up to the task. Then I tried to pry it over my shoulder for the crucial test drive. I struggled. I contorted. I removed my coat and my sweater. Finally I had to admit to myself: the bag’s straps were too short. Gamely, I held the bag in my hand rather than wedging it into the boney shoulder groove I’d perfected over the years. For an hour I walked around the store, bag in hand, trying to convince myself that this was indeed the perfect bag. But deep inside I knew otherwise. The Marni handbag triggered my toddler-chasing-computer-ogling forward shoulder slump, and the energy required to counteract this slump (in order to keep me upright) meant I’d be exhausted after walking half a block.
I cursed handbags—a sadistic, impractical invention—and then blamed the Marni bag in particular. It was the bag’s fault I couldn’t buy it. I blamed my kid. I blamed gravity.
Then, reverting to quest mindset, I turned my scrutiny inward. Maybe the problem was me. Maybe I simply needed to correct my posture. Except, as I discovered when I tried it, “simply correcting my posture” was precisely as impossible as existing for my entire waking life in Mountain Pose. My mind was unable to counteract my spine’s naturally unnatural curvature toward the earth even when the perfect handbag was at stake. My body, in short, was imprisoned by itself.
Worse still was this realization, assisted by the store’s full-length mirrors: my body language conveyed timidity, insecurity, even a tiny bit of self-shame. The inexorable aging process, laziness, a momentarily shopworn sense of self-worth had initiated my downward slide, but now my bones and muscles clung to this new shape like a grudge.
I decided to take extreme measures. No wimpy massages or sweetly encouraging physical therapy sessions for me. It was time to radically renegotiate my relationship with gravity and put the “ow” back in powerful. It was time to explore a reputedly hardcore yet effective bodywork technique created by a woman who, in her heyday, resembled the love child of Eleanor Roosevelt and Yoda. It was time to regain my inward (and outward) delusion of worldly dominance so I could buy that Marni bag.
It was time to get rolfed.
Rolfing should connote a ‘60s-era hell massage administered by a hairy, Big Sur sadist. It should connote the words “torture” and “primal scream” and inspire visions of your muscles being separated from your bones, among other gruesome posture-improving procedures. Even though rolfing’s brutal reputation turns out to be an old hippy wives tale, it’s unsurprising that Michael Bulger, my chosen rolfer, doesn’t call himself a rolfer. Given rolfing’s inaccurately negative rap, many recent trainees of Ida P. Rolf’s methods (developed in the ‘40s and popularized, or some might say primal scream-ized, at the infamous Esalen Institute in the ‘60s) refer to themselves as she did—as practitioners of structural integration.
Bulger’s office is located near Union Square, in an ornate old office building where, rumor has it, Man Ray once kept his studio. With his boyishly messy surfer hair, Bulger might be a rock star I should recognize. Many of Bulger’s clients work in the fashion world: editors, photographers, models, in short, the people who both initiated and embraced the mind-body paradigm shift that’s occurred over the past decade and helped to mainstream formerly fringe practices like yoga, Pilates and acupuncture.
I’ve been told to wear “nice underwear” since this will be my only attire for the next hour and a half (it’s not because of car accidents your mother warned you to wear nice underwear; it was because you might unexpectedly get rolfed). I strip and stand by the wall while Bulger, in jeans and a t-shirt, sits atop a blue exercise ball. I bust out my best mountain pose, but he’s only momentarily fooled by my fake-powerful stance. One look at my legs when I’m lying on the table yields a troubling observation: my right leg is one inch longer than my left. My pelvis is cocked. My ribcage, too, is laughably uneven, with my left ribs protruding further than my right, a problem I’ve long observed from below when in Bridge Pose.
Yoga, in fact, is a logical entry point to structural integration. Rolf, decades ahead of her time, became a yoga junkie in the ‘30s to help resolve her back problems after the birth of her child. Subsequently, Hatha Yoga strongly influenced her when she was formulating her soon-to-be eponymous structural integration techniques. Put simply, her techniques are founded on the following premise: bones, joints and muscles are interconnected by a web of tissue called fascia. Due to injury and habitual use, the fascia—“intelligent tissue,” Bulger calls it—compensates around these hurt or overused areas, and reconfigures the body in such a way that you become literally trapped in the shape of your own bad patterns. The keyboard slump. The shoulder-as-hook for the life-bearing tote bag. The torqued pelvis protecting the ski-injured knee. Since the fascia is plastic, not elastic, it can be reshaped or, as Bulger phrases it, “reeducated” to respond to gravity in a more balanced way. Or as he puts it to me once: “I’m doing yoga for you.”
This sounds good to me, a lazy, lazy yogi and chronic keyboard slumper whose shoulders feel most gravitationally at peace when jutting slightly forward of my chin. My first session begins mildly enough, and does not, in any commonly understood way, resemble a massage. Massage is to structural integration as getting your hair washed is to getting your wet, knotted hair combed straight. Bulger inserts his thumb, fingers, even his elbow into the indentations between my muscles and joints. He applies pressure and gently manipulates the rubber band-like bits of tissue under my skin.
I’ve signed up for the “Basic Ten Series,” which forms the foundation of Rolf’s structural integration methodology. Manipulating the fascia—separating it from surrounding tissues, eliminating “unnecessary gossamer adhesions” between the fascia and the joints—works like cognitive therapy does on the brain. “Your body remembers that it has a choice,” says Bulger. While the effects can be long-lasting—even permanent—Bulger has a lot of regular clients who, after completing the Ten Series, continue to work with him to help solve their specific issues.
The experience of being rolfed is primarily a painless one, though it feels less soothing and sleepy-making than it does like sub-dermal hygiene. Occasionally it becomes intense. “This is going to hurt,” warns Bulger, before he separates two filaments of connective tissue that have adhered just below my armpit—but in fact it feels wonderful after a few deep breaths, like the good-hurt of the hamstrings during a forward bend.
While Bulger is open to methods that combine bodywork with psychotherapy, he believes that a past motorcycle accident is more to blame for his internally rotated knee than, say, his relationship to his father. Still, Bulger remains highly attentive to possible mind-body connections. A woman, say, with a history of bulimia may have an intense emotional response to having her stomach and her digestive system rolfed.
Given my relatively emotionless digestive system, for me the most notable bi-product of a good rolf is this: I am mentally floating when I leave Bulger’s office, lucid, calmly receptive and cheery. I’m protected inside a clear glass bubble that prevents me from reacting to the Union Square chaos with tensed shoulders or a lowered head. I tell Bulger about my post-treatment high; endorphins, I suspect, or maybe my beginning-to-improve posture is already elevating my sense of powerfulness. Both are probably true. Bulger informs me that there’s a link between acupuncture pressure points and fascia. Basically, the acupuncture medians, those pathways for chi, are embedded between the connective tissue he’s manipulating. Which means my chi is flowing readily, and that’s contributing to my heady glow.
A second benefit is this: I’m getting great conversational mileage out of the announcement, “I’m getting rolfed.” I even meet some closet rolfees this way. “Are you talking about rolfing?” a woman asks me the other day in the park. Robin Aronson, author most recently of a book called “The Skinny: How to Fit Into Your Little Black Dress Forever,” tells me about undergoing an arthroscopic hip operation. Afterwards she had the unnerving (and painful) sensation that her femur, which had been pulled out of her hip socket for the surgery, was in the wrong place. Aronson visited a rolfer who observed that her feet were two very different colors, suggesting a circulation problem. As the rolfer worked on her, she said she felt a pump-pump-pumping sensation in her leg; soon her previously blue-ish foot had “pinked up like a baby’s.”
From a power posture perspective, however, I’m not convinced I’m experiencing any noticeable improvements. Bulger’s work is occasionally so gentle as to seem imperceptible. Yes, there are those ooooweeee moments, such as when he snaps on the surgical gloves and rolfs the inside of my mouth or works those gossamer adhesions between my organs and my intestines. But at times it feels as though his fingers are merely hovering between my muscles. Only when he shifts, again almost imperceptibly, do I realize he’s performing a stealth manipulation.
But after my third session I realize that in fact I have changed physically. One day I look down and am amazed to find my handbag is in my hand. A mistake? Clearly. But since my shoulder is no longer hook-shaped, the bag has slid down my arm and come naturally to rest in my palm. I don’t question it. I keep walking. One block. Two blocks. Three. Suddenly I can walk comfortably, and seemingly forever, carrying a handbag in my hand without having to exert myself to maintain a decently upright posture; my body assumes this balanced shape without my having to force it. I look less like my usual slumped sherpa self and more like a chicly confident Cold War spy carrying a briefcase full of money.
I’m sold. Like yoga, rolfing is one of those practices that your body instantly tells you makes a lot of sense. Meanwhile, I keep catching glimpses of this unrecognizably poised woman in glass storefronts; her back, despite the fact that she’s pushing a stroller or weighted down by her office-in-a-handbag, is laughably, even arduously straight. But that power-exuding woman in the window is me, and it requires no effort at all to be her.
From Michael Bulgers website.
Oprah’s Dr.Oz on Rolfing
What is Rolfing? Is it something that could help ease muscle tension?
If you’re plagued by muscle pain, Dr. Oz recommends a technique called Rolfing, which he describes as “even deeper than a deep-tissue massage.”
This technique, which was developed by Dr. Ida Pauline Rolf, aims to separate bound-up connective tissues (or fascia), which link the muscles. “Rolfing literally releases the joints,” Dr. Oz says. “When you talk to folks about the impact it has on them, a lot of them just stand taller. A lot is just freeing you up to live the way you’re supposed to live.”
Read more offsite… Click Here
“Yoga is Evil”
“Yoga is Evil”: A healthy approach to stretching
[Published in the April 2006 issue of Vision Magazine]
I once took a class from an instructor at one of the local massage schools. John Economos has this interesting Zen master approach to teaching, which to some can come off as him simply being rude and arrogant. But by taking a closer look I found there to be an underlying message he’s going for, or at the least he wants to stimulate a unique dialogue.
The first day of class he decides to hit us with a shocking phrase to the holistic practitioners in attendance, “Yoga is evil”. The bewildered faces of the people around me were amusing, but I admit I was a little taken aback too.
Since I knew something about John’s extensive training in therapeutic bodywork and movement education I decided to approach him, to probe a little deeper into his intentions. After all, I had been through my share of bad Yoga classes and therefore I was a little intrigued. His response was that many Yoga classes are taught incorrectly and can actually be damaging; this resonated with my experience.
Since the Yoga boom in the states we have seen many of these classes offered in new and interesting places. Something that was once considered a fringe practice in the U.S.A. has become mainstream in recent years. While this integration into the collective consciousness is a welcomed shift, it has unfortunately diluted the true intention. Originating as a spiritual practice in India, Yoga is a lifestyle that one chooses to accept. The asana meditation that many gyms and spas teach as an aerobic stretching technique is only one part of a holistic approach to uniting the higher and lower self. There are really eight “limbs” of Yoga, the asana practice being only one of them. A Yogi embodies a lifestyle that respects all and deepens his/her relationship to the world through service.
Sometimes I feel a little odd when people ask if I “do” Yoga, it’s comparable to asking if I “do” art. Yoga is something one becomes, not something one does. Of course I know what they mean. No, I don’t go to a class to stretch every morning for a set length of time. Although I think stretching is an important practice that should be done on a regular basis to maintain flexibility. This is especially true for those of us who are active. Most exercise shortens connective tissues that need length to stay flexible and healthy. Granted, this should be done with some awareness of what needs length and how to find a comfortable way to stretch that doesn’t strain those tissues.
Now, stretching isn’t everything. Dr. Rolf, who developed Structural Integration, believed that connective tissue is in its most vital and natural state when balanced by being neither too loose nor too tight. A simplified version of this would be looking at a basic hinge joint. If there is too much tension on one side of the joint it will lose flexibility when trying to swing in the opposite direction. A joint in this position over time can cause undue wear on the structures designed to protect, support and cushion the bones where they meet. This includes connective tissues such as cartilage, intervertebral disks, bursa and many other vital components of our articular system. When that structure is aligned appropriately in gravity, movement becomes less of a burden, much freer. Posture also plays a huge role in this and excessive tension can certainly misalign the whole structure as well as individual joints.
A basic stretch I want to review here is one that most people can use. For one reason or another many of my clients have problems due to excessively tight hamstrings. This can manifest as tension and/or pain locally at the back of the thigh beneath the buttocks and it is commonly implicated in lower back problems. To stretch the hamstrings we are going to approach them one at a time starting with the left side. First tune into your breath; deep, relaxed and full breathing helps oxygenate your tissues. Focusing the breath on each area you are stretching makes the stretch much more effective. Sit on the ground, preferably on carpet or a Yoga mat on hard flooring, and extend your left leg. Your right leg is going to rest comfortably on the floor on its side bent at your hip and with that knee bent at about a 90 degree angle. Now, extend your left heel by slightly flexing your foot. You may feel a slight stretch in the back of your calf.
Next, I’d like for you to start by bending forward at your hips. A common way people do this stretch incorrectly is by reaching forward to the toes with their hands. Remember we are seeking to lengthen the back of your leg, arching forward and stretching out the torso doesn’t achieve this end. We want to focus on bending at the hips and keeping your spine erect, thereby sending your sitbones back and away from the heel that is extended forward. Now find a comfortable place where you feel slight resistance that is neither painful nor strenuous. If you can touch your toes without straining that’s great, but this isn’t necessarily the end goal. I want you to hang out at this place of resistance for a while, at least 90 seconds. Since there are three separate muscles in the hamstrings see if you can progress through each one. When one releases, go a little deeper into the stretch, again finding resistance and not straining to push yourself past it. Just relax. Breathe. When you are ready to come out of the stretch, slowly backtrack through these steps.
Yogic asanas are powerful techniques and with the proper approach can be gateways to better health, mentally and physically. Keeping our bodies in balance is a lifetime study resulting in improved vitality and longevity. I hope to enhance your perception in some way by sharing this holistic vision that perhaps Yogi’s, Dr. Rolf and John Economos can all agree upon. The key is to listen to your body, breathe and let your mind get out of the way.
Archie Underwood, BA, HHP is a Rolf Practitioner of Structural Integration.
He has an office and teaches in San Diego, CA. You can reach him at:
www.rolfsi.com or by phone: (619)861-3232
What is Rolf S.I.?
What is Rolf S.I.?
Introducing Rolf Structural Integration
Therapeutic bodywork can do amazing things for how we feel and relate to our bodies. Touch brings awareness into the body, providing a tool for communication with our own tissue. Using this awareness we can recognize patterns of tension, stress and strain in our body and consciously release them. In Structural Integration we seek to recognize tissue that is not yielding to change. With attention, full breath, deep touch and core movement we can make space for change to take place, melting through held and unchanging connective tissue and allowing it to release from its contracted state. For many clients this work has provided relief from years of chronic tension, acute injuries, as well as emotional stress. Relieving the body from this pain can have profound effects on day-to-day stress, allowing for more energy and emotional clarity.
The body’s adaptability can cause many movements to become easier if repeated over time. We do this by creating tension throughout our fascial matrix. Beneath the skin our body is contained within a matrix of thin, saran wrap-like connective tissue called fascia. This matrix forms sheaths that envelope all our body’s individual muscles, organs and bones. These sheaths are interconnected throughout our structure and support the skeleton as well as all skeletal movement through their tensile strength, balance and adaptability. Tension, often reflected in the body as excessive muscular tone, is a product of the enveloping fascia holding a muscle in a chronic state of contraction. This affects other muscles by binding the neighboring fascial sheaths together originating from the original held contraction. The process can repeat itself, a “domino effect”, as it is transferred through the body. Using this tensile formation of contracted tissue our fascia can create a false support for any repeated movement, relying on shortened muscle for stability instead of bone. Over time these tensions can become severe enough to cause pain and even major dysfunction, resulting in repetitive stress injuries and related problems. Compensation for the held and misaligned tissue can occur as well, causing the body to adjust its movement patterns to “work around” the contracted tissue. This fascial contraction and inability to change old patterns within the body affects our overall stress level and emotional well-being, it can tear us down physically and emotionally. Awareness is an important tool in changing these patterns. Before change can occur and have a lasting effect we must first have the awareness of living in and from our own tissue. Touch acts as a facilitator along with the client’s own participation utilizing breath, communication and movement.
Structural Integration seeks to awaken changes in the body using deep touch, core movement and awareness. Many of us have tension or pain that we learn to live with. As discussed earlier, these tensions can contribute to structural and postural misalignment. This can be holistically addressed through a process of ten 1 ½ hour therapeutic bodywork sessions. This is Ida Rolf’s method of Structural Integration; it’s truly a whole-body approach. The Ten Series reorganizes the body from the ground up and from the superficial to deep layers of connective tissue, providing the client with positive new ways of relating to their body and environment.
The Ten Series starts with opening the “sleeve” (superficial fascial layers) of the body. This frees the breath, allowing more space for it to flow into. Breath is vital to this work; it offers a helpful tool that allows for a meditative and focused presence in the body. The first three sessions prepare tissue as well as the client for a deeper level of work. The following four sessions address the “core” (deeper fascial layers) of the body. This work allows for the client to shift deep patterns that may be unwilling to change. We use aligned movement to engage the client during the sessions, this is a way to experientially learn balanced and aligned movement. When movement is balanced we interact more efficiently with our fascia by shortening only the tissue truly necessary and letting the opposing tissue extend. This allows for ease of movement and an improved level of dynamic stability in the body.
The last three sessions in the series are the “integration” sessions. These sessions have an increased focus on client induced movement, clarifying how we move from our body’s core. Core movement refers to the ability to involve the deep musculature of the body. This deep musculature is called the “intrinsic” layer; it is naturally optimized for smaller movements and core stability. When overlooked in day-to-day movement and awareness this can cause the body to overuse the more superficial larger musculature resulting in more effort in all movement. This, the “extrinsic” layer, is naturally optimized for larger movements that require larger muscles. Overusing either layer can cause imbalance and distortion to occur in the body as well as pain that is associated with excessive contraction. When the extrinsic and intrinsic layers work together they can create a unique balance, creating an efficient way for movement to be expressed. This balance can uncover a sense of ease, efficiency and grace that flow through the body.
Opening awareness to the fascial matrix that molds our body can support a more centered state of being. Typically it takes about a year for clients to truly embody the changes that take place within this series. Continued participation with your body is definitely encouraged; exercises done with a structurally balanced intention can help to maintain this awareness. Structural Integration provides tools that can last for a lifetime. Walking, yoga, sports, swimming, virtually any exercise or activity can be done with awareness of structural alignment. Following the ten series maintenance sessions are encouraged, but not always necessary. A one to three month gap between these sessions might be appropriate, depending on your body’s needs.
Bodywork as Meditation
Bodywork as Meditation
Using Structural Integration as a Pathway
By Raymond J. Bishop, Jr
| Openness to a different type of listening and following are essential for the meditative to emerge. |
Bodywork as a meditative discipline may at first seem rather peculiar. Certainly, many seasoned bodyworkers meditate, rightly believing that regular practice of any of a wealth of meditative modalities will promote an increased sense of mental clarity and calmness and may potentially enhance the experience of everyday life, as well as the quality and depth of their work. However, accepting the idea that the act of doing integrative bodywork can be both the source of meditative insight and an ideal milieu through which we move toward higher levels of consciousness will, for most, require a shift in paradigm of a fairly high order. This perceptual difficulty will be further magnified when applied to those therapists engaged in disciplines that are thought of as intense and whose work is generally described as deep-tissue manipulation — work such as the style of structural integration called Rolfing®. That such a modality offers a gateway to “the meditative” will at first seem contradictory in the extreme, owing to a number of fundamental misapprehensions about the nature and intent of this and related integrative modalities. Furthermore, the idea that those who do bodywork may choose to do so in part as a selfish desire to attain an altered mental state may seem curiously at odds with the altruism that we associate with those drawn to healing touch modalities. Yet, we will argue for the virtues of this type of selfishness (Ayn Rand, notwithstanding).
Read more at Massage & Bodywork Magazine’s website…
(Opens in a new window)
Used with permission. Originally published in the
August/September 2005 issue of Massage & Bodywork Magazine
Using Tennis Balls for Tension Relief
Using Tennis Balls for Tension Relief
I want to discuss some alternate uses for tennis balls. The tennis ball is a great tool for self care because it is firm and resilient, yet yields to pressure nicely. There are two ways to use them in this sense. The first is the put 2 tennis balls in a sock and tie the end of the sock so they fit snugly next to each other. You now have a great tool for work on either side of the spine or anywhere else you feel it would be helpful.
To use it along the spine: place to sock on the floor and lie face up with the tennis balls on either side of your spine. Then bring your knees up and feet flat on the floor. Using your feet to stabilize and move your body, lightly roll the tennis balls up and down the spine finding and area of tension or soreness and when found relax and rest your weight on that spot allowing your body and spine to release fully over the tennis balls. Rest for a least 30 seconds to allow time to disengage any subtle holding pattern that may prevent you from experiencing the full effect of this exercise. Your muscle tissue should be able to relax over the tennis balls, if this seems difficult try focusing on deep and relaxed breathing intending the breath into the tense area. Feel free to experiment with this technique in other areas of your body as well, you can even use a wall instead of the floor if that works better for you.
Using just one tennis ball is also a great way to work on the medial arch of the foot. Just try one foot at a time, balancing on a table with the opposite hand and slowly pouring your weight into the tennis ball with the same intention as the above excercise.
Four Principles of Structural Bodywork
Four Principles of Structural Bodywork
Structural bodywork has its own specific set of distinguishing images which sets it apart from other kinds of physical therapy. These images were Ida Rolf’s initial discovery. They deal with: a. the human skeleton, b. concepts of geometry, beginning with the most basic fact of gravity, pressing us against the earth, and the nature of three dimensional space resulting from that orientation of gravity; c. concepts of movement – how the skeleton is designed to move in space; and d. ideas of how the body is shaped to support habitual movement. These images can be introduced in terms of four principles which seem to form the basis of Ida Rolf’s method.
1. The Primacy of Gravity
It is part of the elegance of Ida Rolf’s vision that gravity is placed at the center of the system. Other methods focus on energy or the release of emotions, et cetera, but these are difficult to see, and there is considerable room for subjectivity in making inferences about them. But Ida treated the body first of all as a physical object in a gravitational field, and let the emotional releases take place as a secondary result.
Every physical creature is subject to the effects of gravity throughout life. It is the one unrelenting stimulus to which we must relate. The skeleton has evolved primarily in response to the various demands placed upon it by different systems of dealing with gravity (that is, a quadrupedal skeleton differs from a biped’s in ways which are predictable on the basis of their different relations to the ground). Gravity determines what is physically efficient or inefficient. When the human body is inefficiently organized, effort is required to resist the effects of gravity. Eventually gravity wins, and the tragically bent bodies of some elderly people are the results. When the structure is efficiently organized, the flow of gravity can be a source of energy.
2. Geometry: The Relation of the Skeleton to Space
The skeleton is a structural framework enabling the body to move in space. In each creature, the skeleton is precisely designed to permit geometrically accurate movement. There are differences, especially deriving from whether the creature is a quadruped walking on land, a monkey swinging in the branches of trees, or a human walking upright. But in each case, the skeleton is quite precisely arranged to support movement which is adapted to geometric space.
This means that, if we can understand the geometric concepts underlying the structure of the skeleton, we can analyze distortions in the people we work with and thus understand what must be reorganized. For example, in looking at someone’s legs, we refer to the bisecting planes of the legs. If the hinges of hip, knee and ankle are lined up on a single plane, then it has tremendous internal security and balance.
When the leg is not balanced across this bisecting plane, when the hinges are not working on a single plane, then the feeling of security and balance is lost. It becomes appropriate to speak of “random” or “chaotic” or “disorganized” physical structure. As will be seen in the chapter on psychology, disorganization on the physical plane shows up as insecurity and confusion on the psychological level. It is no abstract matter.
Throughout this book we will be referring to a small number of geometric concepts:
l. The Vertical Polarity
2. The Horizontal Polarity
3. The Bisecting Planes of the Legs (and other sagittal planes)
4. The Side Planes (and other coronal planes)
5. Transverse Planes at:
a. The Pelvis
b. The Diaphragm
c. The Shoulder Girdle
d. Various other places as needed
3. The Role of Fascia in Shaping the Body
Most anatomy books do not emphasize fascia. Muscles and bones seem much easier to recognize. They are the evident figure, while the fascia are in the background. However, the connective tissue system, including the fascia is the all-pervasive prima materia of the body. Each muscle and each muscle fiber is enveloped in fascia. In response to habitual movement, fascia alter in length and flexibility to support that movement. If the movement deviates from the optimal geometry of the skeleton in space, then the fascial system slowly binds the skeleton to a shape which supports that movement. Thus function alters structure. The energy of movement becomes reflected in form, which parallels Einstein’s formulation: e=mc2.
4. The Use of Movement to Reorganize the Body.
Since disorganized movement creates deviated structure, then the reverse should also be true. If the body is induced to move in a way which is geometrically correct, then the fascial tissues will alter to support this better movement. Thus the skeletal structure can be altered to approach the optimal organization for which it was created. Ida Rolf said (approximately) “Hold structures where they are supposed to be and induce movement.” This is the basic principle of change.
These are the four principles which define structural body work. In subsequent chapters we will be studying geometric concepts of movement, fascia, and an approach to touch.
Excerpt from “The Structural Metaphor”, by Edward W. Maupin, Ph.D. www.edmaupin.com
